@Anonymous wrote:More Comprehensive Guide is here - http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/General-Credit-Topics/Credit-Monitoring-Service-CMS-Guide/td-p/662549
Free credit monitoring:
1. Credit Karma for TU. Free service. Access to full credit report. Updated TU (not FICO TU) scores each week. I use it to monitor my TU report and get an idea of the upward or downward trend of my FAKO (non FICO) TU score.
2. Credit Sesame for Experian. Free service. No access to full credit report, but will tell you if something changes. I use it to monitor my Experian credit report and Experian FAKO score.
3. Quizzle or Mint. Free service for Equifax report and FAKO score. I don't use Quizzle, but I do use Mint. It provides an updated FAKO score every 3 months for Equifax and provides alerts when new information (like inquiries) pop up in your experian report.
Free Credit Reports (Yearly):
1. Annualcreditreport.com - Free service to pull full reports once a year. Can get whole report unlike Mint/Quizzle/Credit Sesame, but you won't get a corresponding FAKO score.
Other Free Options:
Discover credit card for the Discover TU Fico score. Several other credit cards have TU or Experian scores (1 or 2 have Equifax as well I believe). I don't have a full list, but some cards offer this.
Paid Option:
Myfico.com for access to all three reports and a FICO score for all three bureaus. Nearly 20 dollars per report or nearly 20 dollars a month for monitoring of all 3 reports. I sometimes buy the reports or monitoring service here to get access to FICO score information, but it does cost money. Best information but for most people you need access to the reports (to monitor) and an idea of where your score is and not your actual score. The 20 dollar a month service from myfico only pulls a new report every year (I believe, could be wrong), but it updates your score everytime a new alert comes up.
Conclusion:
FAKO scores are not FICO scores but they can be useful to see a trend. For example, my FICO scores were in the 720-740 range a month back. I don't know what they are today. I expect they are lower since my FAKO scores have gone down across the board due to new hard inquiries and accounts. I anticipate they are now in the 710-730 range. I could pay Myfico 20 bucks per report (or per month) to know my score, but I usually only buy my score once a year (or before a big purchase).
Just something weird i have been noticing lately, CK and CS have been really lagging with balance changes. 3B monitoring also is lagging with balance changes, i think there must be somethign wrong with EX and TU because balance changes aren't being reporting in timely matter to both free and paid monitoring services.
Just as an option, more and more credit card companies are putting your FICO credit score on your statement every month, it doesn't necessarily update every month but it's great for monitoring any weird stuff. I find that, a security freeze and CK useful!
Starting Score: TU 620 EX 535 EQ 615