What is credit monitoring?
Microsoft Defender for Individuals includes credit monitoring, which actively tracks your credit file for any new events, like new accounts, inquiries, or negative items that may harm your credit and reputation. It helps safeguard your identity and finances by promptly notifying you of such occurrences, guarding against identity theft and fraud.
Why should I use credit monitoring?
Credit monitoring can help you detect and prevent identity theft and fraud, which are serious and growing threats that have lasting impact on victim’s lives.
Identity theft occurs when someone uses your personal information, such as your name, Social Security number, credit card number, or other personal information to open new accounts, make purchases, or apply for loans in your name.
Fraud occurs when someone uses your existing accounts, such as your bank account or credit card, to make unauthorized transactions or withdrawals. Both identity theft and fraud can damage your credit score, reputation, and financial well-being.
Credit monitoring can help you spot these activities and take action to stop them and minimize their impact. By receiving alerts when there are changes to your credit reports, you can review them and verify if they are accurate and authorized. If you find any suspicious or inaccurate information, you can contact the fraud department of the bank or lender involved, reach out to our 24/7 restoration services, or dispute it with the credit bureaus and the creditor involved.
What is a credit score?
A credit score is a prediction of your credit behavior, such as how likely you are to pay a loan back on time, based on information from your credit reports. A credit score is a three-digit measure of how well you're managing your finances. The higher the score, the more likely you are to get approved for loans and for better rates.
Factors used to calculate your credit score include repayment history, types of loans, length of credit history, debt utilization, and whether you've applied for new accounts. A credit score plays a key role in a lender’s decision to offer credit and for what terms.
There are three major credit bureaus in the U.S.: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. This trio dominates the market for collecting, analyzing, and disbursing information about consumers in the credit markets. Credit scores are generated by these bureaus based on information that's included in the credit reports.
Different types of credit scores
Most types of credit scores fall under two main scoring models: FICO and VantageScore.
The FICO credit score model was created by the Fair Isaac Corp. and is used by financial institutions. FICO creates a single bureau-specific score for each of the three credit bureaus, using only information from that bureau. As a result, the FICO is actually three scores, not one, and they can vary slightly as each bureau has different calculation methods.
FICO scores range from 300 to 850. FICO Score is the most popular credit score. FICO regularly updates its credit scoring models, like FICO Score 8, FICO Score 9, and FICO Score 10.
VantageScore is a consumer credit rating product developed by the Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion credit bureaus as an alternative to the FICO Score. A VantageScore is a tri-bureau standard credit scoring model that uses the same scoring criteria for all bureaus and can include information from all bureaus.
VantageScores range from 300 to 850. VantageScore also regularly updates its credit scoring models, for example VantageScore 3.0 and VantageScore 4.0.
A lender might prefer to use FICO scores if they want to gauge how likely someone is to repay their debt. But if lender is more interested in how much debt someone has and their credit utilization, they may use VantageScores instead.
FICO and VantageScore aren’t the only two credit scoring models out there. Other credit score providers offer credit scores that might sound unique but are actually based on the FICO or VantageScore models. When you check your TransUnion credit score, for example, you’re actually getting a credit score based on the VantageScore 3.0 model.
Microsoft uses VantageScore (3.0) as its credit scoring system in Defender for Individuals. The VantageScore (3.0) displayed in Defender for Individuals is a single bureau score provided by Experian. The credit score Microsoft Defender displays may be different from what you see in other apps. This is likely due to a different scoring model, or the score being calculated using multiple bureaus.
Where can I see my credit score in Microsoft Defender?
There are two main places in the app where you can see your most recent credit score, the credit monitoring dashboard tile (if enabled) and the credit monitoring details page.
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Your credit score and credit score rating are displayed on the credit monitoring tile by default (you can disable this by going to the settings, selecting Identity theft monitoring and disabling the Show my credit score on the dashboard option), and will always show you your latest score.
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The identity details page will also show you your score and score rating like the dashboard tile, but also includes the score delta from the previous score as a further detail.
How often is my credit score updated in Microsoft Defender?
Your credit score and credit score rating are refreshed automatically on a monthly basis, starting from the day the service was first enabled.
What is a credit report?
A credit report is a 7-year historic record of all your credit activity, including accounts, account statuses and payments, inquiries, judgements, employment details, and home addresses. Together with the credit score (which is based on the report) this helps lenders and creditors assess your credit risk, which they use to establish eligibility and credit rates.
Credit reports are also a very helpful tool for consumers who want to keep tabs on their financial activity and are instrumental in enabling people to spot malicious activity.
Where can I see my credit report in Microsoft Defender?
You can retrieve your credit report details by opening credit monitoring from the dashboard tile and selecting the See report button. This section of your credit monitoring details page also includes a summary of the report by showing the number of accounts, credit inquiries, and public records currently in your credit report, as well as the date the current credit report was generated and when the next one will be available.
How often is my credit report updated?
Credit reports are updated on the same cycle as credit scores: monthly, starting from the date the service was first enabled.
How does credit monitoring in Microsoft Defender work?
Microsoft has partnered with Experian to provide credit monitoring services to their end users. Experian provides the credit alerts, credit score, and credit report you see in this service.
How is my data stored and who has access to it?
Experian stores data required to retrieve credit reports, scores, and alerts on their service using industry standard encryption, and leverages (TLS 1.2) encryption for any data in transit between your machine and the service.
Microsoft does not see or store any identifiable data related to you or your use of this service, nor does it share any of your data with third parties. Similarly, Experian does not share, sell, or otherwise provide access to your data.
How do I use credit monitoring in Microsoft Defender?
To use credit monitoring in Microsoft Defender, you need to have a Microsoft account and a Microsoft 365 subscription. During setup, you will also need to provide your email address, name, home address, date of birth, and Social Security number, to verify your identity and access your credit reports.
To start the credit monitoring setup process, navigate to your Microsoft Defender dashboard and interact with Get started on either the Identity Theft Monitoring tile (if you’ve never set up Identity Theft Monitoring before) or the Credit Monitoring tile (if you have set up Identity Theft Monitoring in the past). From there, follow the on-screen instructions and make sure to read and accept the supplemental terms of service to continue setup.
Once the setup process completes you will see a dialog with your current credit score and an invitation to open your credit file. If you choose to end the setup process instead, it will take you back to your Microsoft Defender dashboard, where you will not see that the credit monitoring tile (as well as the dark web monitoring tile if you hadn’t set up Identity Theft Monitoring before) is active.
Learn more
Getting started with identity theft monitoring in Microsoft Defender
