Now that the economy is just moving on from the recent financial crisis, Americans have began spending on for the upcoming Christmas holidays. This would mean more credit card transactions and a greater need to monitor credit reports. Why is it important to keep track of credit scores? It has been observed that due to the capitalist economy, more and more people are wallowing in credit card debt, posing to them a lot of problems in terms of financial security. On the other hand, sometimes the bank’s computer system messes up with the credit scores, allowing some errors to turn up on the credit scores, and deducting or deduct or adding points to the credit score, when they shouldn’t have. These problems illustrate the need for regularly looking into credit reports and monitoring transactions and changes made. This will also aid in facilitating credit loan transactions in the future. To aid people who are too busy or ignorant to scour their credit files, the Federal Trade Commission has mandated by law the giving out of free credit reports by the big three credit agencies – Experian, Equifax and Transunion. However, there have been recent reports and feedbacks that customers and clients are being charged for a service fee, in exchange of tracking changes in their credit report. Moreover, some credit agencies have been luring customers in their websites by surreptitiously placing ads about credit monitoring, placing it as a hyperlink, only to find out that a membership fee has to be paid in exchange for the credit reports. These services claim to assist the customers with credit monitoring, in which they can view for themselves updated credit balances and files, which is important if they will be applying for a loan, and for preventing identity thefts. Some critics point out that such monitoring services are a complete waste time, and that a monthly report will suffice – credit reports which are suppose to be given for free. Experian has been found to exploit access to these reports by promoting and marketing other services which the customer does not really need. For instance, to further lure clients into purchasing their services, their website is named FreeCreditReport.com – a striking resemblance to the similar sounding government website, AnnualCreditReport.com. This has created greater confusion among customers. For those wanting to keep track of their credit changes, it would be a good idea to look online for credit monitoring facts. Having knowledge about credit monitoring will eliminate the need to hire credit agencies and save you money, just to keep track of one’s finances.