The 5 Best Credit Monitoring Services of 2022

Overview
Knowing what’s in your credit report is a crucial part of maintaining your financial health. Checking your credit report at least once a year makes it easier to improve your credit score, fix errors, and spot ID theft.

Sometimes your credit needs more than a yearly checkup. If you need a little help looking after your credit score, consider signing up for a credit monitoring service. These services check your credit file often, send fraud alerts, and provide full credit reports on a monthly or quarterly basis.

While most credit monitoring services also provide identity theft protection, some monitor only your credit. We found that IdentityForce offers the best balance of these two services.

Read on to learn more about the best credit monitoring companies and how to choose the best plan for you.

We started by looking at standalone credit monitoring companies, but there aren’t many of these. Then we branched out to identity theft protection services, which also offer credit monitoring. In total, we evaluated 12 companies for this comparison.

Ultimately, we chose five standout services based on price, features, and reputation. We feel that the top five picks are the best options for most people that primarily want credit monitoring.

IdentityForce has the most complete list of credit monitoring and identity theft protection features among the companies we looked at. It’s a good choice if you don’t want to choose between building your credit more effectively and fighting off identity thieves.

IdentityForce continuously monitors your credit using information from all three credit bureaus and gives you access to quarterly credit reports. While this isn’t as often as the monthly reports you get from Credit Sesame, it’s still a big improvement over an annual report.

IdentityForce also monitors Social Security numbers, bank accounts, social media, and public records to protect you against identity theft. For example, you’ll get a personalized alert if suspicious activity shows up in your bank or credit card account so you can take quick action. And if someone does steal your identity, you get up to $1 million of insurance to cover legal fees needed to regain control over your identity.

IdentityForce is one of the more expensive credit monitoring services because it offers credit monitoring only with its top-tier plan, UltraSecure+Credit. Although this plan costs more a month, it includes more ID theft prevention features than comparable plans from competitors.

If you want to get credit monitoring for more than one person, you have to call IdentityForce to set up a family plan. While it’s nice to have the option, it’s disappointing that you can’t do this through the website.

ASecureLife’s recommendation: If you want to go beyond credit monitoring with robust ID theft protection, choose the UltraSecure+Credit plan from IdentityForce.

>>Learn more: Read our IdentityForce review

Credit Sesame doesn’t have the same identity theft protection as most of the competition, but it is one of the most affordable ways to monitor your credit.

While many credit monitoring services are premium features on ID theft plans, Credit Sesame starts by offering credit monitoring on its base packages and treats ID theft protection as the upgrade. You get monthly credit reports from all three bureaus on every paid plan, which is something competitors like IDShield charge extra for.

If you pay for the top-tier plan, you get ID theft-prevention tools such as lost wallet assistance and Social Security number monitoring. It’s nice that they aren’t required to get credit monitoring.

Credit Sesame doesn’t monitor bank and credit card accounts for fraud like the competition. Its credit monitoring checks only your credit report for problems. This is a disadvantage if you want help with these accounts, but it can be useful if you’re uncomfortable sharing sensitive account data.

Credit Sesame’s paid plans start at $9.95 a month for monthly credit scores and credit reports across all three bureaus. The mid-tier plan, Pro Credit, costs $15.95 a month and adds three-bureau credit monitoring with alerts and a service to help you fix errors in your credit report.

The top-tier plan, Platinum Protection, costs $19.95 a month and adds identity theft protection and insurance up to $1 million.

There’s also a free plan that gives you one-bureau monitoring through TransUnion and one credit score update each month. While this won’t give you a credit report like the paid plans, it’s a nice way to keep tabs on your credit score for free. And it’s definitely better than nothing.

Unlike some competitors, Credit Sesame doesn’t have any plans for families.

ASecureLife’s recommendation: If you want credit monitoring on its own, without ID theft monitoring, get the Pro Credit plan from Credit Sesame.

>>Learn more: Read our Credit Sesame review

Experian CreditWorks is the only credit monitoring company in our comparison to use FICO credit scores, which is what most lenders use. This makes it a good choice for tracking and building your credit ahead of a big purchase.

Experian monitors your credit at each of the major credit bureaus and shows you an updated score each month. While this is similar to other credit monitoring services, Experian uses the industry-standard FICO Score 8 credit score. Because this score is standard among lenders, you can be sure that you have the same information when you need to apply for a new loan.

Additionally, Experian CreditWorks gives you other types of credit scores specific to auto, home, and bankcard lines of credit. The advantage of these scores is that they calculate creditworthiness differently than a generic score so you have more information to help you qualify for a loan.

ASecureLife’s recommendation: If you want access to industry-standard credit scores to help you build your credit, choose the CreditWorks Premium plan from Experian CreditWorks.

>>Learn more: Read our Experian CreditWorks review

IDShield's three-bureau plans for individuals are indeed cheaper than those from IdentityForce. But we think that IDShield is a better value when you get the family plans to monitor more than one person.

You have the option of one- or three-bureau monitoring plans with IDShield, though three-bureau plans ensure you don’t miss important details in your credit reports.

IDShield monitors your bank accounts and credit cards for fraudulent activity. It also keeps tabs on sensitive personal information as part of its ID theft monitoring. This means you don’t have to buy separate identity theft protection and that you can save a little money in the long term.

One of the major disadvantages that we found is that you must cancel your plan by mail. It seems archaic compared to other companies that let you cancel online or over the phone. This isn’t a problem as long as you want the service but makes it harder to cancel.

Because IDShield’s three-bureau family plan covers two adults and up to 10 children under age 18, you get a lot of value even with just two people. At $32.95 a month, you save about $3 compared to buying two separate plans for you and your partner, and the savings stack up the more people you have on the plan.

If you’re shopping just for an individual three-bureau plan, it’s still affordably priced. You pay only $17.95 a month—cheaper than IdentityForce, though not as affordable as Credit Sesame.

ASecureLife’s recommendation: If you want to monitor credit reports for multiple family members, choose the Three Bureau Family plan from IDShield.

>>Learn more: Read our IDShield review

Identity Guard is a solid choice for ID theft monitoring and credit protection, but nothing makes it stand out above the other companies we included in our comparison. We do think it’s a better choice than the companies that didn’t make it into our lineup.

Identity Guard offers three-bureau credit monitoring only on its two high-tier plans, making it average among credit monitoring services. It’s expensive if you want credit reports, which come only with the top-tier plan.

Identity Guard gives you only one credit report from each bureau per year, which you can already get for free. Essentially, you’re paying for credit monitoring, alerts, and ID theft monitoring. We think the ID theft monitoring is quite good with its risk management reports, dark web monitoring, and social media assessments. Unfortunately for Identity Guard, other competitors offer better credit monitoring services for less money.

One interesting thing is that Identity Guard uses IBM^® Watson^™ AI to analyze your credit report and send alerts for fraudulent activity. However, we’re not sure if it’s much better than the competition or just a marketing gimmick.

You need to buy one of the more expensive plans from Identity Guard to get credit monitoring. These plans start at $19.99 a month, which is average for services that provide monitoring for both credit and ID theft.

ASecureLife’s recommendation: If you want an alternative to IdentityForce, choose the Premier Plan from Identity Guard.

>>Learn more: Read our Identity Guard review

As you look for a credit monitoring service to fit your needs, we recommend looking for the following features:

• Credit scores and reports on a quarterly or monthly basis
• Three-bureau credit monitoring
• Basic identity theft protection services like Social Security number monitoring and lost wallet assistance

We narrowed our list by eliminating services that didn’t offer as much value as our top picks. Here are some other companies we researched but ultimately left out of our credit monitoring comparison:

• Credit Karma: It doesn’t match the coverage from paid providers like Credit Sesame.
• Equifax: Consumer trust in Equifax is at an all-time low after the company’s 2017 data breach. Read more in our Equifax review.
• ID Watchdog: It doesn’t offer as many features as similarly priced competitors.
• LifeLock: LifeLock’s prices go up after the first year, making it very expensive. Read more in our LifeLock review.
• myFICO: Experian CreditWorks is more affordable and offers many of the same features. Read more in our myFICO review.
• Privacy Guard: It offers expensive credit monitoring without ID theft protection unless you buy top-tier plan.
• TransUnion Credit Monitoring: You pay extra for three-bureau credit reports beyond the first one. Read more in our TransUnion Credit Monitoring review.

A credit monitoring service checks your credit report and bank accounts for errors and suspicious activity. When it finds a problem, you get an alert so you can take action.

You can use a credit monitoring service to check your credit report more often than a free annual report from each of the three credit bureaus. You also get regular updates about your credit score.

Most credit monitoring services include ID theft protection, but it’s not a requirement.

No. Credit monitoring services use a soft inquiry to check your credit file. A soft inquiry doesn’t affect your score in the same way as a hard inquiry, which involves applying for credit like getting a loan or credit card.

It depends on the situation. Even though a credit freeze prevents criminals from applying for new lines of credit with your stolen information, it doesn’t prevent access to your existing accounts. Many credit monitoring services can also monitor your bank, insurance, and credit accounts.²

Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion are the three credit bureaus. Each of these reporting agencies provides a free credit report every 12 months and offers credit monitoring services.

It’s a trade-off. You pay for the convenience and time saved versus monitoring on your own.

Credit monitoring services offer greater convenience to get all three credit scores and reports in one place. They also provide alerts and assistance when fraudulent activity occurs.

You likely don’t need credit monitoring if you’re proactive about checking your credit. Simply check the free reports from all three credit bureaus on an annual basis and keep a close eye on your existing accounts.

Visit equifaxbreachsettlement.com. You may qualify for a cash payment or free credit monitoring through Experian.

Many banks and credit card issuers let you check your credit score when you log into your account online. Check with your bank or credit card company to see if it offers any additional monitoring.

Yes, but you get credit scores from only two bureaus: TransUnion and Equifax. Credit Karma uses VantageScore 3.0 to provide credit scores. This is the same system used by many paid credit monitoring services including Credit Sesame, IDShield, LifeLock, and Identity Guard.

Even though Credit Karma is a free, reliable service, we don’t recommend it as a substitute for paid credit monitoring. It relies on advertising to make money, so you’re trading financial privacy for targeted ads.

The FTC has a helpful guide on Child Identity Theft. It has tips to help you spot warning signs and fix problems if a criminal steals your child’s identity.

Since your child is a minor, they can’t enter into any contracts without you. This makes the process for fixing fraud as simple as providing a copy of a birth certificate to the lender or credit bureau.³

You can also sign up for a family plan from a service like IDShield, IdentityForce, or Identity Guard.

Credit monitoring services can help you track your credit score and watch for fraudulent activity, and they often provide comprehensive identity theft protection. While you can do most of these things for free, it’s a lot of work for one person to keep up with.

Ultimately, you should choose the service that best fits your needs. To help with that decision, here are the brands we recommend:

• IdentityForce: Comprehensive three-bureau monitoring and identity theft monitoring
• Credit Sesame: Most affordable credit monitoring, especially if you don’t want ID theft protection
• Experian CreditWorks: Uses industry-standard FICO scores, which is great for building your credit over time
• IDShield: Excellent value to protect your entire family
• Identity Guard: Good alternative to other top services

Sources

1. FTC, “The top frauds of 2018”
2. FTC, “Credit Freeze FAQs”
3. FTC, “Child Identity Theft”