Ok so I have been anal about my credit starting back to a year or two ago but in the course of that time I've signed up for every monitoring imaginable... as of now my current subscriptions are:
1.) FreeCreditReport.Com - $19.99/month
2.) Equifax - $16.95/Month
3.) Transunion - $16.95/Month
4.) MyFico - $14.95/Month + $59.95 per 3 report pull
Now considering that these sites with the exception of MyFico provides you with the FAKO and not FICO, I'm thinking that being a member of all of them is a waste of money, on the other hand though they do provide me with accurate reporting for the contents of the actual report itself. To my knowledge MyFico ScoreWatch only monitors Equifax so I'll only know when new things get posted to that account... If that is true, my only option then would be to keep paying memberships to ALL of these monitoring programs? What do you guys think? How do you guys keep an eye on yours?
Current Score: TransUnion (820) Equifax (818) Experian (823)
@user5387 wrote:I get FICO scores twice a month from Discover and PSECU, and this costs nothing.
Beyond that, I get an EX FAKO and report monthly from USAA, and this costs $6.
I'd suggest investing time in learning more about how scoring works, such that you can anticipate what is likely to happen to your scores based on actions you take re your credit.
For most people, I'm not sure that frequent updates are useful. This is especially true given that the various FICO and FAKO scores use different formulas, and thus the scores won't match each other even for identical report information.
I'm not concerned about the scores. I'll get my FICO's either from here or some place else that offers the real scores... My concern is with the actual reports and monitoring the different agencies. I'm looking for a way to monitor all 3 agencies (meaning being alerted to different changes to my credit file) without paying a membership to 3 different places.
If you are not concerned about scores and just monitoring, maybe EliminateIDTheft would suffice? There are many threads that speak of it. I used it a year or so ago for many months before I wasn't using it anymore and cancelled. You are allowed daily pulls. It was a little clunky to me however as far as the interface was. If someone was keeping track of anything specific, simply copy the reports onto a word document and save in a folder I guess. I believe I paid somewhere in the neighborhood of 12-15 dollars a month, I can't recall. But, yeah, I couldn't imagine using many different pay products as you are. To each their own though.
Honestly the thing I'm looking for the most is the monitoring. The montly statements aren't even as important to me as just having the good ol' fashioned monitoring. Something that will send me an alert when:
1.) New activity has posted to my CR like a balance change or new account
2.) When my credit score has changed
For instance I love myFico alerts however it only does Equifax which is a bummer. I'd love something that will monitor all 3 for changes but there doesn't seem to be a single site/service that monitors all 3. So I'd still have to get monitoring service for each one. But at least it doesn't all have to be paid 3 separate times.
