Free credit score and monitoring - Info needed

[quizzert]

I used to have free Experian credit score and monitoring in my previous employment. I have joined a new firm and looking at "free" credit score and monitoring service.

I got to know these 3 - Credit Karma, Credit Sesame and Quizzle.

Looking for recommendations and reviews from myfico form members on the pros and cons of each of these. Are they really free with no catch?

Do they all give reasonable real time monitoring alert - for example if you open a credit card, will they tell there is a HARD credit pull from EX or TU or EQ?

I opened a HSBC savings/checking account ( not credit card) recently and want to make sure it was a soft and not a hard credit pull? Do these 3 reports tell me if it was soft or hard? Does HSBC do EQ pulls?

Appreciate your inputs.

Thanks

[Pway]

Each of those you have listed will give you information pertaining to a HP when you have applied for credit.  Yes they are all free with no catch, they don't require you to input any credit card informaiton at all during enrollment. 

[quizzert]

Thanks Pway.

Will credit karma let me know if there was a hard pull on EQ even though its score and report is based on TU?

I'm kind of leaning towards credit karma based on the reply.

[Anonymous]

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@quizzert wrote:

Thanks Pway.

Will credit karma let me know if there was a hard pull on EQ even though its score and report is based on TU?

I'm kind of leaning towards credit karma based on the reply.

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CK is now both TU and EQ, so the answer is yes.

[quizzert]

Thank you captool for the confirmation.

I can see the soft and hard pulls from EQ and TU in creditkerma based on your response..

For EX,  is credit sesame the only option?

[Anonymous]

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@quizzert wrote:

Thank you captool for the confirmation.

I can see the soft and hard pulls from EQ and TU in creditkerma based on your response..

For EX,  is credit sesame the only option?

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You cannot see soft pulls from any free monitoring service. For that you have to access your reports directly from the bureaus. Credit Sesame no longer provides Experian. They are now TU. Credit.com provides an EX report.

[quizzert]

Got it.  I should open creditkarma and credit.com to see Hard credit pulls from EQ, TU and EX.

Is there any thing to keep in mind when opening these free accounts? 

Thanks once again.

[Anonymous]

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@quizzert wrote:

Got it.  I should open creditkarma and credit.com to see Hard credit pulls from EQ, TU and EX.

Is there any thing to keep in mind when opening these free accounts? 

Thanks once again.

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The only thing to keep in mind is pay no attention to the scores they provide. They're useless.

[Anonymous]

USAA is the best for daily pulling of all 3 credit reports . The scores are garbage but for around 16 dollars a month you get all 3 reports everyday .