what scores and credit reports option should I purchase?

[Anonymous]

I am new to this.  I had to file BK and it was just discharged in November 2011.  I am on my way to rebuilding my credit.  I want to monitor it but I am unsure of what product I should purchase?  The free trial or a different one.  Any help will do.  the only score I know of right now is the one I got for free on Credit Karma and I know that is not a score used when checked by creditors. 

[JM-AM]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I am new to this.  I had to file BK and it was just discharged in November 2011.  I am on my way to rebuilding my credit.  I want to monitor it but I am unsure of what product I should purchase?  The free trial or a different one.  Any help will do.  the only score I know of right now is the one I got for free on Credit Karma and I know that is not a score used when checked by creditors. 

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The first thing to know is do you want to monitor your reports only or if you want FICO scores?

The free trial from MYFICO will give you a current credit report for EQUIFAX and a FICO score.

Have you pulled your free yearly report yet? If not I would get my free yearly reports as that is the most up tp date report. Just do not purchase any scores as they really are meaningless.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I have viewed my credit reports online. I am wanting to monitor my credit score, I currently have a secured card with Capital One and I want to see if that helps improve my score at all. I guess I'm not sure what the difference is between my credit score and a Fico score? Time to do some more research.

[bichonmom]

If you join USAA (which is free, and you don't need to be military), they have a CMS for $12.25 a month. It monitors all 3 of your CRs, plus you can pull a 3-in-1 rept. daily if you wish.The scores it gives you are FAKOs, so ignore them. But it's the most bang for your buck in terms of a CMS.

For your FICO, you can get Score Watch (either here at myFICO or from EQ). If you get it @ EQ, just be sure it's ScoreWatch and it says, "FICO" since EQ also sells their own FAKO score. BTW, if you are military, you can join NFCU and get ScoreWatch from EQ for $9.95 instead of $14.95.

You can also get quarterly TU FICO monitoring here on myFICO. Or, if you get a Walmart CC, you can get a monthly TU FICO free.

Those are the ones that I'm using presently. I did have a couple others, but cut back because I was paying around $40 a month, which for me felt like too much money.