 |
Equifax Complete Advantage Review: Credit Report Monitoring |
| Sign up for Equifax Complete Advantage | |
Rating: |
 |
| All 3 scores plus excellent 3-bureau monitoring and ongoing Equifax score updates; no free trial | |
|
Equifax Complete Advantage is a good credit report monitoring service with useful features to help you manage your credit. Its combination of all three credit reports and scores and three bureau monitoring makes it a strong service, although it would be nice if it had a free trial and featured more frequent credit report and score updates.
Equifax Complete Advantage does a great job of supplying you with a lot of credit information. Upon enrollment, you get immediate access to your credit scores and reports from all three bureaus. While you only get all three scores and reports annually, you get unlimited access to your Equifax score and report. Equifax Complete Advantage monitors all three bureaus' credit reports constantly so you will know whenever there is a change on your report at any bureau. We think this is critical both for managing your credit and protecting your identity. The credit scoring formula Equifax uses is their own Equifax Credit Score. While it would be nice if they used the more popular FICO system, we believe the Equifax Credit Score formula is a very good approximation of your FICO score. Plus, it's not possible to obtain your Experian FICO score so Equifax wouldn't be able to provide you all three credit scores if they used FICO scoring. Equifax's monitoring service is more advanced than others. It allows you to be alerted not just upon significant changes to your report such as a credit inquiry or the opening of a new account, but also on small updates like balance changes for a credit card account. (Note that you can only be alerted on these smaller changes to your Equifax credit report, not your Experian or Transunion report. All major changes to those two other credit reports are still monitored, though.) You can customize these alerts by setting thresholds of when you should be notified, such as at least a 25% balance change or a $200 balance change. While these minor changes may not seem like a big deal, they can affect your credit score and could also alert you that someone else is fraudulently using your credit card. Equifax Complete Advantage also includes a useful and personalized credit score estimator that will predict how different actions you might take could raise or lower your score. For example, if you are considering getting a new car loan or applying for a new credit card, you can enter this information into the tool and it will automatically estimate what your new scores are. We think this tool is extremely useful in trying to raise your credit score as well as educating users on how their financial actions can affect their credit score. On the identity theft protection side, Equifax Complete Advantage offers more standard identity theft protection features such as $25,000 in identity theft insurance and 24/7 access to identity theft resolution specialists. Although the $25,000 in insurance is not as high as the 1 million dollars some of the other services we review offer, we think these insurance policies are a bit overrated anyway. That's because you the actual monetary loss from identity theft is typically much less than the policies cover. Most of the hassle associated with identity theft pertains to the time and energy it will take you to reclaim your identity. Luckily, Equifax Complete Advantage has a team of identity theft specialists available to help you determine what steps you should take to recover your good name. All in all, Equifax Complete Advantage is a solid service with some unique benefits. While at $16.95 per month it's not the cheapest credit monitoring service out there, it does provide a easy-to-use interface and some solid features including unlimited access to your Equifax credit score and report. Sign up for Equifax Complete Advantage | Compare to Other Credit Report Monitoring |
|
| Free Credit Scores: | Scores from all 3 bureaus w/ enrollment |
| Trial Period & Price: | $16.95/mo |
| Credit Reports Monitored: | All 3 bureaus' reports |
| ID Theft Insurance/ Guarantee: | $25,000 |
NextAdvisor Credit Report Monitoring Blog Headlines
Why Is My Credit Score Lower Than Last Year?
Q: I received a copy of my credit report last year and the score was 761. I have not applied for credit anywhere, but a year later my score was 448. What made my score drop so low? A: It's definitely possible for a credit score to drop during a 12 month period even though [...]
Does Credit Report Monitoring Affect Your Credit Score?
Q: Once I enroll in Identity Guard, will daily checking affect my scores? A: Daily credit report monitoring will not affect your credit scores. Neither will getting your own credit scores. This is because Identity Guard TOTAL PROTECTION® is acting on your behalf (and not as a third party) to access your 3-bureau credit reports, [...]
How Often Can I See My Updated 3-Bureau Credit Report?
Q: How often can I view my actual updated credit report from all 3 bureaus with Identity Guard? A: When you sign up for the Identity Guard TOTAL PROTECTION® free 30-day trial, you'll receive a joint 3-bureau credit report that you can view and print online. After this initial report, your 3-bureau report will be updated quarterly. [...]
Will an Identity Theft Protection Service Prevent a Lender from Getting Infor...
Q: I am in the process of refinancing my home. I completed and submitted the applications, giving my social security number and other important information. I decided not to go with that Broker and now I am concerned about the information I provided. Will identity theft protection make it difficult for a lender to obtain information? A: [...]
