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Credit monitoring and repair services
A task you must learn.

If you ever plan to get a credit card, get a car loan, or a mortgage loan to buy a home, you will need to have positive credit established.  If you already have credit, you may not be aware of it’s condition, and if there is inaccurate information being reported about you.  In fact, with identity theft on the increase, it is an absolute must that you know who is looking at your credit file, what is being reported on it, and who put it there.  You need to begin monitoring your credit on a regular basis, and making an effort to correct inaccurate information. Starting now, and keeping up with the task on a regular basis, increases the chance that your credit will be high enough to qualify you for the financing you need down the road. 

Credit monitoring services have been around for a while, long before the Internet boom and shortly after the first credit bureau (Equifax), began its operations back in 1899 as a retail credit company. Since then, credit monitoring has evolved from the based-land services provided by credit institutions decades ago, to telemarketing offers starting in the late 1980's. 

Therefore, online services appeared in the 1990's as the Internet grew up and gave rise to a serious problem: identity theft, which is the only circumstance in which financial experts have no doubt in recommending the payment of a credit monitoring service. If you have been a victim of identity theft, or are at high risk of being one, a monitoring service will pay for itself over time. 

Most of those experts believe that the best method to monitor your credit is "do it by yourself".  Credit monitoring has been marketed as a credit management tool, often costly, and consisting of the mailing of your credit report every 3 months or so, while you can get your report for free directly from the credit bureaus and even accessing your information in real-time. 

Like in most activities, there are pros and cons whether you are planning to pay for services of a credit monitoring company or if you prefer to do it by yourself.  It depends on each individuals desire to pay or not to pay for a monitoring service, but some advisers compare credit monitoring services with buying a membership to a gym attended rarely or never. 

According to this comparison, people may start out checking their credit report often, but in the long run the service is not used enough to make it pay for itself. However, awareness of the importance of protecting yourself from identity theft and phishing scams has produced the increased number of credit monitoring services. 

A monitoring service offers you the benefits of early detection of errors or unusual and suspicious activity. Some monitoring services are offered on a daily basis, weekly, or as soon as your credit report is updated. These services send alerts regularly to help you tackle any irregularity as soon as it occurs. 

Moreover, some of these companies offer also fraud resolution services and/or "clean up" your report if you are victim of identity thieves, but it is not always free so make sure to read the terms and pay particular attention to the "fine print".  

In addition, identity theft insurance can be part of the same package or as an add-on service, but this can be purchased as stand-alone insurance from other types of financial institutions and at a lower price. 

On the other hand, monitoring your own credit is as easy as requesting a free copy of your report to any of the 3 major national credit bureaus:

Equifax

http://www.equifax.com
Phone 800 685-1111
P.O. Box 740241
Atlanta, Ga.

Experian

http://www.experian.com
Phone 30374-0241 /  888 322 5583
P.O. Box 2002
Allen, Texas 75013

Trans Union

http://www.transunion.com
Phone 800 888-4213
P.O. Box 1000
Chester, Pa. 19022

In fact, you can request a report from each of them at the same time to verify its accuracy, making sure there is no unusual movement. However, free reports are only provided every 12 months, so it is a good strategy to request the report three times a year, each time from a different bureau: 

Among the cons of credit monitoring services, you can find that some of them monitor only one credit bureau's report. Be aware of services claiming to monitor the 3 credit agencies at a time because sometimes they do it only as an introduction to the service to let you compare the benefits and then upgrade the service... paying more, of course.

Furthermore, the monitoring terms may specify that email reports will be sent within 24 hours after monitoring, but some companies may send these alerts after longer periods of time, even quarterly instead of daily. Besides, you should also review your credit report after the monitor service sends you an alert because you are the only who can take steps to control damages of identity theft or fix mistakes and inaccuracies in your credit report.

Anita Johnston is a staff writer for Direct Lending Solutions – www.directlendingsolutions.com