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Reader Question: How much do credit report monitoring services cost?
June 4th, 2008 - Posted by Joe
Q: I see that most of the credit reporting monitoring services on your website offer a free trial. How much do they cost after the free trial is over?
A: While free trial periods are great to evaluate whether or not a particular credit report monitoring service is a fit for your life, it is important to realize that once the trial period is over you will have to live with the monthly fee.
Below is a list of the free trial periods and monthly fees of the top five credit report monitoring services we have reviewed. We have also included information on what credit report and score data you receive when you sign up. This is important because in almost all cases you get to keep the initial credit report and score information your receive during your free trial.
Equifax offers a 30 day free trial and costs $14.95 per month thereafter. Upon sign up you will receive a free FICO score and free 3-bureau credit report which are yours to keep even if you decide to cancel during the free trial period.
CreditCheck Total offers a 7 day free trial and costs $14.95 per month thereafter. Upon sign up you will receive free reports and scores from all three credit bureaus which are yours to keep even if you decide to cancel during the free trial period.
Identity Guard does not offer a free trial, but will give you your second month for free. The ongoing monthly fee is $11.99. Upon sign up you will receive free reports and scores from all three credit bureaus.
FreeCreditReport.com offers a 7 day free trial and costs $12 per month thereafter. Upon sign up you will receive a free Experian credit report and score which are yours to keep even if you decide to cancel during the free trial period.
Privacy Matters 123 offers a 7 day free trial and costs $19.95 per month thereafter. Upon sign up you will receive free reports and scores from all three credit bureaus which are yours to keep even if you decide to cancel during the free trial period.
To learn more about credit report monitoring services visit our credit report monitoring service reviews and comparison.
4 Responses to “Reader Question: How much do credit report monitoring services cost?”
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Disclosure: NextAdvisor.com is a consumer information site that offers free, independent reviews and ratings of online services. We receive advertising revenue from most of the services we review. Our editors thoroughly research and whenever possible test each service we review and offer their honest opinions about each one. We are independently owned and operated and all opinions expressed on this site are our own.
July 19th, 2008 at 11:43 am
why is it a bad thing that the experian report doesn't include all 3 scores but acceptable that the equifax one doesn't? your "unbiased" reviews and ratings seem to lack a consistent set of criteria. who created those ratings? actual users of the services? or your company?
July 22nd, 2008 at 6:02 pm
Hi Joy,
Excellent question.
Equifax includes the FICO score. As you may know, the FICO score is the basis for lending decisions made by most financial institutions (the actual scores used by lenders are typically unique to that lender, but more lenders use FICO criteria to establish their score than any other method).
Experian's FreeCreditReport.com product only includes an Experian credit score. While having access to this score is better than nothing, it is not as representative of what lenders may use to make decisions about your creditworthiness as the Equifax FICO score is.
I will also note that we have also rated Experian's CreditCheck Total product, which includes all three credit reports and all three credit scores five stars. This is the same rating we gave Equifax's FICO product.
Regarding the source of the reviews, our editorial team produces the reviews and ratings after many hours of using the products as consumers. Our criteria is standardized and extensive. In this example, it may seem that products that offer only one score should all be rated the same, but from our editorial perspective, not all scores are created equal. We believe that given the choice of only one score option that most consumers should choose the FICO score.
I hope this answers your questions fully.
Thanks,
Joe Fahrner
NextAdvisor.com
May 8th, 2009 at 5:24 am
The real answer? Too much. Why would you pay monthly for a service that doesn't actually do anything for you? If you want to protect your identity, get a credit freeze which locks your credit reports under a PIN number that only you have possession of. That way, no one can open new accounts without your express approval every time.
February 8th, 2011 at 11:13 pm
The following time I learn a weblog, I hope that it doesnt disappoint me as a lot as this one. I imply, I do know it was my option to read, however I truly thought youd have something fascinating to say. All I hear is a bunch of whining about something that you possibly can fix when you werent too busy on the lookout for attention.