the.com/credit monitoring
a smoke alarm for your financial identity that only ever texts you after the house has burned down.
means a service that watches your credit reports and alerts you when something changes, like a new account or hard inquiry.
from grew out of the 1970s credit bureau system, then exploded as a paid product after 2000s-era data breaches made identity theft a household fear.
free version existsannualcreditreport.com gives real reports at no cost
reactive not preventivealerts arrive after damage is already done
breach freebiecompanies often give a year free after leaking your data
freeze beats monitoringa credit freeze actually blocks new accounts