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Visit Identity Guard
Our TOP PICK! Most comprehensive service and proactive credit protection, with tons of features, FREE 30-day trial, FREE reports & scores from all 3 bureaus. Also includes free internet security package!
TransUnion
Equifax
Experian
7-day FREE trial, then $14.99/mth
FREE credit score from all 3 bureaus
All 3 credit bureaus monitored
Cancel anytime during FREE trial
92%
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2
Visit Credit Check Total
 Get unlimited reports & scores from all 3 national credit bureaus, plus ongoing credit monitoring. Also offers tons of tools and resouces to help you repair and improve your credit.
TransUnion
Equifax
Experian
7-day FREE trial, then $29.95/mth
FREE credit score from all 3 bureaus
All 3 credit bureaus monitored
Cancel anytime during FREE trial
88%
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3
Visit Equifax with Score Power
 The ONLY place to get a FICO score FREE! Great overall value with FREE 3-in-1 credit report plus 3-bureau monitoring. Also get unlimited access to your Equifax credit reports.
TransUnion
Equifax
Experian
30-day FREE trial, then $14.99/mth
FREE credit score from all 3 bureaus + FICO
All 3 credit bureaus monitored
Cancel anytime during FREE trial
87%
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4
Visit Privacy Matters123
 Good value for money, with FREE reports & scores from all 3 national credit bureaus, plus ongoing monitoring. Also get shopping discounts, financial planning kit, roadside assistance, and tools galore.
TransUnion
Equifax
Experian
7-day FREE trial, then $19.95/mth
FREE credit score from all 3 bureaus
All 3 credit bureaus monitored
Cancel anytime during FREE trial
80%
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5
Visit FreeCreditReport.com
 Your cheapest 3-bureau monitoring solution, plus get your Experian credit report FREE. All 3 credit bureaus are monitored and there is a $1 million guarantee should you still fall victim to identity theft.
TransUnion
Equifax
Experian
7-day FREE trial, then $14.95/mth
FREE credit score from Experian
All 3 credit bureaus monitored
Cancel anytime during FREE trial
77%
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Related Articles Related Articles

Identity Theft: Why You Must Protect Yourself
Identity theft has run rampant across our land. As modern technology continues to progress, making a world of information ever-more available at our fingertips, many people are using such advances not in the benevolent and collectively beneficial ways that they were intended to be used, but as an increasingly powerful and effective means of feeding their greed and impassively causing harm to their fellow human beings.
 
Credit Monitoring: What it is and what it offers
Not all credit monitoring services are built alike (check out our Top 10 List for a comparison), but most of them offer at least some of the same basic features. Among the most common and valuable of these are alerts that notify you of key changes to your credit report(s), ongoing credit score monitoring, identity theft insurance to help in the event that you do get your identity stolen, dispute resolution assistance, and credit freezing/credit locking.
 
How to Get a Free Credit Report
Checking your own credit is essential to maintaining a good credit profile, for two main reasons. First, it's important to correct any errors before they end up costing you, such as at a time when you badly need credit. Second, knowing what's in your credit reports can help you avoid and prevent identity theft. Credit monitoring services, including those reviewed on this site, often offer free credit reports from Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion.
         
Why it's Important to Check Your Credit Reports
Your credit reports are what lenders use to decide whether or not to give you a new or increased line of credit, what kind of rate to offer you, and other factors that instrumentally affect your personal finances and the quality of life for you and your household. The only way to know how lenders see you and to do what you can to present them with the very best, most creditworthy image, is to know what's contained in your credit reports.
 
Why and How to Understand Your Credit Score
Your credit score is the gateway into your credit file. Most creditors won't take a step through the gateway into the landscape of your credit report unless they like what they see out front in your credit score. In fact, your credit score is most often the first impression creditors have of when making a decision about your financial future. Most creditors won't base a “Yes” on your credit score alone. But they most certainly could base a "No" on it.
 
How to Protect Yourself from Identity Theft Fraud
A perpetrator of identity theft fraud generally does his misdeeds by obtaining pertinent pieces of your personal information, then using it rather like piecing together a bread-crumb trail in order to obtain more such pieces of personal information…and on and on, until the thief has put together enough of a profile of you to pass himself off as you in the eyes of creditors. There are many ways identity theft criminals access this personal information.

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Free Reports & Scores Included: FREE reports and scores from all 3 bureaus (Equifax, TransUnion and Experian), plus these same reports updated and resent every three months thereafter.

Free Trial Period & Benefits: The 30-day FREE trial has no obligation and gives you access to all elements of the Identity Guard service, including your 3 credit scores, 3 credit reports and the ZoneAlarm

Cancellation Policy: Cancel Identity Guard anytime during the free trial period without penalty. Post-free trial: Cancel anytime and get a pro-rata refund for months prepaid.

Customer Support: By telephone, 8 am to 11 pm Eastern, Monday-Friday, and 9 am to 6 pm Eastern, Saturday. Email support is also available.

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Free Reports & Scores Included: FREE unlimited reports and scores from all 3 bureaus (Equifax, TransUnion and Experian).

Free Trial Period & Benefits: The 7-day FREE trial lets you access all of the features of the Credit Check Total service, including your 3 credit reports and credit scores. But really, you have 9 days from signup to cancel without charge.

Cancellation Policy: You can cancel Credit Check Total anytime during your free trial period with no penalty. Once it ends, you can still cancel anytime and receive a pro rated refund for any prepaid portions for period beyond one month.

Customer Support: Customer support is available by toll-free telephone, email and snail mail. There's also an extensive FAQ section for self-help.

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Free Reports & Scores Included: FREE 3-in-1 credit report and credit scores from all 3 bureaus (Equifax, TransUnion and Experian), plus unlimited Equifax Credit Reports as long as you're a member.

Free Trial Period & Benefits: A 30-day FREE trial lets you access all of the features of the Equifax Credit Watch Gold with 3 in 1 Monitoring and Score Power service, including your 3 credit reports and credit scores.

Cancellation Policy: Cancel Equifax Credit Watch Gold with 3 in 1 Monitoring and Score Power anytime during your free trial period with no penalty.

Customer Support: Support is available through an extensive self-guided help section as well as email and toll-free telephone assisted support 8am to 3am (Eastern), 7 days a week.

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Free Reports & Scores Included: FREE 3-in-1 Credit Report and Triple Score covering all 3 credit reporting bureaus (Equifax, TransUnion and Experian).

Free Trial Period & Benefits: The 7-day FREE* trial lets you access all of the features of the Privacy Matters 1-2-3 service, including your 3-in-1 Credit Report and your Triple Score. *(You will, however, be charged a $1 processing fee).

Cancellation Policy: Cancel at any time by toll-free telephone. No refunds on partial months paid, but otherwise you’re not charged for any months beyond the close of period during which you cancel.

Customer Support: Customer support is available by toll-free telephone.

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Free Reports & Scores Included: FREE report and score from Experian, unless you sign up for Triple Advantage Credit Monitoring, in which case you get all 3 credit reports and scores (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax).

Free Trial Period & Benefits: The 7-day FREE trial lets you access to all of the features of the FreeCreditReport service, not least of which is its Triple Advantage Credit Monitoring service. (Actually, you can cancel within 9 days of signing up without being charged)

Cancellation Policy: Cancel anytime by toll-free telephone. No pro-rated refunds are offered for partial months unused.

Customer Support: Toll-free telephone support during business hours along with email and snail mail support options as well. There's also a detailed FAQ.

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Free Reports & Scores Included: Not their primary service, but a bonus feature, LifeLock orders your FREE annual credit reports from all 3 bureaus (Equifax, TransUnion and Experian) once per year (provided you haven't already ordered them yourself within the same calendar year). No credit scores, however.

Free Trial Period & Benefits: The 30-day FREE trial lets you access to all of the features of the LifeLock service, not least of which are your 3 credit reports and your $1 million service guarantee.

Cancellation Policy: Cancel anytime during the FREE trial period. After that, you may still cancel at anytime, with all but the current month's fee refunded, pro rata.

Customer Support: Toll-free telephone 24/7, email, and a Knowledgebase.

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Free Reports & Scores Included: Automatically get your FREE annual credit reports from all 3 bureaus (Equifax, TransUnion and Experian) once a year without having to do a thing (provided you haven’t already requested them within the same calendar year yourself. Credit scores not included.

Free Trial Period & Benefits: There is no FREE trial of TrustedID services available.

Cancellation Policy: TrustedID allows cancellations of IDFreeze monthly memberships with no obligation and annual memberships with possible partial refunds (see full review). CreditLock fees are non-refundable.

Customer Support: Toll-free telephone and email, 24/7, along with an impressive collection of self-help tools and resources.

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Free Reports & Scores Included: IdentityTruth gives you 1 free Experian credit report and credit score

Free Trial Period & Benefits: The 7-day FREE trial lets you access all of the features of IdentityTruth

Cancellation Policy: Cancel anytime by toll-free telephone with no further obligation.

Customer Support: A Knowledge Base for self-guided support, plus toll-free telephone support Mon-Fri, 8 am – 6 pm Eastern.

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Free Reports & Scores Included: FREE credit reports and credit scores from all 3 bureaus (Equifax, TransUnion and Experian).

Free Trial Period & Benefits: The 7-day FREE Credit Diagnosis trial lets you access all of the features of the FreeCreditReports360 service, not least of which are your 3 credit scores and 3 credit reports.

Cancellation Policy: Cancel anytime with no obligation

Customer Support: FreeCreditReports360 has an FAQ for self-help and toll-free telephone (Mon-Fri) and an email support ticket system for assisted help.

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Free Reports & Scores Included: Unlimited FREE 3-Bureau Credit Report and scores (Equifax, TransUnion and Experian).

Free Trial Period & Benefits: TrueCredit offers a 30-day free trial of its credit monitoring service.

Cancellation Policy: No obligation. Cancel anytime, by telephone during customer support hours listed below.

Customer Support: Customer support available by toll-free telephone, Mon-Thurs 8 am – midnight, Fri-Sun 8 am – 8 pm (all times Eastern).

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Free Reports & Scores Included: FREE credit reports and FICO scores from 1 or all 3 credit reporting bureaus (Equifax, TransUnion and Experian), depending on the package purchased.

Free Trial Period & Benefits: There's a 30-day FREE trial of Score Watch only (and only for those considering the annual plan), which lets you access to all of the features of Score Watch, including your Equifax credit score and report.

Cancellation Policy: Cancel anytime with no obligation.

Customer Support: Email (with a 2 day response time) or toll-free telephone (Mon-Fri, 9 am – 9 pm, Sat 10 am – 7 pm Eastern), as well as a searchable knowledgebase.