Which card is best for it's credit monitoring service?

[Anonymous]

I have V/MC/AMEX and Discover. They all offer some type of credit monitoring service. I have shied away from these account "add-ons" in the past because of the monthly fees involved. Now, I feel like I need it.

I just finished totally cleaning and reorganizing my apartment, and in the melee of it all, I stupidly threw out a box full of old bank and CC statements as well as old paystubs, CC offers, you name it. It was a large shoebox full of stuff to be shredded that got mixed up with the garbage. By the time I realized what I'd done, I'd found it had all been picked through by "dumpster divers" in the alley (I live in the city and this practice is common here and not entirely reserved to the homeless set). 

Needless to say, I'm worried about possible ID theft now, and would like to try one of these services to keep an eye out for any unauthorized activity/accounts. Which card should I choose to do this with? I have a Discover More and Amex Blue. My Visa is BofA and my MCs are Citi and Wamu/Chase. Of these who's service is best "bang for the buck"/best for my situation. Thank you all for any suggestions.  

[jmbfl]

Personally I perfer TrueCredit by TransUnion. Had nothing to do with a card:

http://www.truecredit.com/

[Anonymous]

I agree with jmbfl.

TrueCredit from TransUnion is probably the best bang for the buck when it comes to report monitoring.  (Just please, please, please remember that you are buying the service to monitor your reports, and make sure to ignore the junk scores that come with the service, because they are worthless.)

Since you have an Amex card, you can also sign up for CreditSecure from Experian, which is also a decent service.

For purposes of monitoring for ID theft, just about any of them should meet your needs.

[Anonymous]

I have to say I think CreditSecure (AmEx's credit monitoring service from Experian) is pretty good - of course, the scores are totally worthless, but that's not what I use it for. You get to monitor your credit with all three CRAs (you can pull one report on all three each day) for the same price that Experian charges everyone else just to monitor their EX report (I used to be signed up for that service, and you had to pay each time you wanted to pull TU or EQ), so it's a pretty good deal. I just pay no attention to the scores and use it to make sure everything is reporting correctly, check for anything that shouldn't be there, etc etc. 

[notmyname]

Citi's service focuses on Id theft, but I have no experience with it.

Amex Creditsecure is great. Low price , full service. And, yes the scores are fakes but if they go up or down, you can bet that your ficos are also and then check them.

Since almost everyone uses Experian on me it is especially useful when you use the dispute button and bring up the Experian report. Click the print view for full detailed viewing.

NMN

[mazinaige]

This may be a little off topic, but I received an email from my dad last night and he told me that he had Discover send him a new credit card with new numbers on it to prevent identity theft. It is the same account, just different numbers on the card. He said a friend of his said he requests all new numbers every two years to protect himself. I thought it was a little bit extreme since I didn't think one was liable for fraudulent charges, however I currently don't have any CC to speak of. Anyway, it might be something you want to consider as a preventative measure since your statements ended up in the garbage.

[Anonymous]

One of the nice things about TrueCredit is that it provides you with the dates as to when your creditors update your reports (well TU and EX, EQ only reports month/year).  This is helpful if you're trying to figure out when your CCs report. 

[Anonymous]

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ma_fico wrote:
One of the nice things about TrueCredit is that it provides you with the dates as to when your creditors update your reports (well TU and EX, EQ only reports month/year).  This is helpful if you're trying to figure out when your CCs report. 

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Exactly!  This is why TC is always at the top of my list for daily pullers.

For occasional ID theft monitoring, though, any one of these services should suffice.

[Anonymous]

I cancel AMEX creditsecure today due to AMEX dishonesty customer service. I called the CreditSecure to discontinued the credit monitoring and the CSR asked my the reasons why.. I told them straight and directly!

Reason 1: AMEX CSR dishonest and pissed me off

Reason 2: Experian doesn't provide FICO score to its customer why should I continued.

I am looking for another credit monitoring, anyone wants to recommend me service provider for that?

Message Edited by CreditCard101 on 08-15-2009 12:01 PM

[llecs]

I use NatCity's ID Protect. It is just like TC and can be pulled daily. The only alternative to a daily puller I know and have DW subscribed too is CCT (but that's an EX product (Reason#2)).