Best Credit Monitoring Services

IdentityForce, a Sontiq brand, offers comprehensive credit monitoring and identity theft services. It has a solid reputation, receiving a 4.5 TrustScore on TrustPilot with nearly 800 customer reviews.

As a customer, you get daily monitoring of your credit reports with the three major credit bureaus—Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion—and you’ll receive text and email alerts if there is a charge or an account withdrawal that exceeds a dollar amount set by you.

IdentityForce is one of the few companies that has social media monitoring. It will monitor your Meta, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram accounts for inappropriate or bullying activity. It also has online anti-phishing and anti-keylogging software to protect you when you shop online.

If your identity is compromised, you’re covered by $1 million in identity theft insurance and have access to recovery specialists 24 hours a day, seven days a week via phone at 877-694-3367. The specialists can help you navigate the recovery process. They will complete the necessary paperwork and make phone calls on your behalf, saving you time.

The UltraSecure+Credit plan isn’t eligible for a free trial. The cost is $23.99 per month or $239.90 per year with two months free on annual plans.

Credit Sesame is a company funded by top venture capital firms and investors and led by experienced tech and financial professionals. According to the company, its mission is to help consumers improve their credit health and finances. As part of that goal, Credit Sesame created its free Identity Theft Protection service.

Credit Sesame has an outstanding reputation, with a 3.3 TrustScore on Trustpilot and over 2,000 customer reviews.

Identity Theft Protection is free for anyone to use, and it doesn’t require you to enter your credit card information to sign up. To get started, create an account and turn on the credit monitoring feature.

As a Credit Sesame member, you get monthly score updates based on your TransUnion credit report. You’ll also get daily credit monitoring alerts notifying you about important changes, such as new accounts opened in your name. However, it does not monitor your Social Security number. To get this service, you have to upgrade to Credit Sesame’s Platinum Protection product.

An important feature that sets Credit Sesame’s service apart from other free products is that it gives you $1 million worth of fraud insurance, plus you get access to live identity restoration specialists.

Complete ID is part of Experian, one of the three major credit reporting agencies. Available only to Costco Wholesale Club members, Complete ID is a relatively low-cost option for credit monitoring and identity theft protection. While Complete ID is not ranked by TrustPilot, both Costco and Experian are well-known and respected companies.

Complete ID may be a good option for someone who wants more protection than free services offer, but who doesn’t want to spend a ton of money.

As a Costco executive member, you can sign up for Complete ID for $8.99 per month, significantly less than other credit monitoring services charge. A Costco executive membership is $120 per year. For $60 dollars a year you can sign up for a Costco gold membership, but then the Complete ID service is $13.99 per month. In addition to being able to buy Complete ID, Costco members can shop at Costco wholesale locations and take advantage of Costco programs like life insurance, product installation, and auto repair services, making the overall membership cost well worth it.  

Complete ID monitors your credit reports with the three major credit bureaus. Each year, you can view your VantageScores from each of the bureaus. While other services allow you to regularly view your reports, Complete ID only allows you to view your reports annually. 

You will receive credit alerts if there are changes to your account, and Complete ID includes Social Security number monitoring, dark web surveillance, and up to $1 million in identity theft insurance. If your information is stolen, you have 24/7 access to a U.S.-based support team.

For families looking for identity and credit monitoring services for themselves and their children, ID Watchdog is an excellent choice which is run by Equifax.

The services include three-credit report monitoring and account alerts. Your credit score, based on your Equifax credit report, is updated daily. However, you can only access your full credit reports from each of the three credit reports—and your corresponding credit scores—once per year.

A unique feature that makes ID Watchdog especially useful for families is Equifax Child Credit Lock. You can create an Equifax credit report for a minor child and lock it to prevent identity thieves from using it to open up accounts or take out loans with your child’s information. ID Watchdog says it’s the only provider with this capability.

In addition to $1 million in identity theft insurance, ID Watchdog Platinum account members also get up to $1 million in reimbursement for money stolen from 401(k), Health Savings Account (HSA), or employee stock option plans. This is reimbursement is only part of the platinum membership.

Unfortunately, you should be aware that Equifax was part of a data breach in 2017, so some people lost confidence in the company’s security. However, Equifax has settled with the Federal Trade Commission for $575 million and has vowed to increase its security efforts. 

PrivacyGuard is a credit monitoring service that has additional bells and whistles for individuals who want extra security features and identity protection. PrivacyGuard is a service offered by Trilegiant Corporation. It’s not accredited or rated by TrustPilot.

Residents of Iowa, Rhode Island, and Vermont are ineligible for PrivacyGuard. But for those that can use the service, it’s quite comprehensive for its price. PrivacyGuard’s Total Protection plan is $24.99 per month, and you can try it out for 14 days for just $1.

PrivacyGuard’s Total Protection Plan offers standard credit monitoring and identity protection services like three-bureau credit reports and scores, credit score tracking, and account alerts. But it’s real value is in its additional features. It has a secure browser app you can download to your computer or mobile device to protect you from keylogging or phishing attacks so you can securely shop or bank online. There’s also a keyboard app that encrypts keystrokes to protect your information from malware.

PrivacyGuard scans the dark web for your Social Security number, address, email address, and other information, and searches public records for your data. If your identity is compromised, you’ll get step-by-step assistance from a dedicated agent.

Unfortunately, PrivacyGuard only has plans for individuals. While you can monitor the Social Security number of minor children, that service doesn’t fully protect their identity, and you’ll likely need to purchase additional coverage for them.