What are Credit Monitoring Services?

Published July 26, 2024

5 min read

Table of contents

What does credit monitoring do?

Things credit monitoring services don’t do

How much do credit monitoring services cost?

Credit monitoring vs. identity theft protection

Key points about: credit monitoring

Credit monitoring tools could help you identify security threats and other issues in your credit file.
There are free credit monitoring tools available, but paid services may provide more security.
Identity protection services often include credit monitoring.

Credit card fraud and identity theft can feel troubling and threaten your financial health. Fortunately, security measures like credit monitoring can provide peace of mind. Credit monitoring services may help you identify suspicious activity on your credit card so you can help stop further fraud in its tracks. Some people invest in a credit monitoring service to prepare for a major purchase that requires a specific credit score, like buying a home. However, identity monitoring and credit monitoring could be essential parts of anyone’s personal security toolbox.

What does credit monitoring do?

Generally speaking, credit monitoring means watching your credit accounts for new activity, especially if that activity affects your credit score. You could technically monitor your credit manually by checking each of your credit reports for changes. You can access one free credit report from each major credit bureau (Experian^®, Equifax^®, and TransUnion^®) once per week, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

Credit monitoring services track your credit file for things such as modifications to your score, new accounts, names, or addresses, and late payments, according to Experian^®. Credit monitoring pays attention to these changes because they might point to credit card fraud.

Some issues a credit monitoring service might flag include:

New credit accounts appearing on your credit report;
Incorrect personal information or changes to your personal information, including your name and previous addresses;
Hard credit inquiries;
Credit utilization ratio;
Updates in your credit score.

Your credit monitoring service may send you a fraud alert if anything appears questionable in your credit file.

Things credit monitoring services don’t do

Credit monitoring services focus on changes to your credit report, including open credit accounts and loans. While they can alert you of changes that may be a sign of credit card fraud, they don’t necessarily provide the same degree of security against other forms of ID theft or fraud. They don’t track your bank account, so a credit monitoring service may miss unauthorized use of your debit card, for example. If a leak outside of the scope of credit compromises your personal information, credit monitoring services alone may not identify it.

While providers vary, credit monitoring services don’t typically take automatic action to protect your account following an issue. Suspicious activity may not trigger an automatic credit freeze. Instead, you may receive an alert that may prompt you to follow up with your credit card provider. Credit monitoring doesn’t prevent security issues—it identifies them.

How much do credit monitoring services cost?

Some companies provide basic credit monitoring for no cost, including credit score updates and alerts about suspicious activities. However, a free credit monitoring service may have some limitations. While a paid service may access all three credit bureaus, free services may only monitor one or two credit reports. Paid services may include more intensive identity theft protection tools.

Credit monitoring vs. identity theft protection

While credit monitoring and identity theft protection overlap in many ways, they aren’t the same thing. Credit monitoring is just one of the services offered by most identity theft protection products. In addition to credit monitoring services, identity theft protection products monitor for fraud across your accounts. Some added services that identity theft companies offer might include:

Dark web monitoring. Dark web monitoring checks whether your data is being sold on difficult-to-access parts of the internet where illicit activity might occur.
Social Security number monitoring. Social Security number monitoring alerts you if your Social Security number becomes associated with any new names or addresses, which may be a sign of identity fraud.
Identity theft assistance and insurance. If your identity is stolen, identity theft protection services investigate your case and help you restore your identity. Identity theft insurance could help you cover any costs you incur as well.

Did you know?

If you’re looking for more comprehensive credit monitoring services, Discover Identity Theft Protection may be right for you.

Learn More

Discover offers Identity Theft Protection for just $15 per month. This includes: 3 bureau credit alerts–when key changes¹ are reported to your credit file; Bank Account Alerts - if a bank account in your name opens or updates at any one of thousands of financial institutions we monitor every day; Dark Web Alerts–when we find your SSN or any other info you provide on any one of thousands of Dark Web Sites we monitor for illegally sharing personal data; and more alerts of potential threats to your identity. In the case of ID theft, you can access up to $1MM Identity Theft Insurance–for legal expenses, reimbursement of stolen funds, lost wages, and more covered expenses.²

Credit monitoring services help you keep an eye on your credit and may help you identify possible security issues quickly. While you may have access to free credit monitoring, for more expansive security, you might consider purchasing an identity theft protection product like Discover Identity Theft Protection.

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