February 9, 2009

As a  minimum you should be checking your credit report once per year.  This seems to be almost a forgot thing to do by the majority of consumers.  It is usually done right before applying for a mortgage or a job.

This can almost be too late.  For example if you have a credit report errors.  These are going to take at least 30 to 45 days to be disputed and possibly removed from your credit report.  If they are not removed, you then have to contact your account to dispute the item and hopefully have them remove it.  This will take even more time.

A more aggressive approach is to check you credit report every six months.  I know that you get just one free one per year, but shows your financial fitness.  You need to protect it.

If you just want to sleep at night not thinking about checking your credit report every 6 months you could sign up for a credit monitoring program.  They do cost money, but not as much as you think.  The best bang for your buck is the MyFICO quarterly monitoring.

So lets compare this to a 3in1 credit report that you would normally get which costs 39.95.  This is every single one you get costs this much.  With MyFICO quarterly monitoring it costs $49.95 per year.  That is just $10 more.  What you get will quarterly monitoring is a lot.  First, you get to review your credit report every quarter.  You will also get your FICO score every quarter.  Plus you will get $25,000 in identity theft insurance.

So if you are wanting to check your report twice a year you would spend around $80.  If you want to check your credit report and get your FICO score quarterly it cost $49.95.  Check it out for yourself: FICO® Quarterly Monitoring