How to Monitor Your Parents' Credit Score

If your parents would like help keeping track of their credit, reviewing their reports together is a practical place to start. You can help them spot unfamiliar accounts, check alerts, and follow up on errors while respecting their privacy and independence.

Monitoring can help you notice signs of identity theft, but it cannot prevent it. Credit reports also tell you more than a score alone, so the goal is to understand what’s happening on their accounts, not just watch a number.

How to monitor parents’ credit scores

Start by asking what kind of help your parents want. They may be comfortable requesting their own reports and reviewing them with you, without giving you authority to act on their behalf.

A financial power of attorney may authorize you to handle certain matters for a parent, depending on its terms and when it takes effect. Before requesting reports or managing services for them, check the credit bureau’s or provider’s requirements for verifying your authority.

If a parent can no longer give consent and you do not have legal authority, talk with an elder-law attorney or legal aid organization about your options.

Start with permission: Being someone’s child does not automatically give you access to their credit information. Help your parents use their own accounts, or follow the provider’s process for authorized representatives.

Get copies of credit reports regularly

Your parents can get free weekly credit reports from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion through AnnualCreditReport.com. They do not need to buy reports or pay for monitoring to check more than once a year.

These reports do not include credit scores, but they show the account information you need to review for errors or unfamiliar activity. Check all three because the information can differ.

When reviewing the reports together, look for:

• Accounts your parents do not recognize
• Credit inquiries they cannot explain
• Incorrect balances or payment information
• Unfamiliar addresses or other incorrect personal details

Choose a regular time to review them together, and check sooner if an alert or unexpected bill raises a concern. If your parents prefer not to request reports online, AnnualCreditReport.com also offers phone and mail options.

Sign up for a credit-monitoring service

Before paying for monitoring, help your parents check what their banks, credit card issuers, or existing apps already provide. A regularly updated credit score is useful, but it is not necessarily the same as a service that sends alerts about changes to a credit report.

Compare which bureaus a service covers, what triggers an alert, how often information updates, and what it costs. Make sure your parents know where alerts will arrive and how to review them.

Kikoff’s credit monitoring is one option to explore. Bureau coverage and features vary by plan, so check the current details before choosing one.

A score change alone does not prove identity theft. Review the underlying account information, and remember that credit monitoring does not replace checking bank and credit card statements for unauthorized transactions.

Consider a credit freeze

A credit freeze restricts access to a credit report, making it harder for someone to open new credit in that person’s name. Your parents can freeze their credit even if they have not experienced identity theft.

Freezes are free, and each parent must arrange one separately with Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. A freeze stays in place until lifted or removed, so they may need to temporarily lift it when applying for credit.

If you are requesting a freeze on a parent’s behalf, follow each bureau’s requirements for proof of authority.

A freeze has limits: It does not stop someone from misusing an existing account or prevent every form of identity theft. Keep reviewing statements and account alerts even when credit is frozen.

Read more >> How to Read a Credit Report

What to do if you find errors in your parents’ credit report

If something looks unfamiliar, ask your parent about it before assuming it is fraud. An account may appear under a lender’s name they do not recognize, or the report may contain a reporting mistake.

For an error, help your parent file a dispute with each bureau showing the incorrect information and the company that supplied it. There is no need to dispute the item with a bureau whose report does not contain it.

Before getting started, gather:

• Your parent’s name and contact information
• The specific error and relevant account number
• A short explanation of what is wrong and the correction requested
• A copy of the report with the disputed item marked
• Copies of supporting documents, keeping the originals

If you are submitting the dispute on their behalf, check what identification and authorization the recipient requires. Keep copies of everything submitted and any responses.

If someone has used your parent’s identity, help them report it at IdentityTheft.gov and follow the recovery plan. Contact the fraud department at the affected company and arrange freezes with all three bureaus if they are not already in place.

An identity theft report can support requests to remove fraudulent information. It is not required for an ordinary reporting error, such as an incorrect balance.

Read more >> How to Report Identity Theft

Bottom line

Helping your parents monitor their credit starts with agreeing on the help they want. Review their reports together, make alerts easy to follow, and check unfamiliar activity promptly.

Free reports and credit freezes give them useful tools without another monthly bill. A monitoring service can add convenience, but it does not replace reviewing accounts or responding to problems.

If your parents want monitoring between report reviews, explore Kikoff’s credit monitoring together. Compare the current features, bureau coverage, and cost to see whether it fits their needs.