What is credit monitoring? There are a three primary national consumer credit bureaus, and you may have a credit report with more than one. Although the reports are often similar, they’re not necessarily identical because some financial institutions only report data to one or two of the bureaus, and some don't report data to any of them.
At their simplest, credit monitoring services will look for potentially suspicious changes in your credit reports based on your prior activity and send you an alert if they detect an issue. These could include a new hard inquiry (when you apply for credit and a creditor checks your report) or a new account. Either could be an indication that someone is using your information to fraudulently open financial accounts.
They may also alert you to new public records, such as a bankruptcy, and to changes to the personal information section, such as a new name or address on your report.
Credit monitoring services can range in price and function. You can find the basic monitoring and alert services for free. However, they may o ...
