Monitoring your credit is necessary but time-consuming, the FACTA act made great efforts in ensuring that consumers have access to their credit reports for free once a year from each of the credit bureaus, and yes this is better than none, but it simply is not frequent enough to give consumers plenty of alert to take action against credit fraud and other types of identity theft.

Other financial experts recommend that you check your credit report twice a year, but ideally you should do it once every quarter. Especially if you’re actively using credit and if anyone other than you has access to your social security number, then the bottom line is you really need to be monitoring your credit as often as once each quarter.

Credit reports are updated once a quarter by the credit bureaus but updates can be recorded anytime especially if there’s a lot of  activity, like credit inquiries, new accounts, or negative entries.

Employing credit monitoring services in general means that you have your credit report monitored for you on a regular basis, and you get alerted via email, phone or letter about any changes to your credit history.

Credit Monitoring: The good and the bad

There are those who do not consider these services worthwhile and those who feel it is essential to your overall credit health. Yes you can monitor your own credit with some effort, and depending on how often you plan on doing it, you’ll need to request a copy of your credit report from each of the credit bureaus individually and pay each for the report.

Doing it yourself is less convenient and you get no alerts. For around $10 a month most credit monitoring services will include a number of benefits to include a service warranty and resolution assistance should anything happen. You won’t get any of these benefits by monitoring your own credit files.

If you can do without the additional benefits then for around $10 to $15 dollars you can get each of your reports each quarter and review your accounts. So it really is a matter of do you want to do the foot work yourself?

Credit monitoring services are a simplified version of identity theft services, where your credit cards, debit, share check, and bank accounts get closely monitored. It’s always best to assess one’s own information and lifestyle to properly come up with a good decision as to whether to opt for credit monitoring alone or full blown identity theft services.

The FTC reports that it can take up to 6 months and in some cases up to 12 months for a victim of identity theft to take notice that their credit card information has been used by someone else. The harshest of all notices is being contacted by a bill collector about unpaid charges made by someone else.

Credit monitoring services are designed to alert the credit owner on a daily or weekly basis when credit changes occur in your credit reports. Be it a new credit account, mortgage or any information considered critical, it’s nice to have that heads up that something important is taking place and you should take a look.

Credit monitoring won’t prevent someone from using your social security number or medical benefits in any other ways. This type of service can work well for someone who is just getting started with building their credit or rebuilding their credit. If you never provide your social security number to anyone, chances are this service will work just fine for you.

Your reports should provide detailed information from all three credit bureaus, having a 3 in 1 credit report is best, because it provides the highest level of detail about your credit history.

You should clearly see details about your monthly payments, credit lines opened or closed, active loans, paid off accounts etc. All this information including your current address and past names used, are considered your credit history. When you activate your credit monitoring service whenever this information changes from either bureau you are notified.

What are the best services? Many of the identity theft protection companies like Trusted ID and LifeLock offer credit monitoring as part of their overall service. However IdentityLookout.com by Experian and FreeCreditReport.com are two of the most popular and widely used services with a long history of successful credit fraud prevention for their clients.

In order to get started you will need to visit either one of the providers above, where you’ll learn more details about their programs, then enter their secure portal where you’ll provide personal information that will allow them to begin gathering information about you. This process may take a bit long but it’s absolutely necessary in order to get started correctly.