By Stephanie Mojica
Overview
Regularly checking your consumer credit report is an important step toward ensuring your credit is accurately reported and that you are not a victim of identity theft. It is especially essential for those recently out of a bankruptcy case to make sure that their accounts are reporting properly as included in bankruptcy. While every United States citizen is eligible for a free annual credit report from the credit bureaus Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, sometimes there is a need to regularly get more credit reports. Fortunately, the credit bureaus and some partnering businesses offer affordable deals for those wanting to check their credit standing more often than once a year.
Equifax Credit Watch
Equifax Credit Watch™ Gold with 3-in-1 Monitoring with FICO® Score is offered as a comprehensive credit checking program to United States consumers. The first month of membership is free and additional months are $14.95 with no contract required. This product offers a monthly view of all three national credit reports and Equifax FICO scores. It also provides unlimited viewing of Equifax credit reports. In addition, every time a change is posted to any of your credit reports or someone pulls your file, you receive an email monitoring alert.
Equifax Score Watch
For those who might have another monitoring service and just want to keep tabs on their FICO score, Equifax Score Watch could be a viable solution. This product offers two Equifax FICO score reports per month for a fee of $9.95 with no contract requirements.
Experian Triple Advantage
Experian Triple Advantage is an excellent resource for those wanting to monitor all three major credit bureaus and have unlimited access to their Experian credit report and score. Triple Advantage is free for 7 days, then costs $14.95 per month. Its credit monitoring sends alerts whenever a change or inquiry is posted on a Experian, Equifax or TransUnion credit file. This service requires no contracts.
Experian Vantage Score
Experian Vantage Score is a good choice for someone who wants to occasionally check his Experian credit score and is not interested in a monitoring service. Each Vantage Score report is $5.95 and is a one-time charge to a credit or debit card.
TransUnion Credit Monitoring
TransUnion Credit Monitoring is similar to the services offered by Equifax and Experian in that it issues email alerts to subscribers whenever a change or credit review inquiry is posted to any of the three major credit bureaus. It offers a 30-day free trial and charges $11.95 per month without any contract requirements once the trial period ends. It includes a credit report from all three bureaus and TransUnion credit scores but only once per month.
Credit Report Reviews by available-credit.com