Credit Monitoring Services is the best way to keep track of your credit score. Not only you get to see your credit score in real-time with a credit monitoring service but also get notified when you apply for a new credit account. This gets in the way of identity fraud and gives you enough time to take action.
Although credit monitoring services are mistaken with identity theft protection services, these two are separate things. While an identity theft protection service will search for your information in deep and dark web as well as the surface web for potential leaks and notify you, a credit monitoring service will only help you see your credit. After all, it’s just a monitoring service.
Now that a few of the thing are out of the way, we can take a deeper look at what credit monitoring services allow you to do. The most important feature of any credit monitoring service is that it will notify you when there is changes to your credit reports. This ultimately can get in the way of potential risks caused by identity theft.
Should I get a Credit Monitoring Service with Identity Theft Protection?
The answer to this is—it depends. If your only desire is to keep track of your credit score and get in the way of possible actions on your credit that isn’t made by you, it should be enough. You can always get an identity theft protection to take things a step further.
However, those that are trying to build credit should always get some form of monitoring on their credit. Some of the credit cards that appeal to people with bad credit already offer these services. So, if a credit card of your choice offers this, it’s a favorable option.
The bottom line is you don’t need identity theft protection with credit monitoring service. Make sure that credit monitoring service is included when you’re in the market for an identity theft protection subscription. Most identity theft protection services offer credit monitoring alongside of their products. Instead of purchasing either one of them separately, subscribe to a plan that offers both.
On average, a credit monitoring service shouldn’t cost you more than $20. On the other hand, this is about $30 for identity theft protection. Don’t let the cost of either one of these services to keep you away from purchasing. These are definitely worth it as you will protect both your identity and credit from potential actions of fraud.