Credit glossary
Credit monitoring
A service that watches one or more of your credit files and alerts you to changes such as new accounts, inquiries or balance swings.
Monitoring tells you something happened. It doesn't stop it. A freeze keeps new creditors from seeing your file, while monitoring only reports activity after the fact. The federal freeze law lets a monitoring service you signed up for keep accessing your file while it's frozen, so the two work together. Many monitoring plans come bundled with credit locks or identity protection, sometimes for a monthly fee.
You can do basic monitoring yourself for free. AnnualCreditReport.com offers weekly reports from all three bureaus, and comparing them every month or two catches most surprises. Paid services can add speed and alerts, but check which bureaus they watch and which score they display, since the CFPB warns that the score you see may not be the one a lender uses.
Guides that go deeper
- Credit freeze vs. fraud alert vs. credit lock: what each one stopsA freeze blocks new-credit pulls by law, a fraud alert only adds an ID check, and a lock is a bureau product with its own terms. How to pick the right one.
- Why your free app score doesn't match your lender'sFree apps usually show VantageScore 3.0 or FICO 8, while lenders pull auto, bankcard or mortgage versions. How to see something closer to their number.
- Identity theft recovery, step by step, in the order that worksThe FTC's recovery sequence, explained: what to do in the first hour, why the Identity Theft Report comes before disputes, and how to clear each account.
Sources
- 15 U.S.C. 1681c-1(i): Security freeze, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School
- What is a credit freeze or security freeze on my credit report?, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
- Free Credit Reports, Federal Trade Commission
- What you need to know: Understanding why offers of your credit score are not all the same, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
This is education, not legal or financial advice. Spot an error? Tell us and we'll fix it.