Getting my FICO scores

[SunnyD]

Hi All!  I am new to this forum and new to the bankruptcy issue.  My chapter 7 discharge date will be Dec 15th 2013.  I have been reading many of these posts, and see everyone is indicating their previous and current fico scores.  My question is, can this score be obtained for free?  I mean, after filing bk, I question myself anytime I spend money, even at the grocery store, or when my daughter needs clothes.   Im sure everyone knows this guilt that I am feeling.  But, it seems everyone has obtained these scores, and Im finding that its a $15 a month charge.....is this how you have obtained the score?

[Scupra]

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@SunnyD wrote:

Hi All!  I am new to this forum and new to the bankruptcy issue.  My chapter 7 discharge date will be Dec 15th 2013.  I have been reading many of these posts, and see everyone is indicating their previous and current fico scores.  My question is, can this score be obtained for free?  I mean, after filing bk, I question myself anytime I spend money, even at the grocery store, or when my daughter needs clothes.   Im sure everyone knows this guilt that I am feeling.  But, it seems everyone has obtained these scores, and Im finding that its a $15 a month charge.....is this how you have obtained the score?

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I signed up for score watch and FICO quarterly monitoring when I filed BK. I needed a way to keep track and make sure I was on top of my reports. Best money I could have ever spent   Every other site besides myFICO will give you what we call a FAKO, so if you are going to pay don't go anywhere else.

Welcome to the boards! You have come to the right place, make sure to read everything you can and ask as many questions as needed! We were all in your position at one point!

[ezdriver]

I do not see any value in monitoring ones realworld scores more than once per quarter. You start off by requesting your free annual reports from all three credit bureaus. Then get your reports directly from the credit bureaus three more times for the year. I asked the customer service person at my Wells Fargo bank if she can help me get my reports without paying for them and she gave me two coupons which I used to get reports for my wife and I. If you have to pay for them one or twice for the year, then do so. I recently reached out to a friend who is a loan officer with a mortgage company and she pulled the tri-merger report [that is the one used for home mortgage application purposes] for me and did not charge for it. Be creative but don't feel obligated to see your report monthly.

[Scupra]

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@ezdriver wrote:

I do not see any value in monitoring ones realworld scores more than once per quarter. You start off by requesting your free annual reports from all three credit bureaus. Then get your reports directly from the credit bureaus three more times for the year. I asked the customer service person at my Wells Fargo bank if she can help me get my reports without paying for them and she gave me two coupons which I used to get reports for my wife and I. If you have to pay for them one or twice for the year, then do so. I recently reached out to a friend who is a loan officer with a mortgage company and she pulled the tri-merger report [that is the one used for home mortgage application purposes] for me and did not charge for it. Be creative but don't feel obligated to see your report monthly.

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I wouldn't recommend this to people unless they are purchasing a house.. There is no reason to add 3 hard inquiries just to know score. Pay the $20 and save the inquiry. I don't know your situation obviously though!

[ezdriver]

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@Scupra wrote:

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@ezdriver wrote:

I do not see any value in monitoring ones realworld scores more than once per quarter. You start off by requesting your free annual reports from all three credit bureaus. Then get your reports directly from the credit bureaus three more times for the year. I asked the customer service person at my Wells Fargo bank if she can help me get my reports without paying for them and she gave me two coupons which I used to get reports for my wife and I. If you have to pay for them one or twice for the year, then do so. I recently reached out to a friend who is a loan officer with a mortgage company and she pulled the tri-merger report [that is the one used for home mortgage application purposes] for me and did not charge for it. Be creative but don't feel obligated to see your report monthly.

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I wouldn't recommend this to people unless they are purchasing a house.. There is no reason to add 3 hard inquiries just to know score. Pay the $20 and save the inquiry. I don't know your situation obviously though!

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For all mortgage applications, a tri-merge report is one inquiry ... not three as you suggest. It is also a much easier report to read/understand as all duplicate info is absent yet all data from three bureaus are included. It is true that when you request your own reports, you avoid the inquiries.

[Scupra]

One per bureau sorry.. Still a useless inquiry which isn't needed. To each their own and ymmv

[CAnNY]

You can pay a single fee to get your FICO scores and reports here. You can pay to get each report individually or pay to obtain all three reports for a single charge. It is not a monthly charge unless you sign up for such.

Like mentioned above, if you do not want to pay for your FICO scores you can always go to the site that allows you to obtain just your reports for free. On the free site you can only get the reports once per year free of charge. If you have already done this then, you can still elect to pay for your reports from myfico which is the only place you can personally pull your true FICO that lenders use along with your reports. Otherwise, you can go to the sites of the individual CRA and pull your reports for a small fee. Do not pay for the scores on their sites because they are not FICO scores and are useless. Last option, you can go to one of the sites that pulls a tri merged report and pay them a small fee to see your reports. A lot of the tri merge sites wants you to sign up for monthly subscription. If so, no worries you can simply cancel with no problem after you obtain your report.

Hope that was clear.

Good luck!

[09Lexie]

Welcome to the forum. I wouldn't focus so much on your scores now but what's in your CR's. After your BK is discharged, I would suggest pulling your cr from annualcreditreport .com. You can pull all 3 at once or stagger them out by pulling EQ, EX or TU. I would suggest staggering them if your reports are identical.

If you haven't already done so, sign up with Credit Sesame (pulls Ex once a month scores are FAKOS), Credit Karma ( pulls TU weekly, scores are FAKOs) credit.com ( pulls once a month ex scores are FAKOs) and Quizzle ( pulls every 180 days Ex, scores are FAKOs)

The CMS mentioned will at least give you a free way to monitor your reports for inq's/ derog etc. you will not be able to view your actual report in length.