10 Best Credit Monitoring Services for Business Owners 2023

Lenders use your personal credit score to decide whether or not you qualify for a business loan. If you don’t know your credit score or don’t know what’s in your credit report, you could get surprised with a loan rejection you can’t afford.

To help you avoid those sorts of surprises, we’ve found the best credit monitoring services out there. 

We’ll tell you upfront that myFico offers the best value to most businesses. But all 10 of our favorite services will help you feel confident when your credit looks good―and quickly spot problems when it doesn’t.

Credit monitoring is a good idea for just about everyone. But as a business owner, there’s a good chance you’ll want to apply for financing at some point (whether that’s a business loan, line of credit, or something else).

When you apply for that financing, your lender will perform a credit inquiry as part of your application. Then they’ll use your credit score (along with factors like your business revenue and time in business) to decide whether or not to lend to you.

Your credit score also affects your interest rates and how much money you can borrow. The higher your credit score, the lower the rate and the larger the loan you’re likely to qualify for.

In other words, credit scores affect small-business financing in several ways. So you should definitely monitor your credit and work toward getting a higher credit score―but you want to make sure you’re looking at the right credit score.

myFICO offers our favorite credit monitoring service for business owners. Why? Well, one big reason is in the name.

See, myFICO is one of the few credit monitoring services out there that monitors your FICO credit score and not your VantageScore (Experian is the only other service on our list that uses FICO scores). That means that it’s also one of the few services that shows you the same credit score that your lenders will look at.

That alone is enough to make us love myFICO. But myFICO doesn’t give you just one FICO score―it lets you see 28 different FICO score versions. (There are specific FICO scores for things like auto loans and home mortgages.) So whether you’re applying for a business loan, buying a new car to get to and from your business, or looking into a new house for your home-based business, myFICO will give you the info you need. 

Plus, myFICO also has great monitoring features, from credit alerts to reports. It offers analysis and guidance about your credit score, so you can see how you can improve it and what lenders will think of it. myFICO even has a score simulator, so you can see if taking out a new business credit card would help or hurt your chances of getting approved for a line of credit later. 

We do want to note that myFICO’s cheapest plan only gives you credit monitoring for Experian―not Equifax or TransUnion. If you want monitoring (and scores and reports) for all three credit bureaus, you’ll need to get myFICO’s higher-tier plans. And frankly, those get a little pricey.

Even so, myFICO gives you lots of credit monitoring services and information―and it gives you access to the same scores lenders use. That makes myFICO a very valuable service, and our favorite credit monitoring service. 

IDShield offers solid credit monitoring―but it also offers some of the best identity monitoring out there.

IDShield has individual plans, family plans and business plans. The family plans get you coverage for all adults in your household, so you can keep an eye on both your credit and your partner's credit while knowing your identities are secure. You can even add children to your family plan, if you want. 

The business plans, although much pricier starting at $79/month, also offer features that safeguard employees from cyber intruders. For that Business Essentials plan at $79/month, you get up to 6 public IP addresses or URLs protected with firewalls, vulnerability scans, emergency service response and a $100k cyber protection plan. 

IDShield offers an even more comprehensive business plan covering 12 unique public IP address for $149/month. This might feel pricey to you but the cost of losing sensitive information can end up costing much more. 

And of course, IDShield has some strong credit monitoring features too, all included in each plan. Between monitoring, scores, and reports for the three main credit bureaus, it’s worth the monthly cost.

The only thing we would warn you about is that using the site is not as intuitive. You might have to call their customer service for help when signing up. The perk there, though is that customer service is available 24/7. So, it's not that big of a deal in the end. 

Put simply, whether you want credit monitoring for just yuo, your family or your business, IDShield prioritizes your safety and is our number one choice for identity theft protection. 

If you don’t want to pay for credit monitoring, Experian’s free credit service is your best bet.

In part, that’s because Experian (like myFICO) lets you see your actual FICO score―not a VantageScore. So you’ll have more insight into what your potential lenders will see. That puts Experian’s free service above most paid services.

And despite being free, Experian still gives you all the essential credit monitoring services. You’ll get an updated Experian credit report each month, alerts about credit changes (like credit checks or new accounts), and FICO score tracking. The only real downside? You only get Experian monitoring. If you want to see your scores and reports from Equifax or TransUnion, you’ll have to pony up $40 for a one-time report. 

Even with those limitations, Experian offers better credit monitoring than you’d find from any other free credit monitoring service (and many paid ones too).

Is your romantic partner also your business partner? Then let us introduce you to IdentityGuard’s family plans.

IdentityGuard has both individual plans and family plans. The family plans get you coverage for all adults in your household, so you can keep an eye on both your credit and your partner’s credit (and identities). You can even add children to your family plan, if you want. 

No matter who you add, your family plan will only cost between 30% and 60% (depending on the plan tier you choose) more than an individual plan, making it cheaper than buying multiple individual plans. We do advise paying for a higher-tier plan though. IdentityGuard’s Value plan has no credit monitoring features, so you’ll want to get at least the mid-tier Total plan.

Put simply, whether you want credit monitoring for just you and your spouse or for a much larger household, IdentityGuard makes it affordable.

We love a free credit monitoring service but Credit Sesame is not entirely free. Yes, there is a free plan but it only offers monitoring with one credit bureau, the TransUnion Credit Report. You have to start paying a monthly fee for anything more. 

The frustrating thing, is that the site advertises its services as 100% free. But then as you read the small print and the FAQs, you quickly discover that users are getting charged and not understanding why. 

But let's talk about the free plan. If you are just starting out on your financial journey, this is an excellent, low-pressure system that will help you stay on track with your credit. 

Credit Sesame offers monitoring, real-time alerts for any changes, and basic identity theft protections. This is really all you need if you are just starting out. And you don't even have to plug in your credit card for any of this. These basic features are 100% free. It is when you want something a little more specific that you need to plug in your card and you will be charged accordingly. 

We think the five monitoring services above have the best combination of features and pricing. But if you’d like to see more options, the following five companies are worth looking at as well.

Credit Karma offers free credit monitoring for TransUnion and Equifax. You’ll get alerts about credit changes, tracking of your VantageScore, and regular credit reports. That’s not a bad value for a free product, but we prefer Experian since it gives you a FICO score. 

That said, you should consider using both Experian and Credit Karma. That way, you can keep track of your credit profiles with all three credit reporting agencies―at no cost to you. 

PrivacyGuard has plans for credit monitoring, identity monitoring, or both. When you enroll in a PrivacyGuard credit monitoring plan, you get score tracking and reports for all three bureaus on a monthly basis. You’ll also get access to a hotline where you can get help understanding your credit report.

All that makes PrivacyGuard a perfectly good credit monitoring service. We just think that the companies recommended above offer a little more value.

LifeLock primarily deals with identity monitoring, but it offers credit monitoring as a part of that. But LifeLock has less robust credit monitoring than other services. That cheapest plan only monitors one bureau, and it doesn’t get you any scores or reports. Even with the most expensive plan, you get only monthly scores and annual reports.

That said, its cheapest plan is very affordable (only a couple bucks more than CompleteID per month). So if you want cheap identity monitoring and can settle for basic credit monitoring, LifeLock could work for you.

CreditWise is another free monitoring service. You’ll get alerts about changes to your Experian or TransUnion credit report, and you can track your TransUnion credit score. CreditWise also has a score simulator, so you can predict how certain actions will affect your credit score.

Ultimately, CreditWise is a fine free service. But again, we think most business owners will prefer getting a FICO score from Experian’s free monitoring service.

TransUnion’s paid credit monitoring service gives you monitoring for the three credit bureaus, plus daily TransUnion score and reports updates. It also offers credit guidance and analysis, so you can get better informed about how to improve your credit score.

All that gives TransUnion enough value that you might like it for your credit monitoring needs (but we think you’ll like the services above more).

myFico offers the best credit monitoring service for business owners, since it gives you access to FICO scores and offers plenty of analysis and guidance.

If you’d rather go with a free service, Experian is your best option. IdentityForce can give you powerful identity theft features in addition to credit monitoring. Households will like IdentityGuard’s discounted family plans. And Costco members can get a great deal from Complete ID.

With any of the credit monitoring services recommended above, you can better understand your credit score and credit file, stay on top of any suspicious activity, and make sure your credit history is accurate. Doing so will give you peace of mind―and it can put you in a better situation for future financing.

Lenders care a lot about your credit score, but they look at other factors too. Learn more about other business loan requirements.

We looked at more than a dozen popular credit monitoring services to get our rankings. We evaluated each service based on its plan costs, features, trial offers, and other factors. After calculating scores for each service, we used those scores to rank the top credit monitoring services.

Disclaimer

At Business.org, our research is meant to offer general product and service recommendations. We don't guarantee that our suggestions will work best for each individual or business, so consider your unique needs when choosing products and services.