6 Best Credit Monitoring Services for Small Business (2024)

Are you looking for the best credit monitoring service for your small business?

Credit monitoring is an important topic of discussion among website owners and entrepreneurs because of all the recent data breaches that have been happening. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), 4.7 million identity and credit fraud incidents were reported in 2020.

In this article, we have hand-picked some of the best credit monitoring services for your small business that you can use along with your WordPress site.

Why Do You Need a Credit Monitoring Service?

With everything going on in the digital security world, it’s absolutely critical that every small business owner and entrepreneur have a basic credit monitoring service so you can quickly detect and prevent identity theft and digital fraud.

A good credit monitoring service allows you to do the following:

• Track your credit reports from all three major credit bureaus and get near real-time alerts for suspicious activities.
• You can set up bank account monitoring from a single dashboard. Their AI-powered algorithm helps you avoid becoming a victim of bank/credit scams.
• The dark web monitoring reports would alert you if any of your passwords, social security numbers, credit card numbers, or bank accounts were compromised as part of any data breach so you can act fast.
• You get device & wifi security, which helps you browse safely wherever you are, and some services also give you secure password management tools for total protection.
• Easily get help from trained professionals with fraud resolution in case an unfortunate event occurs where any of your financial accounts are compromised by identity thieves.
• Most credit monitoring services offer up to $1 million dollar in insurance to help protect you and your business in case you’re a victim of identity theft.

If you are running an online store or a small business website, then adding a credit monitoring service can help you protect your business and bring peace of mind.

Credit theft can significantly hurt a small business’s ability to open bank accounts, borrow money from lenders, get a new credit card, and even accept online payments.

While it’s easy to think this would never happen to you, in 2020, WPBeginner founder Syed Balkhi nearly lost $1.4 million dollars due to fraudulent activity. 

After months of stress and countless hours, he recovered the vast majority of the money with the help of the Department of Homeland Security, but all of that could have been prevented if everyone involved was using a comprehensive online security solution.

That being said, let’s take a look at the best credit monitoring services for small business owners & entrepreneurs.

1. Aura

Aura is the best credit monitoring and identity theft protection service when it comes to features, ease of use, and price.

They offer an all-in-one financial security platform with an easy setup and reasonable pricing. Their user interface makes it easy for small business owners to set up credit monitoring and manage their identity protection, financial protection, and device protection from one single app (mobile or desktop).

Their credit monitoring service includes near-real-time credit report monitoring for all three major credit bureaus, which means you get Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax credit reports all in one place. This allows you to get instant fraud alerts, sometimes up to 4x faster than the competition.

The dashboard also includes credit score tracking, the ability to lock your credit profile, financial transaction monitoring, bank account monitoring, 401k & investment account monitoring, and more.

Aside from their credit monitoring service, you also get all the powerful security features like A.I.-powered dark web scanning, identity verification monitoring, personal information and social security number (SSN) monitoring, and criminal and court records monitoring.

All plans include a $1 million dollar identity theft insurance policy to cover eligible losses and any fees due to credit fraud or identity theft. Their expert resolution team is U.S.-based, and they work 24/7 to help you recover your identity and assets if you’re a victim of fraud.

Pricing for Aura’s credit monitoring service starts at a small monthly fee of $9 for the Individual plan. Their Family group plan costs $25 per month for up to 10 people, and it includes all credit monitoring features as well as VPN + antivirus. These are special pricing for WPBeginner readers and let you save up to 50%.

Note: We use Aura on WPBeginner as our credit monitoring service. In our experience, Aura has the best credit monitoring and identity theft protection plan in the market from both features and pricing points of view.

As a small business owner, we really like that Aura offers a free VPN and Antivirus software to boost our device & wifi security. This really makes them a comprehensive credit monitoring service + digital security solution.

Their VPN (virtual private network) helps secure your internet connection with military-grade encryption wherever you are. It’s very useful when you’re traveling or working from a public place like Starbucks.

Pros:

• Extremely easy to use
• The service offers multiple self-help documents.
• It provides a nice collection of updates to the service and delivers credit scores and reports from all three bureaus.

Cons:

• The price rises quickly for family and couple plans.
• It doesn’t offer direct social media account monitoring.

Why We Recommend Using Aura: We believe Aura is the best overall credit monitoring service and identity theft protection solution for small businesses with affordable individual and family plans.

2. Identity Guard

Identity Guard is another popular credit monitoring company for entrepreneurs, individuals, and families.

Their credit monitoring and identity theft protection platform includes all the standard functionality you would need in their Value plan, such as data breach notifications, dark web monitoring (powered by IBM Watson AI), risk management reports, high-risk transaction monitoring, safe browsing tools, and $1 million insurance with stolen fund reimbursement.

Their Total and Ultra plans include advanced credit protection features as well, such as bank account monitoring, credit & debit card monitoring, 401k & investment monitoring, address change monitoring, public records monitoring, social media monitoring reports, monthly credit score reports, 3-bureau credit monitoring, and 3-bureau annual credit reports.

Identity Guard pricing starts at $5.39 per month for their Value plan and goes up to $15 per month for the Ultra plan.

As a small business owner (employer), you can also purchase credit monitoring services for your team members and make it part of your overall employee benefits package.

In our research, we found that Identity Guard is a very affordable credit monitoring service that also includes premium identity theft protection on their higher plans.

However, they currently do not offer Device and Networking protection services like Aura does, such as free VPN, antivirus, or a secure password manager.

Pros:

• They offer a budget-friendly basic plan.
• Identity Guard guarantees $1 million in identity theft insurance across all places.
• They use IBM’s Watson artificial intelligence to help detect identity theft.

Cons:

• Their cheapest plan doesn’t provide credit monitoring.
• The app isn’t easy to use.

3. IdentityForce

IdentityForce is a credit monitoring service by TransUnion which is one of the 3 major credit bureaus in the United States. They are consistently rated as a top identity theft protection service on Trustpilot.

As one of the major credit reporting agencies, TransUnion has premier credit monitoring and identity theft service solutions for consumers, small business owners, as well as large enterprises and government agencies.

While they offer identity theft protection features in their UltraSecure plan, you need to get their more expensive UltraSecure + Credit plan to get the credit monitoring features, which includes credit account monitoring service for all 3-bureau, credit score tracker, quarterly 3 bureau credit reports and credit scores.

With Identity Guard, you get all the powerful identity theft protection features like a smart SSN tracker, bank and credit card activity alerts, dark web monitoring, payday loan monitoring, social media identity monitoring, medical ID fraud protection, identity threat alerts, and more.

They also have online protection tools to proactively help you fight phishing and keylogging attacks. Their mobile app gives you access to a secure VPN, so you always have a secure internet connection anywhere you go. Other digital security tools include two-factor authentication, an online identity vault, and a secure password manager.

All plans include $1 million identity theft insurance for stolen fund replacement and white-glove customer service that can help you resolve any identity fraud case.

Pros:

• IdentityForce offers advanced tracking and threat detection features like finding whether your SSN is linked to a different name.
• They provide medical fraud detection, which isn’t available in most competitors.
• You also get credit restoration serves to help improve your score.

Cons:

• Pricing from what the website offers or deals you might find elsewhere differs a lot.

Why We Recommend Using IdentityForce: IdentityForce is the best credit monitoring service with FICO scores based on the VantageScore 3.0 model.

4. LifeLock with Norton 360

Norton is one of the most popular internet security companies in the world. In 2017, they acquired LifeLock, a well-known credit monitoring service and identity theft protection solution.

Since then, they have created a bundle Norton 360 with LifeLock to include all the standard credit monitoring features like dark web monitoring, credit monitoring (across 3 bureaus), SSN & credit alerts, ID verification monitoring, data breach notifications, fictitious identity monitoring, ability to lock your identity, suspicious bank & credit card activity alerts, 401k & investment account monitoring, and more.

Along with credit monitoring, you’ll get the Norton AntiVirus and online threat protection software that includes a smart firewall, cloud backup, parental controls, a privacy monitor, and a secure VPN service.

Their plans include identity theft protection insurance ranging from $25,000 to $1 million, depending on the plan you choose.

Norton360 with LifeLock select plan starts at $9.99 per month, but it offers credit monitoring for only 1 bureau. To get comprehensive credit monitoring service from all 3 bureaus, you’ll need the Ultimate Plus plan, which costs $29.99 per month.

You could also purchase LifeLock as a standalone credit monitoring service, but it will cost $8.99 per month for one-bureau credit monitoring and $23.99 per month for three-bureau credit monitoring. Also, these plans will not include any of the advanced device security features that Norton offers.

If you’re already a Norton user, then upgrading to Norton360 with LifeLock offers the best value for the money.

Pros:

• You also get a full VPN service to protect against identity theft and virus protection.
• They deliver a wide range of monitoring and alerts.
• They offer up to $1 million in reimbursement for stolen funds that result from identity theft.

Cons:

• The security protection is limited for iOS devices and has no parental control for MacOS.

Why We Recommend Using LifeLock: If you’re already a Norton customer, then LifeLock is the best credit monitoring service for you because you can upgrade for a small premium.

5. IdentityIQ

IdentityIQ is another popular credit monitoring service for small business owners that also include anti-virus software and VPN for online privacy.

Their credit monitoring service includes all the standard features you would expect, such as 3-bureau credit report monitoring, dark web & internet monitoring, lost wallet assistance, synthetic ID theft protection, up to $1 million dollar identity theft insurance to cover stolen fund reimbursement and offer coverage for lawyers and experts expenses.

The SecureMax plan also offers additional features like enhanced credit report monitoring, alerts on crimes committed in your name, credit score tracker, credit score simulator, and family protection with ID fraud restoration.

One of the big reasons for credit fraud is lack of device & network security, so IdentityIQ includes Bitdefender premium VPN for up to 10 devices as well as Bitdefender total security anti-virus and anti-spyware to help protect your computers. They also offer a password manager for Windows OS, but don’t have it for Mac.

Pros:

• Each plan includes a 7-day trial for just $1.
• The app is available on Android and iPhone devices.
• Plans with VPNs and anti-virus are available for up to 10 devices.

Cons:

• Customers say that they have a hard time reaching customer support.

Why We Recommend Using IdentityIQ: IdentityIQ is the best credit monitoring service if you’re looking for Bitdefender total security software to be included. Their pricing is a bit on the higher end, with SecureMax plan starting at $30.99 per month.

6. Experian IdentityWorks

Experian is one of the 3 major credit bureaus in the US, and they offer a premium credit monitoring service called IdentityWorks.

Their credit monitoring platform has built-in dark web surveillance that does daily scans of over 600,000 web pages to detect if any of your information is stolen.

You will get near real-time credit fraud alerts through their system if they notice any suspicious activity around your social security number, financial accounts, payday loans, false identity validations, social network monitoring, and more.

As one of the 3-bureaus that issue a FICO credit score, Experian will send you daily FICO scores from Experian and quarterly credit score updates from the other credit bureaus. This makes it easy for you to track your actual credit score without any extra cost.

Experian’s credit monitoring service also makes it easy to lock and unlock your Experian credit file with a few clicks. This is a huge time saver because locking credit files is the ultimate credit protection.

IdentityWorks Premium pricing starts at $19.99 per month, and it includes the $1 million dollar identity theft protection insurance which is underwritten by AIG.

You can also get a family plan for $29.99 per month that includes identity protection for two adults and up to 10 children.

The downside of Experian is that it does not offer any device or network security features.

Pros:

• Experian provides a free 7-day trial.
• They provide daily credit scores and reports.
• They offer a credit lock feature to stop authorized users from accessing or opening new credit cards or taking out new loans.

Cons:

• The free plan doesn’t provide much protection.

Why We Recommend Using Experian IdentityWorks: Experian’s IdentityWorks platform offers a reliable credit monitoring service with standard identity theft protection features. However, they lack the modern digital security features that you get with Aura or Norton360.

Which is the Best Credit Protection Service? (Expert Pick)

After carefully researching all the top credit monitoring services, we believe that Aura is the best credit monitoring service for small businesses and entrepreneurs.

They offer the most affordable pricing with the most advanced credit monitoring and identity theft features.

The best part is that aside from comprehensive financial fraud protection features, they also include robust device & WiFi security apps to better protect you against cyberthreats.

At WPBeginner, we believe that security is all about risk reduction. Using the Aura smart digital security app, you get military-grade encryption for your online data so that you can have maximum online security.

That’s why we use Aura in our business and rate Aura as the #1 best credit monitoring service in the market.

We hope this article helped you find the best credit monitoring service for your small business. You may also want to see our comparison of the best business phone services and best website builder for small business.

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Source: We got our identity theft statistics from the U.S. FTC 2020 Consumer Sentinel Network report.

Note: We did not include free credit reports or free credit monitoring services like Credit Sesame or Credit Karma because we wanted users to avoid choice paralysis. We believe the paid services above offer better credit monitoring, privacy guard, and digital protection that you need to protect your credit information.