Annual Credit Report vs Credit Monitoring
All consumers in the US are entitled to a free credit report from each of the 3 major credit reporting bureaus in accordance with the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA), by visiting www.annualcreditreport.com you can request all 3 of your reports fast and conveniently. You can't go to each individual credit bureau to request a free report, they all charge a fee. The only way to do it free is to use the above link.
While a free annual credit report is a great deal and a convenient way to peek at your credit, if your reason for doing this is to monitor your credit and watch out for credit fraud and identity theft, you're simply not doing enough. Checking your credit once a year is simply not frequent enough. Identity thieves work fast and they work all the time, 24/7 365 days a year.
Ideally you should check your credit once every quarter to stand the best chance of catching inaccuracies and most importantly credit fraud and other forms of identity theft early on before the problem escalates. Credit monitoring services give consumers a huge advantage and an array of benefits.
Compare Annual Credit Report to Credit Monitoring:
| No. | Features | Annual Credit Report | Credit Monitoring |
| 1 | 3-Bureau Credit Report |  |
|
| 2 | Credit Fraud Alerts | - | |
| 3 | Active 3-Bureau Monitoring | - | |
| 4 | Incident Resolution Assistance | - | |
| 5 | 24/7 Support | - | |
| 6 | Unlimited Access to Credit Reports | - | |
| 7 | Service Warranty | - | |
Obviously the features offered by credit monitoring services far exceed those you get from getting your annual credit report once a year. To properly protect your self from credit fraud and identity theft a more sophisticated approach is needed in today's information age.
To get a copy of each of your credit reports simply head over to www.annualcreditreport.com and fill in the required information. Your credit reports will be delivered according to the way you choose. If you want your electronic versions to view on your computer, you must have a printer ready, they will only be available for you to review for a limited time.