My need for this kind of thing has dissolved but I retain access to the direct reporting straight from the source Equifax online.
Are CK and BW redundant and just airing my laundry to more sources needlessly at this point?
If you no longer use them, I’d close Borrowell and Credit Karma. Keep Equifax as your direct source. The only reason to keep Credit Karma is to monitor your TransUnion report as well
Equifax is only one of three nationwide credit reporting agencies, with the others being Experian and TransUnion. Also, the “credit reporting agencies” are only a tiny fraction of all the companies collecting information about you.
I’m not sure if CreditKarma or Borrowell source information from companies other than (or in addition to) Equifax, but if they do then no, they aren’t redundant.
That said, there are other strategies to protect yourself, depending on your situation: instead of interacting with more of these companies to better monitor your credit, you could freeze it so that there’s less need for monitoring.
Honestly, everyone needs to freeze their credit reports at all key bureaus (Equifax, TransUnion, Experian, ChexSystems, and Innovis).
It can be a bit annoying when you have to remember to temporarily thaw your report to support a credit check, but the peace of mind is so worth it. Takes five minutes and saves you from a massive headache later.
