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Keep Your Credit Score and Personal Information Safe with Credit Monitoring

Manage Your Credit Basic credit report checking isn't always enough. With the increase in ID theft incidences, you need to know what's happening all the time. This is where credit monitoring becomes a vital tool.

When you are proactive about your credit score, you know what is on your credit report all year — not just when you are eligible for a free report — and you no longer have to worry about someone stealing your identity and ruining your credit.

To see how you can benefit from credit monitoring, let's take a closer look at what all's involved.

Going Beyond Credit Reports

Many people check their credit report once a year — or even less often than that. Even if you check your credit report a couple of times a year, it might not be enough. You pride yourself on your good credit: no delinquencies, collections or negative factors on your report, but that could be at risk. By checking your credit report a few times a year, you might miss something that could ruin your credit — before you know it even happens.

You may not realize that your credit has been compromised until you attempt to apply for a new credit card and are declined. Having good credit, you would check your credit report to determine why you were declined only to find that someone opened numerous lines of credit in your name and went on a shopping spree — six months ago. At that point, your credit is damaged and you may find companies coming after you for unpaid bills.

Credit Monitoring and Credit Scores

If you had been enrolled in a credit monitoring service, you would have known about the activity on your account and could have stopped the identity thief, retaining zero liability for their actions. Instead, you're trying to piece together what happened and have to rebuild a shattered credit score and report.

With credit monitoring, you go beyond the basics and have the system watching your account — 24 hours a day. That means that identity thief wouldn't get far and you will keep peace of mind.

This is just one scenario where credit monitoring would protect you. Let's look at other ways choosing to monitor your account keeps your credit safe and sound.

Why Credit Monitoring Helps Credit Reports and Credit Scores

There are numerous reasons you should consider enrolling in a credit monitoring service, as outlined below.

Alerts

With the right credit monitoring service, you receive a notification the moment anything out of the ordinary shows up on your account. This includes when someone:

  • Opens a credit card account in your name
  • Uses your personal information to file for documentation, such as a Social Security card
  • Attempts to change your address with a creditor

Monitoring across Three Agencies

There are three credit bureaus that creditors look to for your credit report. With the right credit monitoring system, you get a notice from all three and they all will keep your data in sync.

Identity Theft

We've already touched on this subject, but it's one that needs repeating. If you don't actively monitor your credit, someone could come in and treat themselves to a shopping spree — under your name. This situation alone should convince you of the importance of credit monitoring and keeping your credit score safe.

Peace of Mind

There's no more important reason to invest in credit report monitoring than having peace of mind. Knowing your personal information and credit score are safe can help you get sound sleep at night.

Checking your credit report is important, but there are numerous reasons to go beyond simple, periodic checking and to consider credit monitoring to safeguard your credit score. Not only will you know what's happening all the time, but you also will have peace of mind about your credit.

If you're not already using credit monitoring services to keep track of your credit score, enroll now and know what's happening with your personal information.

 

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