How Often Is a Credit Score Monitored?

How often a credit score is monitored is essentially up to the individual borrower. A credit report summarizes your borrowing and payment history, forming the basis of your credit score. Your credit score can affect your ability to obtain loans and receive favorable interest rates, as well as your chances of landing a job or leasing an apartment. Your credit score is reported as a three-digit number between 300 and 850, called your FICO (Fair Isaac Corporation) score.

Credit Bureaus

The three primary nationwide credit bureaus in the United States are Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. The Fair Isaac Corporation originated the FICO scoring method, and the three credit reporting agencies each use a variation of this method, which may account for the slight variances in your scores. The formulas used are designed to gauge a borrower's credit worthiness, by way of information received from creditors. Through monitoring of your credit score, you can catch major discrepancies that may indicate reporting errors in your credit history or fraudulent use of your credit accounts.

Free Report

You are entitled to receive--upon request--one free credit report from each of the main credit bureaus on a yearly basis at AnnualCreditReport.com. The free annual reports provide one way for you to monitor credit reporting activities in your credit history, but you will have to pay a fee to obtain your actual credit score. As of February 2011, the cost to obtain your score ranges from no cost (TransUnion's zendough.com website) to $15.95. Experian and Equifax also offer a three-credit-bureau package of your credit reports and scores for $39.95.

Identity Theft

If you have been a victim of identity theft in the past, you may feel the more often your credit score is monitored, the better. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), "skilled identity thieves use a variety of ways to gain access to your personal information" and then use it to commit fraud and theft. How often your credit score is monitored can affect your ability to quickly identify fraudulent activity on your credit report. It takes an average of one year for an identity-theft victim to become aware of the crime.

Monitoring Services

With the prevalence of credit card fraud and identity theft, many companies, financial institutions and even the credit bureaus are offering credit monitoring services. Each of the three main credit bureaus offers a credit score monitoring service for a monthly fee. The services included range from unlimited access to your credit score to 24-hour email notification of significant changes in your credit activity and identity theft insurance. The cost ranges from $12.95 to $16.95 per month as of 2011, but TransUnion offers a free seven-day trial.

Considerations

There is some amount of disagreement as to the need for these services and whether the cost for such assistance is worthwhile. Of course there are always those who are willing to exploit consumer fears, and the credit monitoring industry is no different. You should be wary of some companies offering a "free" credit report that are actually signing you up for a monitoring service with a recurring monthly fee. Websites like FightIdentityTheft.com and Knowzy.com offer listings and ratings of credit monitoring services.