If you want semi continous tracking of a real FICO score, I think SW from this site is the way to go. You can set it up to alert on score change. This will give you weekly tracking of Equifax Beacon 5.0 score which is most widely used Equifax score by the lenders. The update could be more frequent than weekly if there are other changes that generate alerts.
Walmart TU08 is free so that is good, but it will be monthly and it is TU08 FICO score which is not widely adopted. And of course, it will cost you a hard pull to get the card. For me, it was a TU pull (on line app from MA).
DCU also offers free Equifax Beacon 5.0 score, but you need to sign up and open a checking account, set up direct deposit. When I called DCU, they said that they will do a hard pull also. They said equifax pull (in MA).
other credit monitoring sites are OK for tracking changes to your credit report(s), but you won't have much of an insight into your FICO scores as FAKO and FICO correlates not as well as you'd hope.
BTW, I use SW from this site, Walmart account and USAA credit monitoring.
My Starting Score: EQ: 691 (11/30/11) TU98: 726 (11/30/11)
drkaje wrote:If you're expecting a lot of change, I'd avoid SW.
USAA is good but if you're struggling financially CreditKarma is an effective, free way to keep track of things for a while. Generally, negatives tend to fall off TU last.
+1 - I subscribe to SW for EQ, USAA (EX only, not the 3 CRA product), and TC for TU. That covers my 3 CRA. USAA and TC allow free daily pulls. I like TC specifically because it highlights the specific change from the prior report. So if a balance decreased by $100, it highlights it in yellow -$100. Really easy to track changes this way instead of combing the report and comparing report to report. As drkaje said, TU is the last to usually update AND it just so happens that TU contains ALL of my accounts where the other two do not. I also am fortunate enough to get the free montly tri-pull instead of paying the insane $29.95 they charge new subscribers.
As already said though for score tracking you'll need one of the options already listed. There are so many different options for tracking reports however. CK is an ok one, but tends to leave off tradelines. Credit Sesame and Quizzle are other free ones. But you have to pay for additional reports.
kjm79 wrote:
drkaje wrote:If you're expecting a lot of change, I'd avoid SW.
USAA is good but if you're struggling financially CreditKarma is an effective, free way to keep track of things for a while. Generally, negatives tend to fall off TU last.
+1 - I subscribe to SW for EQ, USAA (EX only, not the 3 CRA product), and TC for TU. That covers my 3 CRA. USAA and TC allow free daily pulls. I like TC specifically because it highlights the specific change from the prior report. So if a balance decreased by $100, it highlights it in yellow -$100. Really easy to track changes this way instead of combing the report and comparing report to report. As drkaje said, TU is the last to usually update AND it just so happens that TU contains ALL of my accounts where the other two do not. I also am fortunate enough to get the free montly tri-pull instead of paying the insane $29.95 they charge new subscribers.
As already said though for score tracking you'll need one of the options already listed. There are so many different options for tracking reports however. CK is an ok one, but tends to leave off tradelines. Credit Sesame and Quizzle are other free ones. But you have to pay for additional reports.
TC?
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