You could join a company like lifelock, but all they do is to call one of the major credit card reports such as Experian. Lifelock does offer the monitoring like Credit expert does.
You can do the same thing. Call them or goto their website. And request a "Lock" on your account. They can do this for 2 years at a time. What this will do is anytime ANY info is requested about you, They will not provide any information whatsoever.
Its a free of charge service.
It is best to call the Big 3 credit reporting agencies to make sure your butt is covered!
In the lifelock commercial you see about "almost stopping junk mail" the Junk mail they are talking about is credit card offers and loan offers.
Companies "fish" credit reporting agencies for your info. They take note of your credit status and send you junk mail accordingly to your credit status.
By "Locking" for free your account with the 2 credit reporting agencies you stop that from happening.
There is a MAJOR drawback with to locking your account. (Fraud alert most companies call it) Is that when you goto get a loan or a credit card, the companies will NOT be able to get your credit history.
You will have to notify the credit reporters that an inquiry will be coming.
In my eyes it is easier and safer to use a company such as "Credit Expert" When you surf around experian and the other credit agencies, they all refer to this service. It is monitoring system that will notify you immediately when someone tries to access your information.
You may also signup for the free credit report once every 12 months.
Ok and that starts another form of scam. You will run across many sites that say "FREE credit report and by the time you are done signing up with them, you just paid them $9 to $15 bucks!
Plus if read the small print, you signed away any rights to privacy as your info will now be used to "collect data" for them.
Summary, Wont be needing a loan or any new credit cards for the next 2 years? Lock your account.
Want a free credit report? goto experian.com and get one they are the easiest and most secure.
Want a monitoring service. Use one that is connected to the top 3 reporting agencies. NOT one from some website that you found on google or yahoo displaying banners. Then check with BBB to make sure the company is safe.