Dear Fix Your Credit Consulting community,

During this time of uncertainty the one thing you do not want to be uncertain about is your credit. You will want to be sure to take steps to make it as easy as possible to monitor how much you are using your credit and how it is affecting your scores!

That’s why Fix Your Credit Consulting wants to provide you with a few tips on how to best keep tabs on your credit and spending habits.

Most credit card companies and banks offer some variation or version of a digital alert system that will send you a phone notification or email whenever there are new charges on your credit card. You can usually customize these alerts for specific kinds of charges too, such as charges above a specific amount or at specific kinds of establishments, for example you have it alert you whenever a charge greater than $20 hits your credit card, or whenever it is used to make a purchase at a gas station (a common place for people to try and use stolen credit cards). This tool can be a great help when trying to maintain a budget or if multiple people in your family are authorized users on a single card.

Additionally, you can set up alerts to tell you when there has been an update on your account balance or when payment due dates are coming up. The majority of lenders offer these kinds of notifications through their respective websites or apps and are especially important for people who often find themselves late on paying their credit card bills. You can also call your lender using the customer support line on the back of your credit card to get help in locating where these options might be.

While it is important to monitor your credit usage, it is equally important to monitor your credit score. Doing so allows you to quickly catch and identity theft attempts, know when to apply for more lines of credit or an increase on an existing one, and gives you a tool to hold your creditors accountable for false information.

A cheap way to monitor your credit is through the website Credit Karma which offers free credit score monitoring, but they only monitor two out of the three bureaus, TransUnion and Equifax. Experian offers its own, free credit monitoring site as well. In addition you are also entitled to one free copy of your credit report every 12 months from each of the bureaus, but ideally you want to be checking your credit score more than once a year!

We suggest that our clients use one of the paid credit monitoring services which allows you to view all three bureaus at once, plus they offer additional benefits that can help you maximize your credit score monitoring. One great service is IdentityIQ which only costs $1 to access the report for the first 7 days if you sign up via our link, then if you stay signed up, you will be charged $19.99 a month. In addition to getting a Tri-Bureau Credit Report, IdentityIQ also offers services such as Identity Theft Protection, Lost Wallet Service and Internet Surveillance Monitoring. You can click on the image below to learn more or call us at (877) 212-2450 and one of our consultants can help you!

We hope that you found these tips useful and will utilize them in the near future. As always, stay safe, and stay healthy!

If you have any questions, feel free to give us a call at 877-212-2450!

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