Continued from Part 2 of Credit Monitoring and Identity Theft…

Here is the good and the bad about credit monitoring. Opinion is split between the benefits of purchasing a credit monitoring service or doing your own credit monitoring. Some view the professional service as superior and well worth the expense and others regard that expense as a waste when you could manage the task yourself for less money.

Individual Credit Monitoring Services

On average, expect a monthly charge per report of around $10.00 per credit reporting agency. Often credit monitoring services demand you have all three agencies monitored so, for $30.00 a month, over a year that comes to $360.00.

That $360 per year should alert you to any suspicious activity or new credit applications and identity theft insurance to help with the recovery of costs required for damage reparation resulting from the crime. However, just as the ‘regular intervals’ vary between the services so does their actual level of service to you.

However, the best credit monitoring service will monitor ALL your credit reports for only $13.00 per month.

Self-Monitoring Your Credit Reports

Or for $8 per report you can monitor things for yourself  and that will cost you $288.00 per year.

Is the difference in price worth the difference in service or hassle? For a couple of dollars per report more each month, $6 altogether, many people reckon that a monitoring service wins hands down.