People Say Don't Pay CK Any Mind

[2b2rich]

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@MzOptimistic wrote:

Um 2brich. I like them better because they are MONITORING My reports. I'm not stating CK SCORES are REAL. I'M STATING they are helping my improve my credit which is what Myfico is suppose to be doing and how can my scores be reversed unless I fall back into not paying my debts. No need for sarcasm. Smh..some people are just rude...

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I didn't mean they would reverse in that you CK scores would go down, I mean mine reversed in that for awhile CK scores were higher than MyFico, and now MyFico has passed the CK scores by over 100pts, even though everything is the same on both reports.

As for monitoring, MyFico does too, but they usually are sometimes a day or two later where CK is usually the same day (I once had a notification from CK within minutes of applying for a card online, no kidding).. at he same time, CK has told me that certain accounts have been removed from my reports (GOOD tradelines) and when I check the actual CRAs website report (TU), it's still there).

[thomasjm99]

I think it's very fair to use each of the services for what they are supposed to do. If you need to know your FICO scores, you are either going to pay for them or have a CC that provides a FICO score to you. Personally, I would advise against using the score or recommendations from the FAKO sites in any decision to apply for anything because those scores are not the scores the lenders will pull and they are paid to advertise products to you. There is a wealth of information available in the community for no charge at all that should give you the information you need to try and apply for credit(most of the time, anyway). As a perfect example I had no idea about Cap Ones friendliness towards people freshly discharged from BK, and now I'm aware of that thanks to Norman's post...

However, if you want a fast and easy way to be alerted when your reports are changing and if there are new INQ's etc...  I think CK, CS and Quizzle are really good for that and it costs you nothing. So each platform if you will does some things well while others, not so much.

So based on what OP has stated here, my advice would be to cancel myFICO services if you are not in dire need of knowing your FICOs for the foreseeable future. On top of that, if you want to apply for new credit and want honest advice and opinions on your success rates, I would come to this community much quicker than I would use an advertisement from Credit Karma or the likes...  Just my 2 cents, hope it makes sense...

BTW Congrats on your approvals!

[TRC_WA]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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The MyFICO 3 bureau monitoring does have some major flaws IMO, which is why I have switched to Experian's Credit Check Total, for $14.95 a month. Daily EX pulls and FICO 8 score, plus TU and EQ pulls and FICO 8 scores three times per month.

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Thanks for the info Norm.

I'm gonna check it out.  Not exactly thrilled with myFico 3BR either.

[Anonymous]

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@TRC_WA wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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The MyFICO 3 bureau monitoring does have some major flaws IMO, which is why I have switched to Experian's Credit Check Total, for $14.95 a month. Daily EX pulls and FICO 8 score, plus TU and EQ pulls and FICO 8 scores three times per month.

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Thanks for the info Norm.

I'm gonna check it out.  Not exactly thrilled with myFico 3BR either.

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Same. I did the $1 trial awhile back and was satisfied. So you really get all that for $15? That sounds like a great deal.

[takeshi74]

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@MzOptimistic wrote:

People Say Don't Pay CK Any Mind

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Always consider the reasoning versus relying solely on oversimplified generalizations.  Many use CK to monitor their TU and EQ reports.  Some use the VantageScores provided as an indicator of trends with their credit.  The problem (and reason for the generalization) comes when one tries to use CK's scores as an indicator of what score a creditor will pull for that person.  It's nothing unique to CK but a matter that applies to all scoring models.  You cannot use a score generated by one model to determine a score generated by another model.

If you have a creditor that uses the VantageScore 3.0 and TU or EQ then you can certainly use CK in that manner.  If not, be careful using those scores as an indication of what your scores are with any other scoring model.

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@MzOptimistic wrote:

 MyFico still has neg things showing on my reports and my scores have not changed much but CK updates as soon as there's changes made to my reports.

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myFICO only updates based on trigger activity.  This is frequently discussed here.  If you're relying on myFICO then make sure you understand the triggers and that not all activity with a scoring impact will trigger an alert or scoring update.

http://myfico.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/463/~/understanding-what-triggers-fico%C2%AE-3-bu...

CK pulls your report data weekly and VantageScores are updated using the new data regardless of activity or a lack of activity.

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@MzOptimistic wrote:

I'm just saying who would you trust?

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I always recommend understanding and assessing your own reports versus relying on any specific number from any source.  There is a big learning curve and you won't know exactly if a creditor will approve or not or what terms they'll offer but you can at least get a rough idea of what shape your credit is in where as reliance on a number can lead to disappointment if you're not very careful about ensuring that the scoring model, CRA and the date of the data are all identical.

A given score is used by a creditor in their decision but score is never the only thing considered.  These services can be useful tools but they're just tools and more careful analysis is required.  If a creditor uses FICO 8 or any model other than VantageScore 3.0 then CK's scores will be irrelevant.  However, if they use TU or EQ then the report data available via CK is certainly relevant.  If a creditor does not use FICO 8 or one of the other scores provided by myFICO then myFICO's scores won't be relevant either.

As I mentioned, myFICO only updates based on trigger activity.  If you want to ensure that it's using the latest data then you have to pull a one-time report and score versus relying on the monitoring sevice unless you know that recent trigger activity led to an update.  If you want daily pulls then you need to use the proper tool for the job and there are CMS's that offer that.  I'm not aware of any service that offer daily FICO's other than CreditCheck Total but it's limited to daily on EX and is only 3/month for the other 2.

Who I'd trust depends on what I was trying to do.  I wouldn't trust CK if I wanted to know what my FICO 8 (or additional FICO's offered) was.  I wouldn't trust myFICO for any score that myFICO doesn't offer.  I wouldn't trust CK for anything regarding EX.  I do trust CK for reviewing my TU and EQ reports.  Again, be careful relying on oversimplified generalizations and make sure you understand the tools you're trying to use so you're using the right tool for the job.

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@MzOptimistic wrote:

I know CK scores aren't real TRC. I'm just saying. They are actually monitoring my reports and as I've mentioned

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myFICO is actually monitoring your reports as well.  It's just a service that updates only on trigger activity whereas CK updates on fixed intervals.

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@MzOptimistic wrote:

Myfico has my scores updating slowly and if I follow their scores, I would have never app'd for the two Cap Cards. It's frustrusting to pay for a servce that is not really doing me any justice.

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Keep in mind that CK makes money off of referrals and that they're only relying on correlation (not the same as causation) for their recommendations.

[MzOptimistic]

I understand what everyone is saying. I know CK scores are not accurate and I know they are for educational purposes however they are at least reporting correctly when MyFico isn't updating consistently. As long as my scores are going UP and not down then that should be my main concern. When, I'm ready to buy a house, car or once I'm up in the high 600's, I will pull a new credit report from MyFico to see where I'm truly at. Also, just my CK scores and MyFico score arent that far off. It's only about 20 points difference. EXCEPT for Transunion. MyFico hasn't updated the score at all and all three of my reports needs to updated because they are all clean now but MyFico still has all of the baddies listed.

[MzOptimistic]

NormanFH, I didn't know that about Capital One at the BK. Thanks for sharing that. I switched to Equifax Complete Advantage Plan monitoring service and I actually like them because they do update consistently. As long as my scores are rising I'm happy. I was in the 400's prior to my BK and now I"m in the mid 500's and that's just with my reports being clean. My 3 CC's and auto loan hasn't started reporting yet so I'm excited to see what my scores look like once they all start reporting.

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@MzOptimistic wrote:

But they are the only site that is actually doing some type of monitoring on my credit reports which is causing my scores to increase. MyFico still has neg things showing on my reports and my scores have not changed much but CK updates as soon as there's changes made to my reports. If, EQ or TU update today,the updates will reflect on CK in the next day or two. CK suggested that I app for the Cap1Plat and Cap1QS1 cards and I was approved for both back to back whereas Myfico still has my scores showing in the mid 400's and I would have never attempted to app for the cards.  I'm just saying who would you trust? Free99 vs $24.95 smh.

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There are *some* things you can trust with CK, and some things you just can't. Their CC recommendations *are* usually pretty good, in my experience. However, the scores themselves, not so much. They may often be higher or lower than your actual FICO scores. They are great for monitoring reports because they pull a fresh report each week.

Your Cap One approvals very likely had more to do with the fresh BK7 discharge than your actual scores. Cap One is known to approve most people right after discharge, regardless of scores but deny people with mid 500 scores and no BK (or a BK more than a few months old). They are funny like that.

The MyFICO 3 bureau monitoring does have some major flaws IMO, which is why I have switched to Experian's Credit Check Total, for $14.95 a month. Daily EX pulls and FICO 8 score, plus TU and EQ pulls and FICO 8 scores three times per month.

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[MzOptimistic]

2b2rich. Ok, I gotcha. Sorry about the confusion. I'm just a little frustrated because MyFico isn't updating and that's what I'm paying them to do. The baddies have been all been removed from my reports but MyFico still have all of the baddies sitting there. *sighs* Thanks for responding. I really appreciate it..

[TRC_WA]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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The MyFICO 3 bureau monitoring does have some major flaws IMO, which is why I have switched to Experian's Credit Check Total, for $14.95 a month. Daily EX pulls and FICO 8 score, plus TU and EQ pulls and FICO 8 scores three times per month.

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How are you getting it for $14.95?  The website shows $29.95 a month.

[MzOptimistic]

Thank you Takeshi74 for the information. I will read the link you provided...