My father had apparent identity theft issues in September. I decided to purchase TrustedID for my parents at that point. Shortly thereafter, I did it for me and the wife. Immediately, it seemed worth it as my credit score was low. Capitalone misreported something and so I made many-a-phonecalls to their support center to get it taken care of. Unfortunately, TrustedID will not confirm that my credit is resolved unless I pay them another $30.00 for another report and score. To me, this is insulting to the idea of customer protection to charge more money like that. Our reason for purchasing it is because intend to purchase a house around seven months from today. We wanted to make sure everything was going well and continues to go well. TrustedID had a deal where we are linked to fill out e-forms which lock down our credit. That's useful I guess, although I don't need to pay $26/monthly for a link. I don't want to end up paying more than what we do already for two individual plans. But, we need something more informative I think... Any suggestions on better and affordable options that we should look into?
Having just gone through looking at all of these Credit monitoring services. i can only really suggest equifax or USAA Credit monitoring service . There are several options. If you so close to your goal of purchasing a house, i would say keeping an eye on all 3 CRA's is important, thats where Equifax wins out. Equifax monitors all 3 credit reporting agency's for changes. USAA only keeps an eye on Experian. HOWEVER, USAA Does give you "3 reports & 3 scores" every 30 days. So although they only monitor experian, Having the ability to see a new report & scores that often could help you catch anything else on the other agencies not being monitored 24/7. Both equifax and USAA are good but keep in mind, tri-merged reports can miss certain things and the scores used in these services are generally not FICO scores... (although Equifax has a plan option that includes a fico score with the report) Equifax (Their premier which is the one that lets you lock and unlock you credit file that you mentioned, there are other plans) Comprehensive Identity Theft Protection - Equifax Complete Premier USAA (The $12.95 plan given you all 3 reports and scores, but their $6 plan given you one report and score whether you can chocies which reporting agency or not i don't know, but if you can maybe this is the cheapest route and each month choose a different agency to look at) https://www.usaa.com/inet/pages/cre...wa_ref=pub_global_products_bank_creditmonitor hope this helps
Thanks for the info. And sorry I haven't responded. I subscribed to be notified instantly via email, but I didn't receive a single notice. Experian looks good as you say because it presents a monthly update which would be useful in ensuring no errors exist or pop-up before we purchase. My last concern is that TrustedID is supposedly protecting the two of us at $26/monthly. But, all of our lines of credit are tied together. So, would it be necessary for me to double purchase this stuff to ensure both of us are okay? If so, Experian becomes $40/monthly at a $14/mo premium over TrustedID. But, USAA would be roughly equal at $13/monthly per person. Like I say, I think TrustedID might be useful for those who are on the fritz and have their personal data strewed about. But, the company hasn't really been forthcoming with final assistance in my particular circumstance.
Hi Crypted - For what it's worth, I've heard mostly positive reviews regarding USAA, and the price seems right. I'm more familiar w/ Equifax 3-in-1, which will start you off w/ a 30 day free trial and is $15 a month/per person thereafter. This one's got better-than-average reviews, and monitors all three major CB's (but as Kam mentioned, no FICO pull).
