How do y'all afford frequent score/report updates?

[ayles]

I'm just now getting on the whole keeping up with your score/reports and working towards a higher score bandwagon.

It's interesting, fun and at times uber overwhelming but one thing I don't get is...

how do y'all afford frequent updates??? 

They are so expensive! I just signed up for the Myfico trial for 4.95 but after that it's 14.95.

I get free scores through Discover and Walmart but I've heard those can be off too...

Any suggestions on how to do this inexpensively other than the free annual report? 

[09Lexie]

Discover  and Walmart are true FICO scores.  Besides SW, I use the free ones offered by my cc's and the free CMS - Credit Sesame, Credit Karma, Credit.com and Quizzle 

[ayles]

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@09Lexie wrote:

Discover  and Walmart are true FICO scores.  Besides SW, I use the free ones offered by my cc's and the free CMS - Credit Sesame, Credit Karma, Credit.com and Quizzle 

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So it is worth it to have at least the SW for $14.95/month? I could just use my Discover to pay for it on auto so I have some utilization muhahaha

I am considering paying one time for the all 3 report comparison here just to know what I'm dealing with but I'm wondering if I should wait until all my balances are cleared and reported which won't be until the end of the month.  What do you think?

[CreditJunkie917]

It's totally up to you. Like the other posters have said, they get them from CCC. I get my SW EQ from here, and update my TU every 45-60 days. I have my EX report #, so I'll get a real time view of what accounts are on my report. Then every 60 days, I'll buy FICO EX score. 

[bobebob]

All told, I spend about $380 per year monitoring and insuring (lifelock) my good credit rating.

My FICO SW: $150

Bank of America Privacy Assist: $120

LifeLock: $110

If I was overly concerned about the outlay, I would cut out the My FICO SW and BofA product.  I just keep these because I like the automatic emails when something changes on my report.

Even though the Freebies (Credit Karma, ect) only give you FAKO scores, the data your scores are based on are accurate as far as I can tell.  So they would give you warning if something changed on your report.

I get free monthly FICO scores from TU(Walmart Discover) and Equifax (Digital Federal Credit Union).  So periodically I can see the actual scores creditors see.

Unless you are actively trying to clean up issues in your credit history, it is probably not neccesary to spend much money on reports.  And in all likley-hood even if you were(cleaning up your credit), the money would probaly be better spent paying down debt.

Anything over 760 is gravy and mine has been running about 800, so mostly I am just watching for identity theft, fraudulent charges, and bad information popping up on my credit history.

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@ayles wrote:

I'm just now getting on the whole keeping up with your score/reports and working towards a higher score bandwagon.

It's interesting, fun and at times uber overwhelming but one thing I don't get is...

how do y'all afford frequent updates??? 

They are so expensive! I just signed up for the Myfico trial for 4.95 but after that it's 14.95.

I get free scores through Discover and Walmart but I've heard those can be off too...

Any suggestions on how to do this inexpensively other than the free annual report? 

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[JagerBombs89]

Free Transunion FICO from Discover... Plus I only pay $69.95 a year for Score Watch

[Cloudlb]

I wait for the sales and buy different ones from here a couple of times a year.  Unless you are planning a major purpose, or are actively working to improve the credit, I don't think it's useful to watch that closely.  Scores go up and down mysteriously, and It's not a good idea to get obsessed about it.  

[DaveSignal]

I think SW is a good deal. I was perfectly happy paying $14.95 for it (and think it is a good deal at this price), but I did just call in to change the credit card number for billing and was given $9.99. It could be because I have used it for quite a while now, but I have a feeling that myFICO might just give it to anyone who asks for it.

I also pay for EIDT for daily report updates. EIDT gets some complaints and I have heard of people who have trouble getting all 3 reports with it, so I would go in to this with a tentative plan to call in at the end of the month to end the subscription in the case that it doesn't work for you. In my case, however, it works perfectly. I don't remember how much I pay for it, but it is cheap.... $12 a month possibly?

So I am paying less than $30 a month to maintain my hobby and keep constant track of both reports and score changes. I have quite a few other past-times too, but they are all far more expensive than this. If monitoring scores, collecting credit cards, managing rewards points, and posting on credit forums isn't something you do for fun and only want the reports and scores for rebuilding, you can cancel it as soon as you near your credit target, so its not really even an on-going expense in that case.