Even if you’re only signing up for complimentary one (such as Credit Karma) or an annual one, it’s smart to have a subscription to consistently monitor your credit and give you alerts on any changes to your credit, positive or negative.

1. Catch Identity Theft ASAP
As soon as a negative account or a credit account opened with your information reports on your credit, a credit monitoring site will alert you about it, and this is ideal if your personal information has recently been leaked or you submitted around because if it’s the actions of an identity theft you’ll find out quickly. This can help you reach creditors immediately or call bureaus for a temporary freeze to avoid damaging accounts.

2. Know When to Apply For Credit
When your credit is in the high 600s to low 700s, your chances of getting loans or credit cards with good benefits is much higher, and you’d know when to strike when the iron is hot! Similarly, if your credit scores are still slow to rise, you’ll know to hold off instead of adding on inquiries.

3. Hold Your Creditors Accountable!
With a site to monitor all your account activity and information, you’ll be able to accurately debate any discrepancies in charges, notices in limit changes, or use examples of good credit to creditors if need be. They won’t be able to take advantage of you the more attention you pay to your credit!