Credit monitoring services help you keep an eye on your credit score and stay safe from identity theft. Interested in finding the top credit monitoring services? Well, keep reading this article to find out the complete details!
A credit monitoring service watches your accounts. It tells you if someone uses your Social Security number to open a credit line. This service also guards against fraud, like identity theft and credit scams. Certain companies give a free credit report. They may ask for your credit card for extra features, like basic credit monitoring.
Top Free Credit Monitoring Services
Credit monitoring services can assist you in closely watching your credit report. This helps you protect yourself and take swift action if there’s credit card fraud or identity theft.
1 TransUnion Credit Bureau
One of the top three big credit monitoring services is TransUnion. You can get their app for iOS or Android.
With TransUnion, you can keep an eye on your credit score report whenever you want to see if your score has gone up or down.
Identity protection is offered by Javelin, a company that helps keep your personal information safe.
When you pay your monthly fee, you get:
- Credit monitoring.
- Quick alerts if someone tries to use your name for credit.
- Up to $1,000,000 in insurance for identity theft.
Other things you get with this service are:
- $25 per month.
- Free identity protection.
- You can see your credit score and report anytime you want.
- Credit Lock Plus, which helps secure your credit.
- Up to $1,000,000 in insurance for identity theft.
2. Equifax
Equifax is one of the three big credit bureaus in the US. In 2017, they had a huge data breach that impacted over half of all Americans.
Now, Equifax is working on a plan to regain your trust.
If you were affected by the data breach, you can still make a claim.
Here’s what they offer:
- It costs $20 per month.
- You can see your credit scores from all three Equifax bureaus.
- They provide identity protection.
- You will get alerts if something strange happens with your information.
- They keep an eye on your credit and Social Security number.
3. Credit Karma
Credit Karma is a company that helps with your money.
You can use it to look at your credit scores anytime, and it won’t cost you anything.
You can see scores from TransUnion and Equifax, but not from Experian.
Credit Karma watches your credit and gives you updates every week. They’ll tell you if something changes with your credit score.
On the website, you can also see your score and things that can make it better or worse. Like if you use too much of your credit card, if there are bad marks on your credit, or if people ask about your credit too much.
Here are the main things about Credit Karma:
- It’s free.
- You can check your credit score for free.
- It keeps an eye on your credit.
- It shows you what things affect your credit score.
4. Mint
Mint is a free tool to help you with your money.
Not only can you use it to keep track of your payments, but you can also find out where your credit score needs improvement.
Mint shows you if you pay your bills on time, how much of your credit you are using (so you know if you are getting close to your limit), and how old your credit is, all on one screen.
Here are the main things about Mint:
- It’s free.
- You can check your credit score for free.
- They keep your personal info safe by encrypting it.
5. FreeCreditReport.com
FreeCreditReport.com is a simple service from Experian that lets you see your credit report without paying.
They give you an updated credit report every month.
You can see your account history, like your real estate and credit accounts.
FreeCreditReport.com also shows you when people ask about your credit, keeps an eye on how much of your credit you’re using, and tells you if you’ve paid your bills late.
Here are the main things about FreeCreditReport.com:
- It’s free.
- You can check your Experian credit report.
- They update your report every 30 days.
- They watch your credit usage, hard inquiries, and late payments.
Top Credit Fraud Monitoring Services
If you want to guard against fraud and identity theft, think about using credit monitoring services.
The top credit monitoring services come with many features, like keeping an eye on the dark web, offering identity theft insurance, sending data breach alerts, and monitoring your credit score.
1. Aura
Aura is a trustworthy company that helps protect you from identity theft and fraud. They offer various services and easy-to-use features to keep your online identity safe.
Aura uses a straightforward, all-in-one approach to help prevent identity fraud and secure your private networks.
Plus, they provide insurance coverage of up to $1,000,000 for eligible losses caused by identity theft or fraud.
Aura’s complete package comes with multiple features to safeguard your online information.
Some of their features include:
1. Identity Theft Protection
Aura offers highly-rated identity theft protection features to help safeguard your digital identity from hackers and cybercriminals.
When you get an Aura plan, they keep a constant watch on the dark web for any signs of your online accounts and will notify you if your personal information is at risk.
Aura also assists in protecting you from criminal identity theft. They regularly check criminal and court records, looking for their clients’ personal information in these public documents.
2. Financial Fraud Protection
Aura also provides financial fraud protection to help you stay informed about any unusual activity on your credit reports and financial accounts.
They start by keeping an eye on the inquiries made on your credit file and notifying you as soon as they detect any new activity, like a new credit card or loan application.
If you want, you can use Aura to lock and unlock your Experian credit report, which stops unwanted inquiries.
3. Device and Network Protection
Your personal and work devices can be a direct pathway for hackers to get to your information.
But, Aura makes it simple to safeguard your computers and tablets from hackers by using malware and virus protection software.
Aura can also assist in securing your online actions with its WiFi Security VPN.
When you connect to this VPN, it conceals your online activity from unauthorized users, creating a protective shield to keep your information safe.
4. Family Protection
Aura provides all-in-one protection for your entire family.
You can effortlessly secure all your family’s accounts, get notifications when your children’s information is at risk, and connect all your devices to a VPN.
5. Plans and Packages
Aura offers plans for individuals and families. If you want to protect just one adult, you have these options:
- Basic: $8 per month
- Total: $17 per month
- Ultimate: $24 per month
If you need to protect a group of up to 10 people, you can select from these packages:
- Basic: $14 per month
- Total: $23 per month
- Ultimate: $30 per month
The Basic Plan gives you basic credit monitoring services.
The Total plan includes fraud protection, and the Ultimate plan comes with White Glove Fraud Resolution services.
2. Identity Guard
Identity Guard® is among our top credit monitoring companies because of its dependable and watchful identity theft protection services.
Features
Identity Guard provides user-friendly identity theft protection features to help stop outsiders from accessing your data.
They use strong scanning methods to keep an eye on your data all day, every day. This means you’ll get quick notifications if anything strange happens.
The service also checks the dark web to see if your personal info is on any dangerous websites.
If Identity Guard finds any of your data, like your credit card or Social Security number on the dark web, they’ll suggest the best actions to keep you safe from identity theft.
Pricing
Identity Guard provides three plans for both individuals and families.
For a single person, the most basic Value plan starts at $7.20 per month. It includes important features like dark web surveillance and information breach notifications.
The Ultra solo plan begins at $23.99 per month and offers advanced features such as bank account monitoring, sex offense monitoring, and insights into social media activity.
3. Credit Squad
Credit Squad is a well-respected credit monitoring service. They offer many special features at a reasonable monthly cost.
We’ve placed Credit Squad at the top of our list because of their helpful credit advice, adaptable pricing choices, and responsive customer service team.
Features
Credit Squad provides all the standard features you should anticipate from a credit monitoring service: monitoring your credit from the three main credit bureaus, protecting against identity theft, and notifying you about changes in your credit report.
Additionally, this company offers some advanced options that you might not find with other credit monitoring companies.
Pricing
Credit Squad provides both individual and family plans, each with three pricing levels.
For individuals, the basic plan starts at $14.99 per month. It includes features like real-time inquiry notifications and credit monitoring from one credit bureau.
The elite solo plan costs $24.99 per month and offers advanced features, including monitoring from all three credit bureaus and access to an educational center.
4. ExtraCredit
ExtraCredit is a fresh credit monitoring service by Credit.com. It provides various features for monitoring, improving, and safeguarding your credit, helping you build a positive credit history.
Features
ExtraCredit offers five key features to all its customers:
- Credit history-building advice
- Identity protection
- Credit report monitoring
- Cash rewards
- Credit improvement opportunities
This service assists you in enhancing your credit history by reporting your rent and utility payments to credit bureaus such as Equifax and TransUnion. Timely payments can boost your credit score, and including rent and utility payments in your credit report can have a positive impact on your credit history.
Pricing
ExtraCredit offers a straightforward pricing plan at $24.99 per month. You can cancel anytime without any extra charges, and there are no hidden fees.
New customers can even give ExtraCredit a try for the first month for free.
In summary, ExtraCredit is a reliable and experienced credit monitoring service. It can assist you in enhancing your credit score and offers features like the first free month, reporting rent and utility payments to boost your credit history, ID theft insurance, and access to 28 different FICO scores.
5. LifeLock
One of the most famous services we have is LifeLock. It’s a credit monitoring company that’s affordable and dependable. LifeLock is known all around the world for being honest, fair, and safe. Millions of people use it every day.
Features
LifeLock provides a wide range of credit and identity monitoring services. When you join, they start watching your credit and personal info online. If they spot anything fishy or risky, they send you an immediate alert with the details.
Pricing
LifeLock has four membership options: Standard, Select, Advantage, and Ultimate Plus.
The Standard plan begins at $8.29 per month and offers alerts for monitoring your ID and Social Security number, plus credit monitoring from one credit bureau.
The Ultimate Plus plan is the most comprehensive, giving you access to nine different ID and credit protection services.
These services include monitoring your credit with all three bureaus, a VPN for all your devices, home title monitoring, and additional features.
6. IdentityIQ
Identity theft can happen to anyone, not just adults. Your children, parents, grandparents, and spouse can also be targeted.
Several credit monitoring services provide family plans, but we particularly like IdentityIQ for families.
Features
IdentityIQ provides a complete set of monitoring services. When you join, they start watching your personal info online and quickly let you know if anything suspicious happens or if there are any unauthorized charges on your credit report.
IdentityIQ can also help you stay updated on your credit report and score. With this service, you get to see your entire credit history from all three credit bureaus and receive monthly credit score reports.
Pricing
IdentityIQ has three membership options: Secure Plus, Secure Pro, and Secure Max.
Secure Plus begins at $9.99 per month and gives you annual reports from all three major credit bureaus, dark web monitoring, assistance if you lose your wallet, and various other useful features.
Secure Max is the ideal plan for families. It comes with $25,000 in identity theft insurance and fraud restoration that covers your entire family.
7. IdentityForce
Data breaches occur when cybercriminals access your data without your permission or knowledge. They can be particularly harmful to businesses that store a lot of customer information.
Fortunately, IdentityForce is a trusted credit monitoring service that focuses on detecting and resolving data breaches for businesses.
Features
IdentityForce provides a strong set of credit alert, recovery, and monitoring services for both personal and business use. While its personal monitoring services are similar to what you find in the credit monitoring industry, its business protection plans make it stand out from other companies.
Pricing
IdentityForce has two membership plans for personal use:
- UltraSecure: This plan begins at $17.95 per month and includes information monitoring, alerts, and $1 million in ID theft insurance.
- UltraSecure+Credit: If you want more advanced features, you can opt for the UltraSecure+Credit plan. It provides three-bureau credit monitoring, a credit score simulator, and access to your credit scores.
Which Free Credit Monitoring Service Is the Best?
A credit monitoring service is like a website or company that helps you watch your credit reports and scores.
The best credit alert services provide various useful features, including:
- Credit reports from all three credit bureaus
- Daily or monthly credit score updates
- A credit score simulator
- ID theft monitoring
- Social Security number alerts
- Identity theft insurance
If these companies spot any strange activity on your credit reports, they will send you an alert and advise you on what steps to take to fix and stop it.
Top Services for Monitoring Your Credit and Protecting Against Identity Theft
To keep your info safe, consider joining a trusted credit monitoring service. These services alert you when they find something fishy.
They watch your credit reports for new actions or loans. Some even scan the dark web for your data.
We checked out companies that offer identity theft protection and credit monitoring. Here are the best ones to use.
1. IdentityForce
Our top choice overall is IdentityForce’s UltraSecure+Credit ID product. It gives you the best coverage for your money, combining credit monitoring and identity theft protection in a single package.
Pros
- Customers like it a lot
- Checks your credit reports every day
- Comes with $1 million in identity theft insurance
Cons
- Insurance won’t cover legal fees or personal expenses
- Child identity theft protection costs extra
- No free trial availabl
2. Credit Sesame
Credit Sesame offers free basic identity and credit monitoring services. These services come with big benefits, like $1 million in free fraud insurance, live help to fix identity issues, and daily alerts about your credit.
Pros
- It’s a totally free service.
- You get $1 million in identity theft insurance.
- They send you daily credit monitoring alerts.
Cons
- You have to activate credit monitoring yourself.
- They only share info from one credit bureau.
- There’s no Social Security monitoring.
3. Complete ID
Complete ID is linked with Experian, one of the three big credit reporting agencies.
It’s only for Costco Wholesale Club members, and it’s a budget-friendly choice for keeping an eye on your credit and guarding against identity theft.
While TrustPilot hasn’t rated Complete ID, both Costco and Experian are famous and trusted companies.
Pros
- It’s reasonably priced.
- You can get up to $1 million in identity theft insurance.
- They watch all three credit bureaus.
Cons
You must be a Costco member to use it.
You can only see your credit reports once a year.
The credit scores are updated once a year too.
4. ID Watchdog
If you are a family searching for identity and credit monitoring for both you and your kids, ID Watchdog is a great option run by Equifax.
They watch three credit reports and send alerts about your accounts.
Your credit score, from Equifax, gets updated every day.
But you can only see all three credit reports and scores once a year.
Pros
The family plan includes two adults and up to four children.
Kids get online credit locks.
- With the Platinum membership, you can get up to $1 million back for stolen 401(k)/HSA funds.
Cons
The parent company is Equifax, which had a data breach.
- You can only check all three credit reports and scores once a year.
5. PrivacyGuard
PrivacyGuard’s Total Protection plan is $24.99 per month, and you can try it out for 14 days for just $1.
PrivacyGuard is a credit monitoring service that adds more safety features and identity protection for people who want extra security.
If you live in Iowa, Rhode Island, or Vermont, you can’t use PrivacyGuard.
But for those who can, it offers a lot for its price.
PrivacyGuard is provided by Trilegiant Corporation. TrustPilot hasn’t given it accreditation or a rating.
The Total Protection plan costs $24.99 per month, and you can try it for 14 days for only $1.
Pros
- You can give it a shot for only $1 for 14 days.
- Each month, you receive reports and scores from all three credit bureaus.
- Plus, they offer added security with secure keyboard and browser apps.
Cons
- Not rated by TrustPilot
- Family plans are not available
- Not available to residents of Iowa, Rhode Island, and Vermont
Top Free Credit Monitoring Services
Credit bureaus do not have the only paid credit monitoring services.
Other companies also provide good free credit monitoring services, and experts like them too.
1. Aura
Aura does not just do regular identity theft protection. They provide complete digital security solutions that keep up with the constantly changing and growing world of threats.
A. Identity Theft Protection
Aura’s identity theft protection covers:
- Online account monitoring
- Personal information and Social Security number monitoring
- Identity verification monitoring
- A password manager
- Help if you lose your wallet
- Monitoring for home title and address changes
- Checking criminal and court records
Plus, it includes $1 million in insurance coverage for identity theft.
B. Financial Fraud Protection
Aura’s financial fraud protection includes:
- Regular credit monitoring
- Monthly access to your credit score
- The ability to lock your credit
It also covers:
- Monitoring your financial transactions
- Keeping an eye on your bank accounts
- Monitoring your 401(k) and investment accounts
- Providing an annual credit report from all three major credit bureaus.
C. Device and Network Protection
Aura’s device and network protection offer antivirus protection and give you access to a VPN for devices covered by their services.
2. Identity Guard
Identity Guard gets praised in many publications.
U.S. News ranks it as the number one choice overall, and Money magazine names it the best for quick alerts.
They use IBM’s Watson, which is a kind of smart computer, to find and stop identity fraud fast.
3. IdentityForce UltraSecure
Reviewers consistently like Sontiq’s IdentityForce for credit monitoring.
They have two protection levels: UltraSecure and UltraSecure+Credit.
IdentityForce UltraSecure watches how your personal info is used in many places.
It looks at court records, banks, payday lenders, medical bills, the National Change of Address (NCOA) list, social media, and the dark web.
It even checks if your identity is on sex offender lists. This one costs $14.99 per month or $149.90 per year.
4. PrivacyGuard
PrivacyGuard is another favorite in expert reviews. They have three services to choose from.
A. Identity Protection
For $9.99 per month, this service scans both the public Internet and the dark web for your info, including debit and credit card account numbers.
It notifies you of fraudulent activity and helps with recovery.
It also includes lost wallet protection and $1 million in identity theft insurance.
B. Credit Protection
This service provides three-bureau credit monitoring.
It notifies you of any alterations and offers monthly updates on your credit score.
This also includes a credit simulator tool, assorted financial calculators, and access to a credit hotline. It costs $19.99 per month.
C. Total Protection
PrivacyGuard’s highest-level service gives you the benefits of both Identity Protection and Credit Protection together. It’s priced at $24.99 per month.
5. LifeLock
Norton’s LifeLock was among the first to offer identity theft protection.
It’s still one of the best for safeguarding your computer and devices.
CNET and Money reviewers also give it a thumbs up.
LifeLock, like many others, has three protection levels.
The Standard one checks your credit with just one bureau (Equifax).
It also watches your personal info, like your address and SSN, on the internet and the dark web.
It comes with lost wallet protection and access to identity restoration experts.
6. myFICO Advanced
myFICO gets praised by several publications.
This credit monitoring service is from the experts who created the FICO score, the Fair Isaac Corporation.
What’s special about myFICO is that it shows you your FICO score, the one most lenders rely on.
(Many other services use the newer VantageScore.)
With myFICO, you can check up to 28 versions of your FICO score, the ones different lenders use for credit cards, mortgages, and auto loans.
Conclusion
Aura continues to be the top choice for the best credit monitoring services.
It simplifies tracking your score and protecting against identity theft.
We trust you found this article helpful.
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