The three major credit bureaus, Experian®, Equifax®, and TransUnion® have marketed different credit monitoring tools to help you track the credit information in your credit report – as long as you pay something. But, why don’t the credit bureaus do it? It is their information. I’ll explain.
The three major credit agencies have created agreements with lenders both large and small to send your loan information to them. This information includes all your personal information, including address and social security number, loans that have been opened and paid, balances, along with other types of information.
The three major credit bureaus have amassed a lot of personal and credit information which they in turn, sell to companies for profits. This includes credit reports requested, and marketing for different loans and financial services. The information in their credit reports is their information. Even though it contains your information, it is considered to be their information, or their “asset”.
As a result, you have limited access to our information. You oftentimes have to pay to get a copy of your credit report (unless you go to the free annual website).
A Backwards Business Model
Which brings us back to the original question. Why are you paying to monitor something (your credit information) that isn’t even considered your property?
That is the problem. If your personal and credit information are the property of Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, they should have systems in place to make sure your information is correct.
The only reason to monitor your credit is if you receive something in return of value to you – like your actual “lender’s credit scores”. It would not make any sense to just monitor your credit without that, because you are in essence, doing the job for the credit bureaus.