Cancelling Membership-This is not a good service

[Anonymous]

UPDATE

My second post on this thread stated that I paid off one of my credit cards on 4/11. I paid down a $2200 balance over the course of about 2 weeks culminating in a zero balance on 4/11. On 5/11 I ran a credit score check on TrueCredit.com (Transunion website). It gave me a score of 702 for Experian. A day later on 5/12 MYFICO sends me a scorewatch alert that my Equifax score went up 41 points to...you guessed it...702!

Later that same day (5/12) MYFICO sends me another Credit Watch email stating I had no credit alerts for the past month. Just an hour and a half before they sent me the credit watch email stating my score went up 41 points.

FYI-paying off this balance was the only thing affecting the rise of 41 points. I did find that interesting. Was it the fact that I paid it off in full or that I paid off a total of $2200 towards my credit debt the key factor. I get the feeling that if I had left a balance of $200 on this card that my score wouldnt have risen so much, could be wrong.

I also found it interesting that I have a balance of $11,000 on a second credit card and $3,400 on a third card. While only paying off the one card with the lowest balance provided a gain of 41 points. By 7/01 I will have the $3400 balance paid off. I wonder how much of a gain I will get from paying that off?

Also, The score simulator was a bit short in its projections off what paying off this balance would do to my credit score. I believe the upper limit it gave me was 680 or 690.

Message Edited by fsume93 on 05-15-2007 09:36 AM

[smallfry]

I must be on a hot streak. Score Watch is working for me. Just got a mini bump in score. E-mail was sent promptly.

[Anonymous]

Me too,got 3 points bump AND and alert. I don't know which one is better,at this point:smileyhappy:

[Anonymous]

While I agree that the alerts don't yet appear to be reliable, I disagree with many other comments about myfico's claim to timely alerts. 

This is not meant to be a monitoring service of your credit card transactions.  This is meant to monitor activity on your credit report.  There is a HUGE difference between what you do with your creditors and what they report.  MyFico and the 3 bureaus work with the info provided to them from your creditors.  They don't monitor all activity on your credit cards.

The point of monitoring your credit reports is to know what potential creditors will see so you can set yourself up for success when applying for new credit.  This includes reviewing the data provided by your creditors for accuracy (i.e. identity theft) and timely reporting by the creditors.  I should note here that I have some credit cards (i.e. Amex) that report every month regardless of activity, others that only do it periodically and yet others that only report updates when I request it.  All of them will report an update if I specifically call them and request it.

Don't mix up the message with the messenger.  I have had scorewatch for over 3 years which has helped me improve my scores to over 800 on each of the 3 bureau scores.  While it isn't yet everything I'd like, I have seen improvements.  Customer service has been helpful over the phone with any questions.  This forum alone is a beneficial step for myfico to take.   I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt for now that they will continue to consider customer feedback and improve their service.

I look forward getting an updated score anytime I want without paying for it.  Additionally, I would like to better understand score changes.  My scores have decreased when absolutely nothing changes on my report.  Very strange, but this is about the scores, not the alerts.

[Anonymous]

My alerts happen with in 24 hours, very pleased. I have been changing my target score manually to = equal = current new score each time it updates. I don't know if that's why mine alerts me to every change? If set to = current score you should be updated if it goes up or down 1 or more points.

Also the simulator said I would gain 10 points if I took a specific short term action. I need to wait again for CR to update in 3 weeks. Will repost when updates to confirm or deny accuracy.

[Anonymous]

I don't think changing your target score to your current score will trigger an alert if your score drops. Maybe it is best to set it at a very low number would be better?

One thing I don't get is why do I have to try to figure a way to get this to send timely alerts!

I am a very heavy CC user and my score used to go up and down every month by at least 15 point. Now I have a new strategy - instead of waiting until the statement closes I send them money in advance - I use Quicken and online banking so I have a very good idea how much my balance will be when the statement closes so I send the money 1-2 days before the closing and then they report to the agencies close to 0 or negative. That works of course if you choose to pay off everything like I do. Main reason I use CCs is the cash back option.

I know that Fair Isaac and Equifax are teamed up in this product and that Equifax offers similar service themself. Wonder if someone had experience with both MyFICO's and Equifax scorewatch so that can tell which one is better.

[Anonymous]

How long does it take from the time you see a change on your report to the time Score Watch updates the changes? And then until you receive the email notification.

Message Edited by ilovepizza on 05-23-2007 09:34 AM

[smallfry]

I have found it takes no more than one day sometimes less. I haven't encountered the problems some others evidently have run across. I like the service. It has reported inquiries and score changes promptly. Runs ahead of TC by a day for me.

[smallfry]

The changes are reported within minutes of each other. I am currently using both the myFICO and EQ service.

[Anonymous]

I only signed up a few days ago and just this morning got my first alert. Outlook had flagged it as junk mail - those of you using it might want to check there if you're not seeing any.

The lag from card activity to the report is a bit odd. The alert was about a small balance increase on an Amex card. It says it's now at the amount of my statement that closed a little over a month ago. I paid that in full over 2 weeks ago and also have had new charges in the meantime to give me a lower current balance. So apparently Amex only submits statement balances and does it with a roughly 30 day lag. On the scorewatch report I pulled on 5/20, the amex balance listed was for my statement that closed in late March.

I'm expecting a significant CR change soon, a large HELOC limit increase (but still 0 balance). My credit score is very good, but we are possibly looking to buy a new house in the next 6 months so I want to keep a close eye on it.

Anyway, so far the alert seems timely. But you have to understand the difference between your credit card issuer's information and the information they've submitted to the credit agencies.