We have posted before about the importance of staying on the top of your credit score. If you are residing in the U.S., you know how much money you can save on a home mortgage or a car loan if you have a good credit score. Unfortunately, in our world today, there are people who make a living off of other people by stealing their identity and damaging their credit scores in the process. This is one of those scenarios that prevention takes priority mitigation. Let me explain. In business schools, students are taught the notions of risk prevention and risk reduction. Risk prevention is the process of preventing a bad scenario from happening whereas risk reduction is done after the bad scenario has taken place. Risk prevention, as good as it sounds, is not always the best option for companies. However, when it comes to one’s credit score, risk prevention is the best option hands down. You simply cannot wait for your identity to be stolen, hoping that it can be restored easily. Therefore, staying on top of your credit score, while costly in the short run, can save you a ton of money in the long run. The following are the top service providers in the U.S. and the U.K. respectively. Take advantage of them if you haven’t done it already.

myFICO is the ONLY place where you can get your FICO scores, the scores that lenders use, from all three credit bureaus. Credit repair has gotten a bad reputation and as a result is regulated by federal law and laws in a number of states.

checkmyfile.com is the UK’s market leader in the provision of credit files and personal information to consumers. It offers the most comprehensive online access to information held about any individual. In addition to credit files it provides, amongst other things, credit scores, neighbourhood demographics, vehicle data and a unique range of groundbreaking Identity Theft Protection products. You can get your UK credit file for free when you trial the checkmyfile.com Credit Monitor service for 30 days