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It’s difficult to stay on top of your credit score even during the best of times, and it only gets harder during times of financial crisis. While you may be able to regain ground on your credit card debt or mortgage loan after a missed payment, your credit score will take a hit. Even after you’ve gotten control of your finances again, the damage to your credit score will take quite a while to recover from.
It’s important that you not only track your budget, but also closely monitor your credit score and take advantage of any opportunity to build credit. To assist you, we’ve researched different credit score management apps that can support your credit in a variety of ways. Some provide credit monitoring, opportunities for improving your credit score, credit protection and support for credit repair.
Here’s our list of the most secure, easy-to-use and beneficial apps for managing your credit score.
Extra Credit From Credit.com
Extra Credit is a brand new offering from Credit.com just launched to the public, but we are excited about its features. Those features include “Reward It,” which awards you funds when you are approved by a qualified lender through Extra Credit.
Additionally, when you sign up for Extra Credit, you get access to the 28 most commonly used FICO® scores as well as your credit reports from all three bureaus and recommendations for credit cards based on your credit profile. Finally, Extra Credit provides you $1,000,000 in ID theft insurance, dark web monitoring and access to a third party service that reports your monthly rent and utility payments to the bureaus.
Unlike many of the apps on this list, however, Extra Credit is not a free service.
Experian
Experian allows you to monitor your Experian credit report and your FICO credit score, manage disputes with Experian and be aware of any new credit activity. Experian’s mobile app also comes with the Experian Boost feature, which allows you to report payments to the credit bureaus that would not usually be reported—such as cell phone bills and utilities—and potentially improve your score.
Experian’s app provides services that you can use to improve, monitor and repair your credit. Keep in mind that these services are specific to your credit history as managed by Experian, one of the three credit bureaus that track your credit history. Although Experian allows you to look at your FICO score—the credit score that most lenders use—it doesn’t allow you to manage the credit reports compiled by TransUnion or Equifax.
MyFICO From FICO
The FICO credit scoring method is the most popular method among lenders for calculating credit scores. MyFICO allows you to see and manage the score that your lender will most likely consider when you apply for a mortgage or an auto loan.
MyFICO also allows you to view your updated credit reports from all three bureaus—Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. Additional features included are a credit score simulator, which allows you to see how possible actions could affect your score, credit monitoring, and credit education resources.
MyFICO is a good choice for users looking for a credit monitoring service, but it does not provide as many resources as other apps to assist with credit score improvement or repair.
Mint From Intuit
Mint predominantly focuses on budget management, but it also offers tools for monitoring your credit score and weighing it as a factor in your financial decisions. You can view your VantageScore credit score and TransUnion credit report in the app. Additionally, you can personalize alerts to stay up to date with any changes to your credit score or potential fraud or identity risks.
Mint offers more resources for setting financial goals, managing your budget, and keeping track of bills than it does for directly managing your credit score. It can be used as a credit monitoring tool, but bear in mind that you will only be able to see your TransUnion credit history.
TransUnion
The TransUnion app works in tandem with your TransUnion Credit Monitoring Account. It allows you to monitor your credit score and TransUnion credit report, both of which are updated daily. The TransUnion app also offers Credit Lock Plus, which allows you to “lock” and “unlock” your TransUnion and Equifax credit reports. In addition, TransUnion provides identity theft insurance.
The app will only allow you to see your TransUnion credit report and manage the credit score based on your TransUnion credit history. It will not give you a complete picture of your credit history.
Lock & Alert From Equifax
Lock & Alert is good for protecting your credit activity through Equifax. It allows you to easily “lock” and “unlock” your credit report—a much easier process than requesting a freeze be placed on your account, or lifting a freeze.
Lexington Law
The Lexington Law app works in tandem with your online account, allowing you to stay up to date with recent developments on your case while on the go. Lexington Law has one of the few credit management apps that allows you to view your credit history from all three credit bureaus, giving you the most complete snapshot of your credit. You can track any credit disputes currently in progress, see your most up-to-date FICO credit score and set up personalized alerts. Lexington Law also provides identity theft insurance and identity theft alerts.
Although the Lexington Law app is free to download, you will need to pay to set up an account in order to use it.
Apps to Improve Your Credit Health
As you can see up above, different apps have different strengths. Your financial situation is unique, and the app that you choose will depend on your circumstances. However, each of the apps we have listed above will allow you to be more engaged in managing your credit score. Your credit is not beyond your control—there are resources available to you that can help you protect, build and repair your credit.
If you’re trying to be more engaged in managing your credit or need help knowing where to start, contact our experienced credit consultants.
Note: Articles have only been reviewed by the indicated attorney, not written by them. The information provided on this website does not, and is not intended to, act as legal, financial or credit advice; instead, it is for general informational purposes only. Use of, and access to, this website or any of the links or resources contained within the site do not create an attorney-client or fiduciary relationship between the reader, user, or browser and website owner, authors, reviewers, contributors, contributing firms, or their respective agents or employers.
