Mobile apps are not a perfect substitute for many of the financial services they seek to replace.
Staying on top of your finances is easier than ever before thanks to the many apps and other resources you now have fast access to. Even so, credit apps are not a good replacement for full credit reports. While credit apps can help you stay aware of your credit score, they are often not enough. The reason is that credit apps are not always comprehensive; in fact they’re often not. Credit apps are also vulnerable to mistakes that legitimate, full credit reports don’t make.
If you need concrete information on your credit, it’s best to get a full credit report from Experian, Equifax, or TransUnion. In fact, you’re entitled to a free credit report once a year. If you’re keen on using credit apps, that might be fine much of the time, but you might as well supplement the often inaccurate information provided by credit apps with an annual, free full credit report. While a credit app can keep you on top of certain developments, it’ll take a full credit report to make sure that you’re not missing information such as old accounts that accidentally come up in your report.
Keeping track of your credit score is critical to your financial future, so it’s key that you have up-to-date information. A recent report by The Ascent showed that one in three millennials have been the victim of credit card fraud. If you happen to be the victim of any form of credit card tampering and you don’t know about it, you’ll still suffer the same consequences as someone who is just less financially responsible than you.
