Credit Monitoring

I have heard that this is just the latest way credit card companies have thought of to make money off of our concerns about our credit rating. There is no need to monitor your credit rating monthly, and your credit information is available to you free of charge.

And the credit card companies don't want fraud to happen either, because it costs them money, so they are already monitoring your account for no extra charge - they are now just trying to get you to pay them for it monthly. My ex just got a call from the bank after they noticed a "suspicious" charge for only slightly over $100. It wasn't his and they dismissed the charge, cancelled his card, and reissued him a new one all the same day that this charge happened.

I can monitor all my financial accounts daily, from the internet. I would never pay this much to have someone else do it.

Don't spend $$ to have it monitored. It's a waste of money. Some of those companies sell your name to businesses to target you for credit offers. In Texas you can get one free credit report a year. Go to the Texas Attorney General Website and find the link. It's totally legit. Once you get it, check for incauracies. You can dispute at that time. Call your home insurance company and ask them to add identity theft endorsement to your home or renters insurance. It's like $12 a year. If your credit is affected by fraud, they will represent you in court, help you clear your name, and put the money back.

I could be completely wrong but I have heard that you don't want to have your credit report run so frequently as it could negatively impact your credit score.

(I do not know this for a fact though, so don't hang your hat on it!)

I use Indentity Theft Shield which is part of another service that I am involved in. The whole thing is called Prepaid Legal. It offers you Indentity Theftshield that monitors all three of your credit reports and reports any new transaction that shows up to you immediately. It also offers you Legal Aid. You will get a free last will and testament and power of attorney forms drawn up by a lawyer as part of the service. You will also be assigned to a law firm at any time that you may need that service for anything at a discounted rate. We've been with them since like 2001 and have had great success with them. No complaints at all. It's only like $26 a month. I know a bit more than what you are being offered by your credit card company but more is offered. If you're interested check out their website at www.prepaidlegal.com - if you have any further questions, you can pm me anytime. Good luck!

Find out the details of what they are really doing for you. What are you paying for?

I use identity guard. I got it through my costco membership and it is $9.99/month and the first 3 were free.
What I like about it is that I can go on and look at my full credit report anytime i want from all 3 reporting agencies (not "running" my credit in the same sense that creditors "run" credit, it is not hurting my score to look). One time/month i can get my credit score from all three agencies. Anytime there is any change to my credit they send me an email notification (you can set it up to have them call you too).
The agency will also assist you in disputing errors. There are many useful tools on the site.
For me this was not so much to protect from fraud, it was to improve my credit. There were things posted on there that I didn't even were there. Having the ability to see my score every month and see my credit report the way others see it helped me to monitor my improvement.

That is not running your credit report, it is simply monitoring it and sending you updates. I signed up through my bank for $12.95 a month for all 3 bureaus. One bureau would have cost me $5.95, so I went for all 3. But I think it is a GREAT Idea to keep on top of it and dispute things as you see them.