Whether you have fair credit or excellent credit, there is always room for credit score improvement. Consistently monitoring and building up your credit score could lead to awesome benefits like lower interest rates on loans, bigger lines of credit, and more flexibility in your personal finances. Our credit scores impact almost every aspect of our financial lives, and yet few people take the time to actively keep tabs on their credit history to ensure a high credit score and mitigate instances of credit or identity fraud.
Considering 17.6 million people were victims of identity theft in 2014 (according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ latest figures), everyone should do as much as possible to protect themselves against fraudulent transactions and keep a close eye on their credit reports. This is where myFICO excels, thanks to their multiple credit monitoring services ranging from basic access to a one-time credit report from the three major bureaus to their FICO Ultimate 3B credit-monitoring package.
While you’re entitled to one free copy of your credit report every 12 months, paying for a credit and identity monitoring service such as myFICO could be worth it if you want something more comprehensive than a simple report. Get Your Credit Scores & Reports From All 3 Credit Bureaus. 
Credit Monitoring Services
Keeping your credit card information safe is a paramount concern, but myFICO makes protection easier with their FICO Essentials 1B and FICO Ultimate 3B programs. The Essentials package offers instant access to your credit report from Equifax and FICO credit score, ongoing monitoring of your Equifax report, historical credit score tracking graphs, lost wallet protection, identity restoration services in cases of theft or fraud (24/7 availability) and up to $1 million in identity theft insurance.
While the Fair Credit Billing Act and Electronic Fund Transfer Acts protect you to a certain extent in cases of credit and debit card fraud, your personal identity is less thoroughly protected under the law, meaning a myFICO program might be a viable supplement to your existing legal rights.
The myFICO Ultimate 3B monitoring service includes the same options as the 1B program, except the Ultimate 3B includes the other 2 credit reporting bureaus, TransUnion and Experian. The Ultimate 3B program also includes an “identity analysis report,” which includes a massive, one-time scan of potential areas of personal identity theft online – including black market websites and obscure chat rooms – as well as ongoing monitoring of dangerous websites that might steal and/or sell your personal information (including your Social Security number). The Essentials 1B package costs $19.95 per month ($219 per year) and the Ultimate 3B package costs $29.95 per month ($329 per year).
One-Time Credit Reports
If you’re more interested in obtaining a one-time credit report, you can pick from any of the three major reporting bureaus on myFICO’s website and pay $19.95 per credit report (or $59.85 for a report from all three). Depending on the credit bureau you select, you could have access to the FICO scoring models 8, 9 or 10. Your myFICO report will include a FICO score analysis of the factors that affect your credit score, as well as a FICO score simulator to help you determine the next steps you should take to improve your score.
Informative Resources
The myFICO website is full of useful information pertaining to credit scores, credit cards, and personal identity protection. After all, it’s not enough to simply know your credit score and read through your credit history – to maximize the benefits you get from monitoring your credit score, you’ll want to learn the ins and outs of credit scoring to save as much money as possible on interest rates in the future.
myFICO Savings Center
In addition to their useful credit monitoring programs and informative resource center, myFICO also offers a nifty search tool to help you find the top-rated credit cards, mortgages, auto insurance, and personal loans for your given situation. Search filters allow you to see the best offers available for your personal credit score range, your individual needs (personal, business, student), your rewards preferences (miles, cash back, points, travel rewards, etc.), preferred credit card issuer, and other preferences (e.g., no annual fee or low APR cards). Other search options include your area of residence (for mortgages and auto insurance), designed to help you find the greatest savings on financial products you need every day.
Should You Use myFICO?
Not everyone has the time or desire to closely monitor their credit reports, though myFICO’s inclusion of personal identity protection services makes their packages worthwhile. You don’t need to know all the rules of the credit scoring game in order to understand your personalized credit report from myFICO and given how much credit card, debit card, and personal identity fraud occurs just in the U.S. every year, having extra protection might be worth the extra expense.
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