In an attempt to search for the best credit monitoring service available, I conducted this comparison of credit report and score monitoring services offered by the three major credit bureaus, Experian, TransUnion and Equifax. The end result? Stay away from Experian. TransUnion came in second. Equifax is the winner, by far.
Not Recommended: Experian – Triple Advantage (freecreditreport.com) – $14.95/month
When you log in, you’re taken to your Account Summary that is just chock-full of ads. Practically everything you can click on is an advertisement for something. What was really surprising was a section at the bottom of the pages they call ‘Featured Specials.’ Among these featured specials are advertisements for services that can actually damage your credit score ... things like subprime credit card offers and pitches from debt consolidation loan hustlers.
There are three pitches on the account summary page for something called ChildSecure. It is identity theft insurance for your children. This must be an absolute cash cow for Experian because they seem to push it very hard.
Many of the ‘useful’ links and much of the ‘useful’ information gets lost amongst the crap.
Good: Nothing special about this service.
Bad: Pay almost $15 a month to be a pawn in Experian’s game of advertising revenue.
Conclusion: Enough with the ads already!
Recommended with Reservations: TransUnion – TrueCredit (transunion.com) – $11.95/month
TransUnion’s TrueCredit service is marginally better than Experian’s Triple Advantage. There’s still a a ton of ads when you first log in. But, most of the ads are for services and products outside of TransUnion’s control. Of course, there’s the ubiqutious pitches to refinance and consolidate your debt. But TransUnion tries to sell you Carfax vehicle history reports and your insurance scores for car and home insurance. What does that have to do with credit monitoring? Not much. But, they probably get quite a bit of money for pitching these things to you.
Good: Easy to navigate.
Bad: A heck of a lot of ads for services not provided by TransUnion. Be careful!
Conclusion: If you want the lowest price, choose this one.
Recommended: Equifax - Credit Watch Gold + Score Watch (equifax.com) – $16.90/month
When you log into Equifax’s Member Center, you’re taken to a page that shows you what products you are currently subscribing to. You can then click on them to access to relevant information. There were only 2 ads, both graphics, for services not provided by Equifax (one for a savings account, the other for a mortgage). The rest of the ads on the page were all text based and were for Equifax’s products and services. If you have any alerts, they’re displayed at the top of the Member Center page. Navigation is very easy and intuitive. It is the most professionally designed website of the three credit monitoring services. Experian’s website screams billboard and TransUnion’s is very Wal-Martesque. Equifax took the opposite approach and designed a website people would actually want to use.
Good: The best, by far. Easy to navigate. Professionally designed. Not ‘in-your-face.’
Bad: The most expensive.
Conclusion: Choose this one … You get what you pay for!
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