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Protecting my identity...

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david122
New Member

Protecting my identity...

Hi all, I am wondering if it's necessary to pay for a service that would prevent identity fraud, something that would alert me if someone's running my credit. If you guys agree, can you recommend me something that's good and cheap? 

 

OR do you guys think running my credit once an year is good enough to protect myself from identity fraud?

 

Thanks.

Message 1 of 6
5 REPLIES 5
flyingace
Valued Member

Re: Protecting my identity...

I would think that, as long as you space out the reports to once a year (so you get three free from the government) that should be enough. So, ideally, you'd check it once every four months or so. Unless you had a valid reason to check them out, like if you lost your card or something.

In my Snoopy holder: NFCU Flagship Sig Visa-- $11K | Chase Freedom -- $2500 | AMEX BCE -- $2000 | Amazon Visa -- $2000 | Discover It $1500| Old Navy Visa -- $1000 | Target Red Card -- $300

TU (Disc Pull 4/29/13) -- 752 | AmexEQ (6/13/13) -- 728 | AmexEXP-- 737 | AmexTU-- 737 (5/28/13)
Goals: 740 EQ/EXP/TU
Gardening until 12/3/13 -- or longer
Message 2 of 6
navigatethis12
Valued Contributor

Re: Protecting my identity...

CreditKarma is free and lets you see Transunion information. You can now only update your scores every seven days, but they let you kow when something on the report changes.

 

Credit Sesame is free and lets you see Experian. It is only updated once per month, but they too provide alerts if something on Experian changes.

 

I do not know one for Equifax, but you could "dispute" something on the report once a month to gain access to it. You should never pay for those kinds of services.

Message 3 of 6
flyingace
Valued Member

Re: Protecting my identity...

Is Credit Sesame as free/no strings attached as CK? 


@navigatethis12 wrote:

CreditKarma is free and lets you see Transunion information. You can now only update your scores every seven days, but they let you kow when something on the report changes.

 

Credit Sesame is free and lets you see Experian. It is only updated once per month, but they too provide alerts if something on Experian changes.

 

I do not know one for Equifax, but you could "dispute" something on the report once a month to gain access to it. You should never pay for those kinds of services.


 

In my Snoopy holder: NFCU Flagship Sig Visa-- $11K | Chase Freedom -- $2500 | AMEX BCE -- $2000 | Amazon Visa -- $2000 | Discover It $1500| Old Navy Visa -- $1000 | Target Red Card -- $300

TU (Disc Pull 4/29/13) -- 752 | AmexEQ (6/13/13) -- 728 | AmexEXP-- 737 | AmexTU-- 737 (5/28/13)
Goals: 740 EQ/EXP/TU
Gardening until 12/3/13 -- or longer
Message 4 of 6
navigatethis12
Valued Contributor

Re: Protecting my identity...


@flyingace wrote:

Is Credit Sesame as free/no strings attached as CK? 




 


Yes. They do let you buy your Experian report through the, but don't do it. They also only update once a month, so it isn't as good as Credit Karma in that area. It lets you see tha balances on the cards, but does not tell you what they are like Credit Karma does. It's good for getting alerts on Experian and seeing what the report looks like at a certain time, but it lacks a lot. However, since it's free you can't complain.

Message 5 of 6
david122
New Member

Re: Protecting my identity...


@navigatethis12 wrote:

CreditKarma is free and lets you see Transunion information. You can now only update your scores every seven days, but they let you kow when something on the report changes.

 

Credit Sesame is free and lets you see Experian. It is only updated once per month, but they too provide alerts if something on Experian changes.

 

I do not know one for Equifax, but you could "dispute" something on the report once a month to gain access to it. You should never pay for those kinds of services.


Thanks for the replies guys, but wouldn't it be better if I get "alerted" once someone is trying to run my credit (identity thefts) than finding it out like months later when they are already using my identity for stuffs?

Message 6 of 6
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