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Credit Monitoring Services

You should check your own credit reports and credit scores often--at least several times per year. In fact, many financial experts agree that you should check your credit report at least once a month. Creditors generally send updates to the credit bureaus once every month. Therefore, your account information should be updated once a month as well. If you are expecting an important change in one or more of your accounts, or if you have another reason to closely monitor your credit history, you may want to check your credit report even more often.

All creditors do not send updates to the bureaus on the same day. The credit bureaus are constantly receiving updates. There is no easy way to tell exactly when a creditor will send new information to the bureaus, or when the bureaus will update their databases. However, it is common for the same creditor to update records on the same day of each month. Thus, it is beneficial to choose the same day each month to check your credit report so you will see all the changes to your credit report since the last month.

Another option for keeping on top of your credit report is to sign up for a credit monitoring service. A credit monitoring service is a service provided by the credit bureaus that lets you see any changes to your credit file as maintained by the credit bureaus. A credit montitoring service is also a great way to help you avoid identity theft by alerting you to any strange activity on any of your credit accounts. Credit monitoring services are provided for a monthly or annual fee. Fees typically start at about $9.95/month.

Identity Guard ** RECOMMENDED **

A company called Identity Guard offers a service called CreditProtectX3. CreditProtectX3 is a comprehensive credit monitoring and privacy protection solution, featuring monitoring from all three credit reporting agencies. Monitoring your credit files at all three major credit bureaus is the best way to prevent becoming a victim of identity theft. You can effectively monitor and manage your credit and protect yourself from identity theft--or at the very least you will catch any fraudulent activity early, before much damage can be done.
Learn more about Identity Guard

TrueCredit Credit Monitoring

TrueCredit offers a credit monitoring service that includes the following services: