Credit Monitoring - Advantages And Disadvantages
Have you heard of credit monitoring? It is a service that credit
reporting agencies offer to you. The service is quite
straightforward. For a fee, they will monitor your credit for
you to insure that nothing strange appears or that nothing out
of the ordinary reduces your credit score. Is an investment in
such a service worthwhile?
How Credit Monitoring Can Benefit You
First of all, credit monitoring does do something that has
become necessary with the advent of different types of credit
fraud. Any consumer, anywhere that uses credit needs to monitor
their credit score and report. It is necessary because at any
time a negative item is placed on your credit report it can be
very detrimental to your future credit needs. Those who commit
such fraud do not necessarily need your social security number
or other personal details. It all depends on where they use your
credit card information.
It is important to know what's on that record and it is
important to know how it got there. The longer it goes without
being disputed, the more 'real' it looks in the eyes of the law.
In this way, credit monitoring really can benefit you because
you will be notified right away when negative activity is
reported on your credit report.
How Credit Monitoring Can Rip You Off
It is true that such a service can be helpful, but credit
monitoring is very expensive, up to $150 per year in some cases.
This money can be used to help reduce credit card debt instead.
If you are net savvy, then your credit report is a few
keystrokes away. All of the major credit reporting agencies can
be found online and can tell you're what your credit report
looks like.
Also, in the United States, as of this year, you are provided a
free credit report each year from the credit reporting agencies
so that you can monitor your credit history. This free product
may not be enough, but it is a start. You should check your
report often and know what is on it. Ideally, you should check
your report every 3 months. If you are going to be making any
large purchases e.g. a new house, a new car you should get your
report a couple of months in advance so that you can clear up
any negative items in time to get the best deal on your
purchase.