monthly credit monitoring worth it?

[Keyboard Ninja]

Does anyone pay a monthly fee to have their credit monitored? I've thought about paying the $12.99/month www.privacyguard.com is wanting just so I could see the activity (or lack of) on my credit score. Would this be worth it? Are there any cheaper solutions besides checking for free once a year?

 

[SecondCor521]

FREE Credit Score & FREE Credit Tools. No Credit Card Needed is free and you can update your score on a daily basis. It's only TransUnion, though, not the other two.

You can also get free reports if you're unemployed, or if you've been denied credit or had an adverse credit action (lowered limit, raised rate, etc.)

2Cor521

 

[mickeyd]

Because I had an investment with a financial services firm that had been hit by internet sneaks, I was offered a free 1 year plan with a company that does this kind of thing.

All they seem to do is send me an email each month advising me that I had no action on my credit reports. I do not believe that they would have any way of intervening in any illegal activity on my accounts, so I consider it a limited after-the-fact value. But, at a cost to me of zero, it's well worth it.

 

[OAG]

Why not check with ONE of the THREE National Credit Monitoring agencies every 4 months through the year. That would give you a better "on-going" check that just checking once a year with all three of them. Unless there is some compelling reason, I would NEVER pay for the service and $12.99 a month is NOT going to HELP your credit rating. Additionally, to my knowledge, the only report activity leaving any "fixing" up to you.

 

[Alan]

Because I had an investment with a financial services firm that had been hit by internet sneaks, I was offered a free 1 year plan with a company that does this kind of thing.

All they seem to do is send me an email each month advising me that I had no action on my credit reports. I do not believe that they would have any way of intervening in any illegal activity on my accounts, so I consider it a limited after-the-fact value. But, at a cost to me of zero, it's well worth it.

Exactly what happened to me just over a year ago, and I also wouldn't pay for it. I get myself a free credit report every 4 months (one from each of the big 3 agencies). Last year I did find an error on one them which I corrected.

 

[freebird5825]

Because I had an investment with a financial services firm that had been hit by internet sneaks, I was offered a free 1 year plan with a company that does this kind of thing.

All they seem to do is send me an email each month advising me that I had no action on my credit reports. I do not believe that they would have any way of intervening in any illegal activity on my accounts, so I consider it a limited after-the-fact value. But, at a cost to me of zero, it's well worth it.

Free service from these folks (see below) by chance? Bank of NY Mellon had a data leak (lost physical media in transit) and a court settlement gave all affected customers 2 years free, effective June 2008.
I thought it was a scam when I first read the letter. Yeah, free, right ...sell me the Brooklyn Bridge next ....but it is a legitimate service per Experian customer service.
I get no reports unless there was activity. It has worked on time, when I deliberately tested it with a credit account action.
Free is the right price.
YMMV

<excerpt from their email of June 2008>
https://partner.experiandirect.com/...SiteVersionID=511&SiteID=100231&sc=668557&bcd

Should you have any questions concerning your Triple Alert(SM) Credit Monitoring membership, please contact Customer Care at 1-866-926-9805. For your convenience, our customer care center is open Monday-Friday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday-Sunday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific Time. You can also contact us by email at triplealert.help@consumerinfo.com.

 

[mickeyd]

Bank of NY Mellon had a data leak (lost physical media in transit) and a court settlement gave all affected customers 2 years free, effective June 2008.

Yes that was it. I had forgotten the circumstances. I thought that it was for only a year, but I guess I was wrong.

 

[freebird5825]

Yes that was it. I had forgotten the circumstances. I thought that it was for only a year, but I guess I was wrong.

it initially was 1 year, so your recollection is correct. it was extended to 2 years a short time later.

 

[jazz4cash]

I had the Privacy Guard service through B of A, but I think it was $89/yr for a three bureau report w/ one score. It was okay, but I have not renewed. The most interesting thing to me was how many random inquiries were generated by my insurance, credit, and mortgage cos.

oops...its Bank of America Privacy Source.

 

[Urchina]

AAA just sent me a note letting me know that this is free for AAA members. So if you're already a AAA member, you're already paid up! Contact your local office for details.

 

[mickeyd]

AAA just sent me a note letting me know that this is free for AAA members. So if you're already a AAA member, you're already paid up! Contact your local office for details.

Free? Hey, that's my favorite price.

 

[tmm99]

2Cor521,

I just went to the site you mentioned, registered and it says my FICO store is 778, but when I checked last month against 3 bureaus (I don't remember which bureau gave me which score) it was 797, 798, and 799, which is about 20 points higher than what this site says. Nothing has changed that I know of as far as my credit limit, loans etc.

How do you think this could be?

 

[tmm99]

or maybe my FICO score went down 20 points in one month, I don't know (I hope not!)

 

[Fireup2020]

I have paid for this service since in the past few years I went from $20K unsecured debt to zero. There were some other credit score issues also. I wanted to make sure the decline in my balances was properly documented, and I enjoy having my fabulous credit score at my fingertips! As soon as my lowest score is in the 780's, I will discontine the service and just request one every 4 mos as others here do. My starting score at the height of my financial debauchery in 2000 was in the mid/high 500's and currently am mid/high 700's. Of course, I call and have managed to wiggle a $20 deduction the past couple years off the annual fee (less than paying the regular monthly rate! - military, woe is me, etc...)

 

[FinanceDude]

I haven't ever paid for monitoring. I do run DW and my free credit report every year. Our scores have been in the 815-830 range and no weird stuff has happened, but I stay on top of it.........

 

[FinanceDude]

2Cor521,

I just went to the site you mentioned, registered and it says my FICO store is 778, but when I checked last month against 3 bureaus (I don't remember which bureau gave me which score) it was 797, 798, and 799, which is about 20 points higher than what this site says. Nothing has changed that I know of as far as my credit limit, loans etc.

How do you think this could be?

Have you or anyone run your credit? Several credit inquiries in quick succession can knock your score down that much........

 

[tmm99]

FinanceDude,

I am one of those people who subscribe to credit monitoring, so I ran all 3 reports just yesterday to see, and my numbers that came back were 18 points higher (2 points lower than last month for some reason) than the number I got from the free site.

I don't get it... I wonder why I didn't get the same number for TransUnion on my credit monitoring site if the free site is linked to TransUnion?

tmm

 

[Khan]

I have an American Express card and they offer a free Experian credit report and score.
(798 out of 830)

 

[FinanceDude]

FinanceDude,

I am one of those people who subscribe to credit monitoring, so I ran all 3 reports just yesterday to see, and my numbers that came back were 18 points higher (2 points lower than last month for some reason) than the number I got from the free site.

I don't get it... I wonder why I didn't get the same number for TransUnion on my credit monitoring site if the free site is linked to TransUnion?

tmm

Not sure why, maybe the data feed is a little different between the various reporting entities.........

 

[SecondCor521]

FinanceDude,

I am one of those people who subscribe to credit monitoring, so I ran all 3 reports just yesterday to see, and my numbers that came back were 18 points higher (2 points lower than last month for some reason) than the number I got from the free site.

I don't get it... I wonder why I didn't get the same number for TransUnion on my credit monitoring site if the free site is linked to TransUnion?

tmm

I dunno. I do know that my CK score tracked my TU score very closely when I was monitoring both independently several months ago. I've let my TU score monitoring method expire -- I simply don't care that much to pay for it at the moment -- so I can't say if they still match in my case. I do know that I've seen some weird 20 point swings in my score there in the past few weeks that I could not explain.

2Cor521

 

[tmm99]

Financedude and 2Cor521,

Thank you both for the posts.

I decided not to worry about the discrepancies (it's not like I am trying to get a loan right now.) and go with my higher score provided by my paid subscription cuz, well, the score simply looks nicer.

tmm