Reader Request: Credit Score Monitoring Service Recommendations

November 30, 2011 By Million Mile Secrets

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The best part about writing the blog is reading the comments and email from readers! Aaron writes in about how he is getting to live his dream by covering the English Premier League soccer (football) games. Congrats, Aaron, for having Big Travel with Small Money!

Aaron wants to know: which credit score monitoring service to sign-up for?

Hi Daraius,

First, I wanted to share a bit of a success story with you, since I know you put a lot of work into making travel possible for your readers.

As a hobby, I do some sports writing in addition to my regular job. The sports journalism world is not lucrative in any sense, but getting published is such a thrill to me (not unlike collecting miles!) that I find the time to do it regardless. My ambition has been to cover English Premier League soccer games. But, living in DC, this is obviously cost-prohibitive. But, after doing the US Mint coin redemption system for about two years, some credit card sign up bonuses, and other programs, I’m going to England in April to four soccer games, and a popular sports website has agreed to provide press passes for me and publish my work. I’m confident the only reason I have this opportunity is because I was able to say “I can pay for all my travel and accommodations.” (Of course, the word “pay” isn’t accurate!)

Thank you for all your hard work with the blog and making an experience like this possible for me. I’ll be among the luckiest of people who get to live their dream for a few short days.

With that, I have just one short question for you: now that I’m doing more credit card applications, I need to keep a closer eye on my credit score. What do you use to monitor your credit score? I’m more than willing to pay for a service, given the benefit I extract from the credit cards, it seems like a worthy investment. Any recommendations you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

I’ve always used Credit Karma or Credit Sesame, which provide proxies or substitutes of my TransUnion and Experion credit score because they are free. But I’ve been thinking of signing up for a credit score monitoring service too. That’s because I get thousands of dollars worth of miles and points from credit card sign-up bonuses and want a more accurate credit score than what Credit Karma and Credit Sesame provide.

I used to use Citi Identity Monitor for $1 a month for the 1st 30 days and then cancel the service, but I haven’t researched any other credit monitoring services.

Which credit monitoring services do you use and which ones should Aaron and I use? Please let us know in the comments!