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#free credit scores and reports

#FreeScoresAndMore

Free 30-day trial; $14.99/mo (after our 25% discount)

Credit Monitoring:

All 3 bureaus

Full Review:

[Editor's Note: For a limited time, FreeScoresAndMore is offering $5.00 off every month ($14.99 instead of the regular price of $19.99, more than 25% off), a free 30-day trial & monthly credit updates to NextAdvisor.com visitors. There is no coupon code required to take advantage of this offer, just simply click on any FreeScoresAndMore link on NextAdvisor to take advantage of this limited time discount pricing.]

FreeScoresAndMore has been delivering credit monitoring services for a long time and has assembled an impressive array of benefits and features. This service particularly shines by updating your three-bureau credit scores and reports monthly, which is more often than its closest competition, for just $14.99/month. FreeScoresAndMore.com doesn't just stop with credit data, though. It includes a wide array of information, financial calculators and identity theft protection features. FreeScoresAndMore.com lets you try all of this with their 30-day free trial. With its three-bureau credit report, free scores from all three bureaus, monthly score and report updates, three-bureau monitoring and affordable ongoing monthly price of $14.99/month, FreeScoresAndMore.com is second to none for monitoring your credit.

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FreeScoresAndMore.com Interface

FreeScoresAndMore.com's signup application just takes a couple of minutes to fill out. You'll need to enter your personal information like name, address and social security. Make sure not to include any special characters like " " in the address field, because this may cause some problems in their heavy identity verification process. Note that this is all done via an encrypted webpage, so do not worry about the security of your personal information.

FreeScoresAndMore.com employs some extra security in order to access your instant credit information after signup, which can be a bit of a pain. We had to call their customer support center to further confirm our identity, but this was pretty fast with their helpful representative. On the positive side, however, FreeScoresAndMore.com goes to great lengths during the sign-up process to be very clear about what you are committing to and what you are receiving.

Credit Monitoring, Reports and Scores

You can instantly activate your three-bureau credit monitoring and get access to your three-bureau credit report and all three credit scores. FreeScoresAndMore.com updates your reports and scores monthly so you always have the most current data. This is more frequently than any other credit monitoring service in this price range and is a great benefit. The credit scores you receive are based on the CreditXpert scoring system. While this isn't exactly the same as FICO, the most popular credit scoring formula, in our testing when we cross-referenced our credit scores from FreeScoresAndMore.com with our actual FICO scores, they were virtually identical.

We highly recommend the type of three-bureau monitoring that FreeScoresAndMore.com offers because each bureau could have different credit information on file for you. Creditors often only report to one bureau and it only takes negative information on one of your credit reports to make you ineligible for a loan or indicate that you are a victim of identity theft.

FreeScoresAndMore.com does a nice job of organizing your credit information in an easy-to-read format. The service goes beyond just giving you the facts by giving you highly detailed explanations of your scores. It details both factors that are helping your score and factors that are hurting it.

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FreeScoresAndMore.com

Simulators

You also get an excellent what-if simulator that will estimate how your scores might change if you took various actions such as paid down a debt or had a credit inquiry. The service then provides a nice graphical representation of how your credit scores would change over time. Overall, FreeScoresAndMore.com's credit information and tools are second to none.

FreeScoresAndMore.com has some nice identity theft protection benefits, including application monitoring. This service detects if your personal information is being used to apply for wireless services, retail credit, utilities, check orders/reorders and mortgage loans. You will receive real-time alerting, empowering you to take action if needed so fraudulent accounts can be shut down immediately before damage can occur. We particularly like the fraud support, which gives you a dedicated caseworker to help you navigate the confusing and laborious process of restoring your identity.

We found FreeScoresAndMore.com support to be very quick and helpful. If you have questions about changes in your credit score, the representative will explain these changes to you (just make sure you have your membership number in front of you). Calling to verify our identity upon signing up was a quick process as well. You can reach them by phone and email Monday through Sunday 8 a.m. to 12 a.m. ET.

Overall, FreeScoresAndMore.com is a first-rate credit monitoring service that offers some great additional identity theft protection benefits. Its monthly update of all three reports and scores give it an advantage over most other services we review in the amount of credit data provided. When it comes to keeping tabs on your credit, FreeScoresAndMore.com is second to none. With the free 30-day trial, it's risk-free to find out how you like it.