Free credit monitoring

Credit monitoring services allow you to track the activity on your credit report. You can receive alerts for changes in the information on your credit report so that you can address things that are suspicious or incorrect.

Credit monitoring will give you insights into changes on your credit report including any hard inquiries that are made, newly created accounts, high credit card balances, missed payments and many more. By monitoring your credit, you can see which areas of your credit profile can be improved upon. You’ll also be able to spot identity theft early on and identify inaccuracies in your credit reports, so you can dispute these errors.

Credit monitoring does a lot, but it can’t fully protect you from fraud. A credit monitoring service will not be able to: stop phishing emails, keep your information safe from data breaches, prevent someone from applying for credit in your name or fix errors on your report for you.

Although the two are similar, the key difference is that credit monitoring is one part of identity theft protection. Credit monitoring will alert you if there is suspicious activity on your credit report, while identity theft protection will monitor for fraudulent activity in other places such as your bank accounts, the dark web, criminal databases and additional places where you social security number may be used.

Experian offers a free credit monitoring service that will give you alerts for changes to your Experian credit report. You're also able to upgrade your plan at any time, which will allow you to monitor you credit report for all three bureaus, lock your credit report, scan the dark web for your personal data and receive an identity theft insurance policy that will cover up to $1,000,000.

It's recommended to check your credit reports at least once a quarter, but once a month is ideal. This will allow you to stay up-to-date with the information on your credit report and find potential signs of identity theft or report mistakes.

Credit monitoring has several benefits that allow you to keep track of all the changes to your credit report, while alerting you when new activity happens, potentially informing you of the first indication of fraud.

One of the most effective ways to improve your credit score is to monitor it. Regularly monitoring your credit can help you ensure your credit report is accurate and take steps to increase your credit score. Receiving alerts of new credit report changes, you can take fast action to help you maintain a positive credit history.

Credit monitoring has no impact on your credit scores. While credit monitoring can cause soft inquiries to appear on your credit reports, they won’t affect your scores.