This is why today’s consumers are very careful in guarding their money and individual identity from fraudsters and cybercriminals. credit monitoring services have emerged as easy tools that enable individuals to keep track of their credit reports and warn them of any signs of fraudulent activity. Although some banks extend credit monitoring services to their customers, what they provide their customers is not clearly defined.
What is Credit Monitoring?
Credit monitoring service monitors credit reports in the three primary credit reference agencies, namely Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax, and notifies the user whenever there is a change. This could be a new account that has been established, a change in address, a request for information, negative information concerning the credit account, or other details. Such changes, if alerted to, allow you to detect fraud at an early stage of development and prevent its further evolution.
Credit monitoring is beyond providing your credit score to you. It gives information about the ongoing credit monitoring and sends alerts when necessary unlike simply giving a single figure. This allows you even better chances of understanding the things that are going on with your credit.
What about credit monitoring, do banks provide credit monitoring services?
Some major banks do provide credit monitoring services, but the coverage varies: Some major banks do provide credit monitoring services, but the coverage varies:
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Many bank credit reporting services merely report on your credit report, only for one credit bureau and not all three. This provides the user with a more restricted range of visibility compared to third-party credit monitoring services.
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The service offered by the bank will be more basic compared with the standalone products and services the bank may offer. There are some things in which you will receive fewer proactive alerts on fraudulent activity.
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Credit monitoring is often given as a free bonus when a new line of credit is being issued as opposed to being sold as a standalone product.
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All the services to the customers of the banks are not free since only some of the large national banks offer some of these services to all their customers for free. For more localized banks that are operating at the regional levels, it may be very hard to come across institutions that offer credit monitoring services.
- Bank services usually track your credit record, whether through Experian or TransUnion. And that means your Equifax credit record remains uncovered.
Third-Party Credit Monitoring vs. Bank Credit Monitoring Services
Third-party credit monitoring companies offer better functionality and more extensive information coverage of your credit records by all three national credit bureaus. Nevertheless, some of the bank services are convenient and if you use the bank where they offer the particular service, then you may be surprised that it is easier to sign up for the service than you thought.
Here are key differences between independent credit monitoring platforms and bank-offered services: Here are key differences between independent credit monitoring platforms and bank-offered services:
- Scope of Coverage
- As stated above, most bank monitoring performs searches for changes only in one credit report. Some websites such as IdentityForce, LifeLock, Credit Sesame, and many others scan the credit reports from all three credit bureaus to provide the consumer with triple protection.
- Additional Alerts
- Credit monitoring companies often offer more accurate and broader services that might encompass non-credit risks such as records of legal action and payday loans. Such services may offer you earlier warning of more general fraud risks.
- Identity Theft Insurance
- The best third-party monitors typically come with an insurance policy that assists in cases of recovering from identity theft. Interestingly, banks mostly omit that from the list of services they offer.
- Credit Scores and Reports
- In addition to seeing your credit scores and reports, when you subscribe to a professional credit monitoring service, you can access all of your current credit scores and full reports easily in one place within your account. Well, unfortunately, that is not always possible in most banks or financial institutions.
- Cost
- It can also be seen that the prices may vary significantly. In the case of independent services, it may cost them around $10-$35 monthly. Large bank options of account holder benefits are often free or subsidized but check only one report. Larger institutions have more services than smaller institutions may be able to provide.
The Takeaway
Some banks offer credit monitoring to customers, but their offerings are usually more limited to services from outside platforms. Triple bureau monitoring credit reports monitoring that checks all three of your credit reports Identity theft, alerts, and insurance may make you feel more secure than using the basic bank options.
It makes sense to estimate each option based on the individual’s requirements and its cost. An independent service can provide more credit coverage and more options than a credit union. But if you are after a less complex free platform and you have an account with one of the big national banks, then their program might suffice. This way, you will be able to make the right choice due to the right understanding of what is being offered to you.
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