Which Credit Monitoring Service Should You Use?

And you might monitor your own credit for free, forever.

What Does It Mean to Monitor Your Credit?

You dont have to check them all at once, either.

you’re free to stagger them and check one at a time a few times a year.

Equifax offered their own version of credit monitoring for free for a year.

You may have to temporarilylift the freeze to register.

Weve written about tools like Credit Sesame and Credit Karma, both solid options for monitoring your credit forever.

None of the services mentioned below will ask you for that.

Every credit monitoring service should offer these basic features, so what sets Credit Karma apart?

Like Credit Karma, youll get access to your credit report and score for free.

Again, youll get alerts for different types of activity.

Seeing all of your debt in one place shows you what you have to deal with.

It also makes it easy to check for any major changes to your account.

These added perks arent groundbreaking, but its still a decent service for monitoring your credit.

Youll also get alerts when information on your credit report changes.

The most important factor that sets WalletHub apart is that it monitors your credit daily, 24/7.

.this service was designed specifically so that your credit would not be damaged unnecessarily.

In other words, your score wont get damaged from them checking your report.

Mint, the popular budgeting tool, also offers credit monitoring.

Their free option is a little lackluster compared to the other options, though.

you’re free to see the differences in the screenshot below.

If youre a AAA member, you might get access to their ProtectMyID Essential service.

Credit Sesame is still a great option, but CreditKarma offers a few added perks.

Security freezes only block access to Credit Karma during registration.

Finally, dont forget to set up account alerts with your current bank and credit card companies, too.

Take advantage of these features.

Its not the same as credit monitoring, but its one extra way to monitor your financial life.

WalletHub contacted us and explicitly statedthey DO NOT sell or rent your data to third-party sites.

Weve updated the article accordingly.