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I subscribe to a credit monitoring service - while its score is lower than EQ and TU, it comes from my bank. So I figure it generates a score closer to the mortgage number than the consumer versions of EQ and TU. The service gives me a score every 3 months. I take this as educational for the most part and less as an interpretation of my "real" score. It has generally been rising since 2008, I kind of wish I had known what my score was back in 2005. The baddies eventually fell off and the months and years of continuously paying off bills/cards/loans have netted me a reasonable score.
How I compare the 3 scores is by comparing the relative percentiles. While there is no way to get an equivalent score I do get a rough interpolation.
All three scores give me percentiles (74%, 70%, 76% relative to other Canadians). My end goal is to get to above 75 percentile on all three scores which is roughly equivalent to being above 800 or better. Beyond that I don't think it makes much difference as I should be able to get the best loan rates at that stage. Anything higher is just for the ego! My mortgage is due in 2 years (I am ahead in payments), my HELOC is untouched, my vehicle is paid for (probably buy new in 2 years), my credit card utilization is <15% on 3 cards. And I will likely get one more card next spring, this time a VISA to go along with the AMEX and 2 M/C for variety. I don't need any more cards but I may continue to boost my CLIs. And to top it off, my savings rate is much higher than average, > 20% while aiming for retirement in 13-15 years.
Anyway, the question is "How often do you pull your scores?". Aside from the one credit monitoring agency giving me a score every three months, I check in with EQ and TU 2x a year. My next pull will be before the Christmas buying season. It will cost about $45 for the 2 pulls. Do YOU pull your scores and why?
a) infrequently
b) 1x a year
c) 2x a year
d) 4x a year
e) or MORE?
75th percentile is 800s? You're telling me that a quarter of all Canadians have an 800+ credit score?
To answer your question, I have Score Watch, and never check my other scores.
Leading up to our mortgage, we pulled 3-5 times per month. Now we are down to once per month and are slowly weening off. IMO, the only way to understand how your FICO score works is to pull frequently and get a guage of how it responds to this change or that. After a while, and it appears you are in this phase, nothing happens. We aren't quite there yet with out reports, but soon will be.
In answer to your question - yes 25% of Canadians have at least a 800 score but then again our scoring systems generally go from 399 to 862 /or to 900 EQ/TU which means our scores are skewed higher than the equivalent FICO score. The median percentile is for my CRAs is between 750-760 depending on the CRA. This is higher than the 723 FICO median in the US. The average Beacon score in Canada is 720 vs. FICO of 680 for Americans so again our scores are skewed higher -- Either than or we are much better credit risks!
With Score Watch -- is that a quarterly CS that you get or can you pull at any time during the year?
"Leading up to our mortgage, we pulled 3-5 times per month"
How much does it cost to do a soft pull for you?
@Roarmeister wrote:"Leading up to our mortgage, we pulled 3-5 times per month"
How much does it cost to do a soft pull for you?
You mean via myFICO? Being a SW and TUQM subscriber I get the 30% off EQ and 20% off TU. The reports are $19.95, right? I think I pay $14 and $16 respectively. Plus I get FICO EQ monthly via my bank.
I just use Scorewatch as well, I do think that at the end of this year I'm going to pull all three of my credit reports but as far as checking everything all the time I don't do it.
The reason I was curious is that if it costs you $xx.xx for a pull each time, is it worth that much to financially? My credit monitoring agency gives me reports every 3 months with updates on any activiy. Then I pull my EQ/TU scores about every 6 months to make sure everything is OK. Over the course of a year, that amounts to over $200 so I was thinking of dropping my credit monitoring because of the cost.
Now not taking in account any free pulls that I have available to me for various reasons. I would say that I pay for one or two pulls a year. The usual reason would be if something is not making any sense to me, so I want to double check what is on my report. Or when I am about to make an app that I consider important and just want to make sure that my report is as I believe it to be prior to apping.
I also have SW and set my goal score to my current score so I get a glimpse of the EQ 3-5 times a month, though it hardly moves anymore.
I have the Walmart CC so I get the TU08 every month,and sometimes I look at credit karma bc that has always been right on target for me.
I get an updated FAKO from credit sesame every month to see what ol' EX is doing, credit sesame keeps track of balances and accts and inquiries and that ghastly collection that showed up a few weeks back. (As long as it remains in dispute, IDK are about since it's gone in a year anyhoo).
So yea, still addicted to the score but less than last year at this time.