@mauve wrote:
I have that, too - I didn't get alerts when things went away on my credit report. I had 3 TLs for one credit card (it had been with 3 banks) delete as well as a collection being listed as an old, bad account. I only saw a difference when I quit my free trial and re-subscribed - it was that way on my new report.
Score alerts are every 7-10 days and the notes on those should mention things that are different.
Responding here and to the OP....
SW won't alert you to missing or dropped baddies. I wish it would, though. It only monitors for added TLs, baddies, etc.
Every 7-10 days, SW will monitor your EQ FICO for any score changes. When I first subscribed to SW in the beginning, I looked at the "Target Score" as a goal score so I set it to 700+ in hopes of one day getting that magical alert. Well, your FICO score is monitored based on that Target Score. So, if that Target Score is set below your current FICO score, then you won't receive any score alerts for as long as your score increases beyond that target score. If it is set too high, like in my example, you may not receive any score alerts until you hit that target.
The best practice is to pull your EQ FICO and IMMEDIATELY go into your settings to make sure your target score is set to equal your current score (as of that moment). That way, if your score increases or decreases, you'll get alerted. Now once you get an alert, then again IMMEDIATELY reset your target score to match whatever score is listed within the SW graph. Lather, rinse, repeat. If any FICO admins are reading this, it would be great to have the option to automatically update the target score whenever it changes.
BTW, there's a couple of things that may impact whether or not you get a SW score alert. I mentioned one with the target score. Another is that whenever you pull a EQ FICO report from myFICO, you automatically void out any pending SW score alerts (well, any alerts I think) if that report reflects information relating to that would-be alert. So, if your score went up 100 points today, and within the next 7-10 days you'll get a SW alert, that alert will never come if you pull a new EQ FICO report anytime prior to receiving the alert. I'm guilty of not receiving alerts because I subscribe to a CMS. Whenever I see a change on EQ I rush and purchase a new EQ FICO thereby voiding out the upcoming alert.
Another source of error has to do with perception of whether or not your score would even change. I started off with 7+ CAs reporting and a herd of COs, and only one positive TL. My score started in the low 500s and I did some math in my head. I was thinking that my score should be 850 and therefore I had at least 300 points to gain if I removed all of my baddies. So, I figured I had about 10+ major derogs, therefore I should get at least 20-30 points for each and if I remove all, I'll hit 850. I know now that it doesn't work that way, but when my first CA fell off within a week or two of starting repair, my score didn't budge. Then a CO fell off and my score dropped for a slight time (due to the history + AAoA). I had to realize that removing baddies doesn't always result in a gain.
Starting Score: EQ 583 TU04 619 EX 592 (lender pull) 2010
due to my new Credit One card posting.