Your FICO® Quarterly Monitoring learning center
What are credit monitors?
Think of these monitors as your personal credit tracking devices. These easy-to-read charts help you keep a close eye on your credit visually, so you act fast at the first signs of ID theft. Credit monitors let you quickly identify trends and watch for suspicious changes in your credit, like unexpected balances, problem accounts, a deteriorating FICO® score and more.
What do credit monitors look like?
The question mark gives you detailed information about each monitor.
The trend line tracks your credit activity over a period of time.
The current status line gives you a quick read on your credit values.
The arrow signals if your value has gone up or down, and how the new activity affected your credit status:
- Green arrow = Status has improved
- Red arrow = Status has declined
What should you expect to see?
The first time you go to the monitors page, you'll only see one red dot marked on each graph. Don't worry though. This is normal. If you haven't purchased products from us before, only one dot will appear. The red dot shows your current credit information. It's a good idea to look over the monitors and check the placement of each dot to make sure everything seems familiar.
Over time, more dots will appear on your monitors, and you can start identifying trends in your credit and watching for signs of ID theft. You should follow the red dots carefully. If you detect an unexpected trend, and you don't know why, this could be a sign of ID theft.
What do credit monitors tell you?
- FICO® score
- See if your score has gone up or down
- Credit inquiries
- Check how many times you or an ID thief has applied for credit in the last few months
- Negative items
- Find out how many negative items, like bankruptcy or tax liens, are showing up on your credit
- Total balance owed
- Know how much you owe lenders
- Past-due amount
- Make sure you don’t have bills that are past due
- Problem accounts
- Keep track of how many accounts you have that are delinquent, foreclosed or in collection
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