Are credit monitoring services worth it?

Ray — Sun, 02 Jan 2022 21:59:36 +0000

Are credit monitoring services worth the prices they charge?

Companies such as Experian, Equifax and Transunion have both free and paid credit monitoring services. The free services aren’t much different than what most credit card issuers provide to their customers. Free services offer the ability to view your score(s), (for example Experian will allow you to see one version of your Experian score), alert you to credit inquiries and alert you when changes to your score take place.

These free services can be extremely useful when you’re trying to get your credit on track or if you’ve previously been a victim of fraudulent activity and you now want to be alerted to any activities that look suspicious.

You can sign up for free and you’ll receive alerts any time a credit check is run (these alerts will come immediately) or if there are changes to you score (this will usually be done on a weekly basis when you score is updated). Services such as Credit Karma and Credit Monkey also offer credit monitoring and repair services for free.

In addition to the free offering these companies provide there are also higher tiered services that you can pay for on a monthly basis. Despite the free offerings being available not all of the information you may want is available for free. With Experian for example you’re able to see your Experian FICO 8 score, your total outstanding debt, your total open credit accounts as well as recent credit inquiries. However you are not given insight into your other scores at the other credit bureaus which can vary, nor can you see other versions of your FICO score such as the scores lenders use to assess your mortgage credit worthiness. Deeper insights into your full credit worthiness can be the difference between buying a home and being shut out of the home buying process.

Credit Karma does offer more information than what you receive from Equifax but even that may not be sufficient information depending on your needs. With Credit Karma you will not have access to your Experian score, but you will have access to your Transunion and Equifax scores as well as a snap shot of your open credit lines and total debt. Credit Karma also provides daily tips that you can use to improve your financial health. They offer things such as credit protection, data breach monitoring (useful for when your information appears in security breaches) as well as debt repayment calculators and mortgage refinance calculators. They do not have a paid tier as the earn money by promoting affiliate offers for credit cards, mortgages, and mortgage refinancing.

So you’re probably wondering why you would pay for a service if you have access to so much information for free and generally are credit monitoring services worth it?

Here’s what Experian’s paid service offers for $24.99 a month.

1. Access to all 3 FICO reports. Not only will you see your Experian score, you will also see your Transunion and Equifax scores updated on a monthly basis.

2. Credit monitoring for all 3 credit bureaus.

3. Daily FICO scores

4. Experian credit lock (useful for if you need to shut down your credit and attempts to open new accounts immediately)

5. Identity protection and alerts

6. Up to 1 million Identity Theft Insurance

7. Lost Wallet Assistance.

I personally do not think that the services they offer are worth the hefty monthly fee for the additional services. Most people will be fine with the free services and the ability to keep an eye on one of your FICO scores on a daily basis. Also, credit cards themselves offer free credit monitoring and the ability to lock your cards if you lose your wallet and want to make sure no one else can use your cards.

Additionally everyone in the United States is entitled to a free credit report from all three credit bureaus each year. I would keep this option open and only use it when I was planning to make a big purchase such as a house or a car. Requesting your report in advance will ensure that you aren’t hit with any surprises when it’s time to make a purchase. You can simply go to www.annualcreditreport.com and request a copy of your credit report from the different agencies.

For now sign up with both Credit Karma and Experian and start keeping an eye on your credit scores. Then when you’re in the planning stages of making a purchase request a copy of your credit report and remove any lingering items that you can.

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How Does Experian Boost Affect Your Credit Score

Ray — Sun, 24 Oct 2021 23:10:16 +0000

Experian Credit Boost: How Is It Done?

Experian is an example of a company that has the ability to improve on an individual’s credit score just for signing up. But, how does this become something that users can rely on? What are reasons that Experian can be a reputable company, even though there is hardly any recognition behind how they function? Experian has such a large impact on the credit score of anyone who enrolls in guidance. Going through exactly what Experian does for its customers provides an element of clarity, encouraging more people to know how to get started.

When considering the benefits of boosting your credit score, one of the main factors that applies to having a strong credit score is making on time payments. Making consistent, on time payments for any bill that needs to be paid will slowly and exponentially increase the credit score of the individual making those payments. However, the difficulty in making each payment on time is the varying dates, amounts, and recurring times. For instance, some bills such as subscriptions and energy bills could be recurring monthly, but other things such as rent and insurance could be recurring monthly, at a different date than the first. This becomes a problem for people, especially due to the fact that it can be challenging juggling different bills on different days. With this ongoing confusion, this is where Experian steps in.

Experian is a credit boosting app that combines some of the monthly payments a user makes into the same day. With this new integration, Experian brings all of the applicable bills together, causing the user to pay once, and not worry about that payment for another 30 days. In some cases, Experian will go into someone’s credit history, and combine bills. Some bills, such as water, energy, utility, and phone bills can be assimilated into one. Because Experian does this for the customer, when those recurring payments are made on time, the credit score of the individual goes up. But how?

Experian uses this idea of combination payments to secretly boost the users credit score in a genius way. When someone pays for one bill, the reflection of the credit score is a minor change. Sometimes there will be a 3 point increase, other times there’s no change. This is based on the amount of money paid, and the consistently on-time payments. With Experian, the amount of bills that come together not only minimizes the times to pay bills, but also maximizes the payment made once. When this payment is made, it is a much larger increase from the previous statement, thus increasing the customers credit score instantly.

With an Experian boost, customers are able to lessen their worry about multiple days to pay bills, while growing their credit score throughout a once a month bill. Though this bill will be more expensive, it is also the only time money is due that month, urging the customer to save throughout the rest of the month. Experian increases credit score while making little changes.

Credit Score – Good Finance Tips

Are credit monitoring services worth it?

Are credit monitoring services worth the prices they charge?

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How Does Experian Boost Affect Your Credit Score