Essentials 3B or Monthly Ultimate 3B

[Anonymous]

I would really love to see a Product from myFICO that was all three bureaus monthly.

So Essentials, but with all 3, or Ultimate that updated monthly.

I imagine a ton of people would jump on that.

[Anonymous]

I was searching the forums and was just going to post the same question.  I had a plan that expired that used to show me all 3 bureaus scores monthly (daily?).  I wanted to renew but not it looks like that is gone.  The new plans are ridiculous and don't even make sense.  Why in the world would I want to purchase a top package for $300+ a year that only updates ficos once a quarter?  But the less expensive plan updates once a month but for only one bureau!
 

And as always the documentation is so misleading and useless you can't make heads or tails out of it.  Other FAQ's seem to suggest you'll actually get notified on Fico 8 the moment there is any change.  So which is it?  Quarterly or the moment a change occures?  I have zero idea and won't waste money if they can't even explain their products clearly.

I'm posting here in the hopes someone can tell me the product descriptions are wrong and that the ultimate plan updates constantly for all 3 bureaus.

Thank You

[Anonymous]

4TheKill, in case it helps, here's what I THINK (not 100% certaion) I've deciphered reading through their misleading comparison:

1. The REAL difference between Essentials and Ultimate is that with Essentials you get a new credit report monthly from Equifax, whereas with Ultimate you get a new credit report quarterly from all 3.  They then CONFUSE the **** out of people by throwing in....

http://www.myfico.com/Products/Products.aspx#all-products

Quarterly
28 FICO® Scores
3-bureau credit report[/quote]

....misleading people into thinking they only get updating ficos every quarter.

However if you read down the rest of the comparison list you'll see....

Updated FICO® Score 8 available at time of credit report change alert††

....which clearly contradicts the earlier statement that fico scores only update quarterly.  So my best GUESS is that it updates constantly based on alerts, and that the main difference between the two plans is you get a monthly report with Essentials from Equifax, whereas you get a quaterly report from all 3 with Ultimate.  And of course you also get the other nonsense such as "identity protection" with Ultimate as well.

This would be in keeping with the fact that they also misadvertised the (now discontinued) programs they had the first time they had them, confusing the heck out of people back then as well.

Maybe someone else will come along and confirm if I'm correct.

[MyLoFICO]

Well, I found this a little too late. I created a duplicate thread asking the same question. I too would like to know if the scores and reports are updated with every change or if it is only quarterly. I just cancelled CCT and want to replace it with something better. 

[Anonymous]

I subscribed so am sure of this information:

1. You get new credit reports from all 3 bureaus every 3 months.  You do not get updated reports with every change of information.

2. You do get an updated Fico 8 score with every change of information, for all 3 bureaus.  You get an alert on all Fico score changes, along with the change.  The update is for Fico 8 only, the other Fico scores (car specific, mortgage specific etc.) do not update.  I assume those update every 3 months when you get the new credit report, because all of them identically match the scores I had in my report.

All in all I am happy with the service.  The thing I dislike the most is it sends me irrelevant notifications that can't be turned off, why would anyone want to be notified that their score didn't change?!  But overall it's good.  It's also got some other features that might be useful to some people, you can connect other accounts, set up a tareg score and so on.

Hope this helps you.  I'd recommending trying the monthly subscription, you can always cancel or convert to yearly depending on how you like it.

[MyLoFICO]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I subscribed so am sure of this information:

1. You get new credit reports from all 3 bureaus every 3 months.  You do not get updated reports with every change of information.

2. You do get an updated Fico 8 score with every change of information, for all 3 bureaus.  You get an alert on all Fico score changes, along with the change.  The update is for Fico 8 only, the other Fico scores (car specific, mortgage specific etc.) do not update.  I assume those update every 3 months when you get the new credit report, because all of them identically match the scores I had in my report.

All in all I am happy with the service.  The thing I dislike the most is it sends me irrelevant notifications that can't be turned off, why would anyone want to be notified that their score didn't change?!  But overall it's good.  It's also got some other features that might be useful to some people, you can connect other accounts, set up a tareg score and so on.

Hope this helps you.  I'd recommending trying the monthly subscription, you can always cancel or convert to yearly depending on how you like it.

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That is exaclty what I wanted to know. Thanks!

[TomBarrister]

Short version: You're paying for REAL TIME updating of the FICO-8 score as changes are reported by the bureau(s), a handy place to get periodic updates to 9 or 10 scores based on information from Equifax (monthly for 1B) or all three bureaus (quarterly for 3B), and some identity protection features.

Many of the free credit monitoring agencies will alert you when a change to your account occurs at the credit bureau(s) they monitor.  Many also offer you ongoing access to your credit report from the bureau(s) they monitor.  So getting a full credit report for free is easy, and of course you can get one annual one for free for each bureau from annualcreditreport.com. 

Many free services give you simulated credit scores that vary in quality compared to the FICO scores.  Some banks and credit issuers offer their customers actual FICO scores, including  (i.e. Bank America, Amazon Prime) the FICO-8 score.

The drawbacks to the scores are that they only update periodically and/or are not actual FICO scores.  I don't know of any free FICO score that updates in real time.

Essentially, what you're paying for with FICO's 1B or 3B plans is REAL-TIME updating of the FICO-8 score whenever there is a change to your file at Equifax (1B) or all three bureaus (3B).  As soon as the bureau(s) report a change, FICO alerts you (based on your preferences --- and sometimes if you don't want to be updated) and updates your FICO-8 score accordingly.  

The second benefit is that you get easy access to 9 common FICO scores on a montly basis (1B) from Equifax or quarterly (3B) from each of the credit bureaus, as well as the full credit report that you can get elsewhere for free.

The third benefit is identity protection, and FICO's is reasonable.  3B gives you a couple of extra features that 1B does not.  With some effort, you can do identity protection yourself, and some consider the identity protection services to be superfluous.  It's more convenient, of course, to have another source do it for you, but it may not be as quick or thorough as if you set alerts yourself at each bank, creditor, etc.

What it boils down to is how important it is for you to have real-time updating of your FICO-8 score for one or all bureaus, the occasional updating of the 9 or 10 scores for one or each credit bureau, and reasonable identity protection.  If that's worth$20 or $30 a month,  then you should get it.

[TomBarrister]

With FICO, you're paying for the scores, not the credit reports or updates.  You can get free credit reports and status updates from numerous free services, such as CreditKarma, Wallethub, and Experian's free service.  Some banks and cards have genuine FICO scores, but they generally update on a monthly (or less-frequent) basis.

FICO Ultimate 3B updates the FICO-8 scores for all three bureaus as they change.  The other 25 scores and a fresh credit report only generate quarterly.  I have no idea how 1B works, now that FICO has moved from the troubled  Equifax to Transunion.  

FICO now has an Ultimate 3B+ report that refreshes the same way Ultimate 3B does, except it does so monthly.  It's $10 more per month.

[expatCanuck]

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TomBarrister

wrote:

Short version: You're paying for REAL TIME updating of the FICO-8 score as changes are reported by the bureau(s), a handy place to get periodic updates to 9 or 10 scores based on information from Equifax (monthly for 1B) or all three bureaus (quarterly for 3B), and some identity protection features.

 ...

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Hmmm.  Not convinced.  My EX score updated on the EX site four or more days ago (to 721); my MyFICO 3B subscription still shows the prior 723.