How does credit monitoring affect your credit score?
February 3rd, 2012 - Posted by Tasha
Q: I've been told that your credit score can suffer if your credit report is checked too often in a 12 month time period. How does credit monitoring affect your credit score?
A: Good news—first off, you can check your own credit score and/or report as many times as you want without it affecting your credit score. Checking your own credit score/report is considered a "soft" inquiry and will NOT affect your credit score in any way. It also won't show up on credit reports given to third parties.
Additionally, subscribing to a legitimate credit monitoring service won't hurt your credit score. That's because when you subscribe to a credit monitoring service you authorize them to act on your behalf to monitor your credit reports. This means they can also check your credit scores and reports without it affecting your score. If you're in the market for a credit monitoring service, take a look at our top-rated Identity Guard TOTAL PROTECTION® and PrivacyGuard.
Does Identity Guard have a toll-free phone number to call for more information?
January 24th, 2012 - Posted by Tasha
Q: Does Identity Guard have a toll-free phone number to call for more information?
A: Yes, Identity Guard does have a toll-free phone number you can call for more information about their product: 1-855-727-5801. Identity Guard customer service representatives are available via that phone number from 8am to 8pm EST Monday through Friday. This is a dedicated line for NextAdvisor readers, so you'll still be able to get the free 30-day trial AND 25% off the subscription price (bringing price down to $14.99/mo) of top-rated Identity Guard TOTAL PROTECTION® when you call in.
If I sign up for Identity Guard today, will I get immediate knowledge of opened credit to date?
January 20th, 2012 - Posted by Tasha
Q: If I sign up for Identity Guard today, will I get immediate knowledge of opened credit to date?
A: Yes, if you sign up for Identity Guard TOTAL PROTECTION® today, you will find out about the lines of credit opened in your name to date. That's because when you sign up for Identity Guard, you'll receive access to your 3-bureau credit report—a summary of your credit history as provided by each of the 3 credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion). Within this summary are all of the credit accounts included in your current credit history as well as the payment history for each account over the last 24 months. You'll also get your credit scores from all 3 credit bureaus for free.
It's important to note that over time, some information does fall off your credit reports. Positive account information remains in your credit report for at least 10 years. Delinquent payment information remains on your credit report for 7 years from the date of delinquency.
We really like Identity Guard as both a credit monitoring and identity theft protection service, and right now they are offering a free 30-day trial and 25% off the subscription price to NextAdvisor readers.
I opened a department store credit card this week. If I never use it, will it still hurt my credit score?
December 30th, 2011 - Posted by Tasha
Q: I opened a department store credit card this week. If I never use it,will it still hurt my credit score?
A: Opening a new credit card account may impact your credit score in the short run, whether you use it or not. That's because most credit scores take into account any new credit you've opened when calculating your score. Opening a new credit line is generally perceived as a having a slightly negative affect on your credit score. However, by adding new credit to your existing lines of credit (other credit cards, etc) you are increasing the total amount of credit available to you which can be a good thing. I'll explain below how this might actually help you in the long run.
Using the popular FICO score as a base line for how all credit scores are calculated, you can see from the diagram below that there are 5 different factors considered. These are your payment history (are you making your payments on time), the amounts you owe, the length of your credit history, new credit and the different types of credit you use.
The 2 factors that come into play with your situation are "new credit" and the "amounts you owe". Although applying for a new credit card may hurt your credit score a little bit in the short run, increasing the overall amount of credit available to you helps improve your credit utilization ratio which can help your score in the long run.
For example, if previously you had a total of $7,500 worth of credit available to you and you used $5,000 of this credit, your credit utilization ratio would be 67% ($5,000/$7,500). But if the department store credit card added another $2,500 to the total amount of credit available to you and you still were only using $5,000 worth of credit a month your new ratio would be 50% ($5,000/$10,000). Since you're now only using 50% of your available credit, this should help improve your credit score over time. And since "amounts owed" constitute about 30% of your total credit score this is a good thing.
The take away here is that while getting that department store credit card might ding your score for a month or two, if you never use it your credit utilization ratio will improve, which will help your credit score over time – a good thing. But if you do use it, it won't help your credit score because your ratio won't really improve much.
If you'd like to find out what your 3-bureau credit scores are now, consider signing up for Identity Guard TOTAL PROTECTION® credit monitoring. Right now they are offering a free 30-day trial, and you'll get all 3 of your credit scores for free when you sign up. You can cancel any time during the trial period and you'll get to keep your credit scores free of charge. Identity Guard also updates your credit scores every 3 months so you'll know how they change over time.
With ProtectMyID, if something happens to change my credit score up or down at any of the three bureaus, will I receive my new score?
December 21st, 2011 - Posted by Tasha
Q: With ProtectMyID, if something happens to change my credit score up or down at any of the three bureaus, will I receive my new score?
A: ProtectMyID's credit monitoring service does not provide credit scores. It's great strength is that it is one of the cheapest services on the market for monitoring all 3 of your credit reports. At just $10.35 per month (with the exclusive NextAdvisor discount) it's a great deal. If something changes on one of your 3-bureau reports, you'll be notified via email or text of the change but you will not receive a new score.
If you're interested in a service that provides both credit report monitoring and updated credit scores, PrivacyGuard is a great solution. PrivacyGuard also provides 3-bureau credit monitoring, but it adds monthly updates to both your 3-bureau credit reports and scores. Since the majority of other credit monitoring services only provide quarterly or even yearly updates, monthly updates are a huge bonus. Right now PrivacyGuard is offering NextAdvisor readers a 30-day trial for $1. When you sign up for the trial, you'll get 3-bureau credit reports and 3-bureau credit scores as well as credit monitoring. And if you decide PrivacyGuard isn't for you, just cancel during the trial period and the reports and scores are yours to keep.
How do I get the 25% discount with Identity Guard?
December 7th, 2011 - Posted by Tasha
Q: How do I get the 25% discount with Identity Guard?
A: It's easy—to get this exclusive deal just follow any Identity Guard sign up link on our site. Or click here to get the 25% discount ($5.00 off) AND free 30-day trial. Along with this great deal, you'll also receive free 3-bureau credit scores at signup. And even if you cancel your membership during the free trial period you'll still get to keep these 3-bureau credit scores and a public records report for free.
As you could probably surmise from our #1 rating of Identity Guard TOTAL PROTECTION, we really like this service. Combined with the discount and free trial, we think it's a great offer. So great, that I'm actually a member!
My credit is frozen. Do I have to unfreeze my credit to get a credit report?
December 6th, 2011 - Posted by Tasha
Q: My credit is frozen. Do I have to unfreeze my credit to get a credit report?
You can still get your credit reports when your credit is frozen
A: No, you do not have to unfreeze your credit to obtain your credit report. Credit freezes prohibit third parties—like potential lenders—from being able to access your report, and are typically set to help prevent identity thieves from being able to open new credit accounts in your name. However, you are still able to access your own credit report. Here's a quote directly from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) site:
"Placing a credit freeze does not affect your credit score—nor does it keep you from getting your free annual credit report, or from buying your credit report or score."
If you have been a victim of identity theft (or even if you haven't), you might want to consider signing up for an identity theft protection service. Many of these services will monitor your credit reports, scan for the use of your personal information in a variety of arenas, provide free credit scores and free subscriptions to internet security software. They are also able to monitor your credit reports while a credit freeze is in place. Our top pick is Identity Guard, and right now they are offering a free 30-day trial and an 18% subscription discount.
If I sign up for a credit monitoring service, can I get all 3 reports with credit scores anytime I want?
December 5th, 2011 - Posted by Tasha
Q: If I sign up for a credit monitoring service, can I get all 3 reports with credit scores anytime I want or is there a limit?
PrivacyGuard provides all 3 credit reports and scores for $1
A: It depends on which credit monitoring service you subscribe to. If you're looking for frequent credit report and credit score updates, we highly recommend PrivacyGuard. PrivacyGuard provides 3-bureau credit reports and credit scores when you sign up AND features monthly report and score updates. This is in addition to 3-bureau credit monitoring, a free subscription to Norton Internet Security Online and a variety of financial calculators.
The monthly report and score updates make PrivacyGuard a great solution for keeping your eye on your credit information. Plus, right now PrivacyGuard is offering a 30-day trial for a $1, during which you'll get your 3-bureau reports and scores.
How accurate is the Identity Guard TOTAL PROTECTION credit score compared to the credit score the bank uses?
November 21st, 2011 - Posted by Tasha
Q: We are working on applying for a home loan, but need to get our scores up. How accurate is the Identity Guard TOTAL PROTECTION credit score compared to the ones the bank uses?
A: Identity Guard TOTAL PROTECTION® credit scores were very, very close to FICO credit scores in our (non-formal) testing among 8 different people. Identity Guard uses the CreditXpert brand of credit scores which we believe is a good approximation of what your FICO score might be. Banks typically use FICO brand credit scores, but this is not always the case. It is impossible to predict which credit scores your particular bank uses, but a good way to find out is to call and ask them.
If you're working on improving your credit scores, Identity Guard includes a useful credit analyzer tool that lets you try out different financial actions to see how they might affect your credit score. For example, you can experiment with making loan payments, transferring balances and opening or closing credit accounts. The credit analyzer tool will take your existing credit score, factor in the change and simulate what your new credit score would be. This is a pretty nifty way to help determine which actions may help your credit score the most.
Right now Identity Guard is offering a free 30-day trial, during which you'll get free 3-bureau credit scores, a free public records report and free Zone Alarm Internet Security Suite. Even if you cancel during the trial period, you'll get to keep all these goodies free of charge, so it's a great time to try Identity Guard out and see if you like it.
Do I Have To Sign Up For Identity Theft Protect and Credit Monitoring Separately?
November 7th, 2011 - Posted by Tasha
Q: I am interested in signing up for identity theft protection and also credit monitoring. Do I need to sign up for each individually?
A: No, you don't. Our top-rated Identity Guard TOTAL PROTECTION® provides both comprehensive identity theft protection and thorough 3-bureau credit monitoring. Upon signup for their free 30-day trial, you'll also receive free 3-bureau credit scores, a free public record report and free Zone Alarm Internet Security Suite software – yours to keep even if you cancel during the trial period. We like Identity Guard so much, we even rated them #1 in our identity theft protection reviews and credit monitoring reviews.
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