topic Re: FICO Monitoring Deficiency in myFICO® Product Feedback

FICO Monitoring Deficiency

Sebago — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 21:58:14 GMT

I have been a FICO® Quarterly Monitoring subscriber for about 5 years. I just received my quarterly report and noted that a BOA CC I co-signed showed up on the report. Although legitimate, I am concerned I never received a FICO alert regarding this new account. The card was opened on Oct 4th and has been used. I spoke to My FICO about the lack of an alert and was told that since the CC company is now just reporting that they (My Fico) would only now be cognizant of the new CC account and that I would likely receive an alert on this coming Friday when they send out the weekly email I requested. To me this is a flaw in their system. I’m not sure how it can be rectified but this means someone could fraudulently open a new account under my name and use the card for many weeks (+7 in this case) before I would be aware of the new account. Considering canceling my subscription.

Re: FICO Monitoring Deficiency

cashnocredit — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 23:09:11 GMT

Sebago wrote:
I have been a FICO® Quarterly Monitoring subscriber for about 5 years. I just received my quarterly report and noted that a BOA CC I co-signed showed up on the report. Although legitimate, I am concerned I never received a FICO alert regarding this new account. The card was opened on Oct 4th and has been used. I spoke to My FICO about the lack of an alert and was told that since the CC company is now just reporting that they (My Fico) would only now be cognizant of the new CC account and that I would likely receive an alert on this coming Friday when they send out the weekly email I requested. To me this is a flaw in their system. I’m not sure how it can be rectified but this means someone could fraudulently open a new account under my name and use the card for many weeks (+7 in this case) before I would be aware of the new account. Considering canceling my subscription.

You won't get an alert until the creditor you opened an account with decides to report it to the CRA. You should get an alert when an inq. was made but only if it was made to the monitored CRA.

Re: FICO Monitoring Deficiency

SnackTrader — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 23:29:43 GMT

Sebago wrote:
I have been a FICO® Quarterly Monitoring subscriber for about 5 years. I just received my quarterly report and noted that a BOA CC I co-signed showed up on the report. Although legitimate, I am concerned I never received a FICO alert regarding this new account. The card was opened on Oct 4th and has been used. I spoke to My FICO about the lack of an alert and was told that since the CC company is now just reporting that they (My Fico) would only now be cognizant of the new CC account and that I would likely receive an alert on this coming Friday when they send out the weekly email I requested. To me this is a flaw in their system. I’m not sure how it can be rectified but this means someone could fraudulently open a new account under my name and use the card for many weeks (+7 in this case) before I would be aware of the new account. Considering canceling my subscription.

So you plan to cancel your monitoring subscription, and thus not receive any monitoring alerts, because the system alerted you late? In effect you are saying you would rather receive no alert at all than a late alert...

Re: FICO Monitoring Deficiency

HiLine — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 23:32:07 GMT

Sebago wrote:
I have been a FICO® Quarterly Monitoring subscriber for about 5 years. I just received my quarterly report and noted that a BOA CC I co-signed showed up on the report. Although legitimate, I am concerned I never received a FICO alert regarding this new account. The card was opened on Oct 4th and has been used. I spoke to My FICO about the lack of an alert and was told that since the CC company is now just reporting that they (My Fico) would only now be cognizant of the new CC account and that I would likely receive an alert on this coming Friday when they send out the weekly email I requested. To me this is a flaw in their system. I’m not sure how it can be rectified but this means someone could fraudulently open a new account under my name and use the card for many weeks (+7 in this case) before I would be aware of the new account. Considering canceling my subscription.

1. There is a whole forum for discussions related to MyFICO's products: http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/myFICO-Product-Feedback/bd-p/myficoprod

2. Quarterly Monitoring does not cover such alerts. I suggested you actually read the features of this service.

Re: FICO Monitoring Deficiency

Sebago — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 23:56:13 GMT

Thank you for your direction. As I stated, I have had this service for 5+ years and interpreted the following product information (edited for brevity) as real time:

"Protect your identity

Daily monitoring of 400 data sources for new information tied to your identity:

Newly opened accounts and recent applications for new credit"

I didn't realize the long delay between the occurrence and the reporting. The folks at MyFICO noted this is an issue. I'll likely keep my subscription BUT I had a false sense of security before I learned these facts.

Re: FICO Monitoring Deficiency

HiLine — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 00:17:38 GMT

Their Quarterly Monitoring service has never notified me of new accounts being opened. I do not buy their story of BofA taking their time to report your account. From my experience, BofA reports very quickly. In addition, I have Creditkarma monitor my TU history, and of course it's been showing new accounts as expected.

Re: FICO Monitoring Deficiency

Repo-ed — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 00:54:09 GMT

um..it's quarterly reporting. not daily reporting/alerts...or am i missing something in my quarterly subscription?

Re: FICO Monitoring Deficiency

cashnocredit — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 00:59:02 GMT

Sebago wrote:
Thank you for your direction. As I stated, I have had this service for 5+ years and interpreted the following product information (edited for brevity) as real time:

"Protect your identity

Daily monitoring of 400 data sources for new information tied to your identity:
Newly opened accounts and recent applications for new credit"
I didn't realize the long delay between the occurrence and the reporting. The folks at MyFICO noted this is an issue. I'll likely keep my subscription BUT I had a false sense of security before I learned these facts.

I use another service for ID issues such as moniering Inqs since that requires looking at all three cras.

It doesn't seem right to state the above and not provide timely Inq alerts.

Re: FICO Monitoring Deficiency

Sebago — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 01:05:00 GMT

Yes - but click on Products - Quarterly Monitoring and it states:

Personal Identity Data Monitoring Protect your identity

Reduce your risk of identity theft which affects 11.6 million Americans annually. We’ll conduct daily monitoring of online sources where compromised social security number, dates of birth, addresses, phone numbers and other personal data could be found, traded or sold, reducing your potential exposure to identity theft. Daily monitoring of 400 data sources for new information tied to your identity:

Changes to name, date of birth, or social security number
Newly listed addresses, phone numbers and employers
Newly opened accounts and recent applications for new credit
Recent increases in account balances and accounts in bad status
Newly listed public records, such as bankruptcies, foreclosures, and tax liens
Newly listed collection company records

This leads one to believe it's checked Daily - not quarterly.

Thanks

Re: FICO Monitoring Deficiency

cashnocredit — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 02:46:57 GMT

Sebago wrote:
Yes - but click on Products - Quarterly Monitoring and it states:

Personal Identity Data Monitoring Protect your identity
Reduce your risk of identity theft which affects 11.6 million Americans annually. We’ll conduct daily monitoring of online sources where compromised social security number, dates of birth, addresses, phone numbers and other personal data could be found, traded or sold, reducing your potential exposure to identity theft. Daily monitoring of 400 data sources for new information tied to your identity:
Changes to name, date of birth, or social security number
Newly listed addresses, phone numbers and employers
Newly opened accounts and recent applications for new credit
Recent increases in account balances and accounts in bad status
Newly listed public records, such as bankruptcies, foreclosures, and tax liens
Newly listed collection company records

This leads one to believe it's checked Daily - not quarterly.

Thanks

Unfortunately, I don't know personally if MyFico products send out alerts. All my apps have or had inqs on EX so I guess whatver Inqs they monitor it's not ones on EX.

I did get an alert when Citi changed my CC type from a regular revolver to a "Flex Spend" revolver and that's just a change in the comment field. Go figure.

Re: FICO Monitoring Deficiency

HiLine — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 16:30:11 GMT

cashnocredit wrote:
Sebago wrote:
Yes - but click on Products - Quarterly Monitoring and it states:

Personal Identity Data Monitoring Protect your identity
Reduce your risk of identity theft which affects 11.6 million Americans annually. We’ll conduct daily monitoring of online sources where compromised social security number, dates of birth, addresses, phone numbers and other personal data could be found, traded or sold, reducing your potential exposure to identity theft. Daily monitoring of 400 data sources for new information tied to your identity:
Changes to name, date of birth, or social security number
Newly listed addresses, phone numbers and employers
Newly opened accounts and recent applications for new credit
Recent increases in account balances and accounts in bad status
Newly listed public records, such as bankruptcies, foreclosures, and tax liens
Newly listed collection company records

This leads one to believe it's checked Daily - not quarterly.

Thanks

Unfortunately, I don't know personally if MyFico products send out alerts. All my apps have or had inqs on EX so I guess whatver Inqs they monitor it's not ones on EX.

I did get an alert when Citi changed my CC type from a regular revolver to a "Flex Spend" revolver and that's just a change in the comment field. Go figure.

I confirm that Score Watch sends out alerts. For Quarterly Monitoring, I confirm the negative - never received a single alert from them.