How to keep track of score and information...

Gatito · ‎10-30-2014

Hey all,

I'm pretty new here but wanted to know what is the best way for me to keep track of my scores and information on my credit report. I notice a lot of you have all bureaus and scores in your signatures. What product does everyone use to stay on top of their scores and all information on their reports to be able to catch anything that runs through your reports or do you guys check them every year with that free annual credit report.

In the past, I've had more than 25K in credit card debt and all my cards were maxed out. I finally was able to get all that paid last December and now have 2 Capitol One credit cards (2K and 1500) a nordstrom store card (500) US Bank platinum (2000) an authorized user on my fiances Barclays (2000 i think) an auto loan from capitol one (approx 28000) [auto loan i got in april of 2014].

I had my capitol one cards paid off just 2 weeks ago so I only have a balance on the nordstrom card at about 300 and my USbank 1800 I know those balances need to be paid down ASAP I'm working on it but all in all I think Ive come a long away from where I was from low 500 score to now probably above 600. CreditKarma shows 649 but I don't think thats my actual score I'd like a better solution for being able to keep track of my fico scores and not a vantage score not really sure of the difference. What are you all using at the moment?

I don't post much but I do intend to start being a more active contributor I am looking into getting my stuff together to buy a home. :-)

THANKS!

-J

Gatito · ‎10-30-2014

FICO 3-Bureau Credit Monitoring for 19.95 isn't so bad is it overkill trying to watch all 3?

IdentityGuard does a good job as well as offer identity protection services for just 24.95

My FICO also offers ScoreWatch but just uses Experian

I feel being informed of what all 3 would give me better leverage and would help me make a better decision on when I want to submit an application after my credit goes up more.

takeshi74 · ‎10-31-2014

There are a number of options for each. You can purchase FICO's via myFICO. Some creditors also provide a FICO with their products and IIRC there is a thread for that.

For your reports you can certainly use the Annual Credit Report site, purchase reports directly from the CRA's or use a Credit Monitoring Service that provides reports. There was a CMS thread that was a handy reference but it appears to be gone and you may need to refer to other existing threads on CMS options if you're interested.

I get FICO's with Discover, FNBO & PenFed but I don't really track them. I generally use Annual Credit Report but if I need reports and have used up my annual allocation I'll purchase directly. I use Credit Karma (they now offer access to your TU report) and Credit Sesame to keep an eye on trends but I don't rely on their scores. If I want to know when to time an app and need daily pulls of my reports I'll use a CMS like Eliminate ID Theft. All that said, you have to determine what works for you based on what you specifically need/want and use the appropriate solution(s).

@MeisterMnstr wrote:
CreditKarma shows 649 but I don't think thats my actual score

It's an actual score but it's not a FICO. However, even if you get FICO's keep in mind that creditors don't all use the same FICO scoring models. Many credit card creditors use the 08 models that can be obtained from myFICO, Discover, Barclay, etc but some use other models.