How to Monitor your Credit Score

Even if you have the best credit-building habits, knowing how to monitor your credit score is vital in ensuring your hard work doesn't go to waste.

Credit scores can be hijacked by fraud or diminished by credit report errors, and having the tools to monitor your credit report will allow you to catch these before too much damage occurs.

In this post, we'll go over everything you need to know in order to monitor your credit.

How to monitor your credit score

To monitor your credit score, download a free credit monitoring service that sends you alerts when your credit bureaus report changes.

Apps like Kikoff let you monitor your credit score by sending you updates when your credit score changes across the 3 credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, TransUnion).

Kikoff will send you a notification if new behavior is detected, such as large changes to your credit balance, new credit lines that are opened, and other high-impact activities.

Why credit monitoring matters

According to the FTC, credit card fraud is the most common type of identity theft in the US. 

Knowing how to monitor your credit is necessary so that you can catch suspicious activity on your credit report that wasn't initiated by you.

Aside from fraud, credit reports can contain errors. Inaccurate, negative credit reporting penalizes you just the same, so having the necessary credit monitoring habits allows you to catch these promptly.

Best credit monitoring apps

Kikoff

Kikoff is a credit building app that allows users to monitor their credit score across the 3 bureaus. On the basic plan, users are able to see extensive charts covering changes in factors like credit usage, payment history, hard inquiries, credit age, and more.

Credit Karma

Credit Karma is a prominent credit monitoring tool covering Equifax and TransUnion.

Experian

Experian also offers subscription services to help consumers monitor their credit.

myFICO

myFICO keeps track of your FICO score changes — the score most lenders actually use.

What to do if you spot a problem

If you do see any errors on your report, it's critical to take immediate action and dispute the errors.

You can also place a fraud alert or freeze your credit if you suspect identity theft.

Conclusion

If you'd like to monitor your credit, dispute errors, and even build credit with extensive features reported to the credit bureaus, check out Kikoff.

For as little as $5 a month, you can keep an active tab on all changes to your credit report, send one-tap dispute letters to the bureaus, and build credit with access to tradelines reported to the 3 credit bureaus.

Get started with Kikoff today.