An important part of getting a good credit score, and keeping it, is having a credit monitoring plan in place.   The good news is there are many options available to check your credit.  

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, everyone in the U.S. is entitled to THREE credit reports per year, one from each of the three major credit bureaus.  You can get these yourself, at no cost, and it doesn’t count against your scores.  By checking a different bureau’s report every four months, you can monitor your credit year round.  Look for any unknown accounts; unusual balances on existing accounts; incorrect personal information such as misspelled names, extra social security numbers and inaccurate birth dates.  Contact all three credit bureaus immediately to correct the errors. 

Many credit card companies and financial institutions offer some sort of credit monitoring service to exisiting customers.  If it is available to you at no cost, take it.  Even if it is not the most comprehensive program, it can be a supplement while you continue to do your own monitoring.

Because more people are becoming aware of the importance of their credit rating, almost every company out there is jumping on the band wagon with some kind of offer.  They vary greatly in price and scope of what is included.  Understanding what is provided before you sign up will help you to get a program that fits your needs.

Credit monitoring services primarily protect against new account fraud.  They may monitor one, two or all three credit bureaus on a daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly basis.  Typically, the consumer is notified when a new inquiry appears on their credit, an indication that there is a credit application using their name, social security number and birth date.  Notifications usually happen when a new account is opened, an existing account is closed or, sometimes, if the balance on an existing account changes significantly.

Some services include an updated credit score.  That part sounds good, except that most services do not provide a true FICO score and FICO scores are what the majority of lenders use.  One place to get your actual FICO score along with your credit monitoring is from the FICO company itself.  They have a Score Watch service that gives you daily credit report monitoring and weekly FICO score monitoring.

The main thing to remember is that you CAN be proactive, learn about your credit, and take steps to protect it.