Best option for new borrowers

[mekikya]

Which of the three options is the best for someone just starting out? the 20 one time, the 15 monthly, or the 5 dollar monthly? I already got my free credit reports for this year. I just got my first credit card in July, no negatives and every month was paid in full, still waiting to get my Fico scores. Its hard to say what I want out of a report yet, since I've never done a credit watch or anything like that. I do want to keep an eye out on my credit and watch the changes, I have a CapitalOne and a Discover, I got two because from what I'm reading on here 3 is a good number to have and takes a while for just one credit card to make much of a difference esp as your credit history gets longer. Thanks for any suggestions.

[Wolf3]

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@mekikya wrote:

Which of the three options is the best for someone just starting out? the 20 one time, the 15 monthly, or the 5 dollar monthly? I already got my free credit reports for this year. I just got my first credit card in July, no negatives and every month was paid in full, still waiting to get my Fico scores. Its hard to say what I want out of a report yet, since I've never done a credit watch or anything like that. I do want to keep an eye out on my credit and watch the changes, I have a CapitalOne and a Discover, I got two because from what I'm reading on here 3 is a good number to have and takes a while for just one credit card to make much of a difference esp as your credit history gets longer. Thanks for any suggestions.

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I would spend nothing.   Pull 1 free report every 4 months.   Sign up for a free service like Credit Karma,  you can see what it being reported.   There scores are reasonable indicators of how you are doing.

If you are afflicted with the obsession or hobby of constantly knowing your FICO score, there are countless others on this site to advise.

[Creditaddict]

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@Wolf3 wrote:

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@mekikya wrote:

Which of the three options is the best for someone just starting out? the 20 one time, the 15 monthly, or the 5 dollar monthly? I already got my free credit reports for this year. I just got my first credit card in July, no negatives and every month was paid in full, still waiting to get my Fico scores. Its hard to say what I want out of a report yet, since I've never done a credit watch or anything like that. I do want to keep an eye out on my credit and watch the changes, I have a CapitalOne and a Discover, I got two because from what I'm reading on here 3 is a good number to have and takes a while for just one credit card to make much of a difference esp as your credit history gets longer. Thanks for any suggestions.

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I would spend nothing.   Pull 1 free report every 4 months.   Sign up for a free service like Credit Karma,  you can see what it being reported.   There scores are reasonable indicators of how you are doing.

If you are afflicted with the obsession or hobby of constantly knowing your FICO score, there are countless others on this site to advise.

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When I sign up for a Credit Watch the only thing I am looking for is that it's under $10/month and that I can pull "1 DAILY" IF I want... Many are available in the $12-$15 but if you try one and find you REALLY like it then you can call about canceling and they will lower cost to get you to stay with them.  Also in my monitoring I DO NOT even look at the score... they are worthless and same with the alerts that you may be hurting your credit for "blank" or your score went up 50 points or down 100 points... does not matter... Only thing I track on these is INQ and new accounts reporting or negatives showing up.

[mekikya]

I was actually refering to the three options on this website. Does anyone know anything about those? You know up top where it says check my Fico score. Though I will still consider other places too. Thanks for the imput, esp about what you look for in a credit watch.

Discover used to have its own credit watch thing, but sadly it was through experian so they no longer have it =/

[mekikya]

well thats great....now buried in a forum that no one will ever see...

[llecs]

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@mekikya wrote:

I was actually refering to the three options on this website. Does anyone know anything about those? You know up top where it says check my Fico score. Though I will still consider other places too. Thanks for the imput, esp about what you look for in a credit watch.

Discover used to have its own credit watch thing, but sadly it was through experian so they no longer have it =/

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Know that CCs like Discover and virtually all other creditors offer credit monitoring products, and while they offer scores too, none offer FICO scores. They offer FAKOs. Don't subscribe to them for the scores, but use it for the report content which can help when looking at your credit.

Check out the product descriptions at the very bottom of thispage for more info on why myFICO offers and does not offer. The one-time pull product is via FICO Standard. It's $19.95 I think and is a one-time pull only of your EQ or your TU FICO report. The $5 monthly option is FICO Quarterly Monitoring. It is basically a pre-paid plan for your TU FICO report for every 3 months. Finally, ScoreWatch monitors your EQ FICO score and report for certain changes and includes 2 EQ FICO reports per year, with one being used when you first subscribe.

Outside of myFICO, your choices are very limited to get access to your FICO scores. Definitely study the product desriptions before buying.

[llecs]

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@mekikya wrote:

well thats great....now buried in a forum that no one will ever see...

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 The CC forum is for active CC with regards to their rates, terms, benefits, etc. This board is fairly active.

[Creditaddict]

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@llecs wrote:

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@mekikya wrote:

I was actually refering to the three options on this website. Does anyone know anything about those? You know up top where it says check my Fico score. Though I will still consider other places too. Thanks for the imput, esp about what you look for in a credit watch.

Discover used to have its own credit watch thing, but sadly it was through experian so they no longer have it =/

---

Know that CCs like Discover and virtually all other creditors offer credit monitoring products, and while they offer scores too, none offer FICO scores. They offer FAKOs. Don't subscribe to them for the scores, but use it for the report content which can help when looking at your credit.

Check out the product descriptions at the very bottom of thispage for more info on why myFICO offers and does not offer. The one-time pull product is via FICO Standard. It's $19.95 I think and is a one-time pull only of your EQ or your TU FICO report. The $5 monthly option is FICO Quarterly Monitoring. It is basically a pre-paid plan for your TU FICO report for every 3 months. Finally, ScoreWatch monitors your EQ FICO score and report for certain changes and includes 2 EQ FICO reports per year, with one being used when you first subscribe.

Outside of myFICO, your choices are very limited to get access to your FICO scores. Definitely study the product desriptions before buying.

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Oh sorry my bad, I just use the "Standard" from My Fico because as much as I like to know my score all the time I don't need to unless about to by car, or house or stepping out of new credit, rebuilding credit, other milestones that would mean you could move to next step.

[llecs]

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@Creditaddict wrote:

Oh sorry my bad, I just use the "Standard" from My Fico because as much as I like to know my score all the time I don't need to unless about to by car, or house or stepping out of new credit, rebuilding credit, other milestones that would mean you could move to next step.

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No, that's great advice, IMO. I selectively pull my EQ and/or TU FICO whenever I see changes to those reports. I know if there's changes from the one of many CMSs I subscribe to. I used to pull all 3 reports every single day and as I saw changes, I came back here and forked out the $20 to target the pull and save $$$.