Not sure which option to go with...

road2freedom · ‎05-08-2011

The 4.95/mo program is the TU score monitoring. From what I've seen this score is used the least by creditors and tends to be more forgiving.

The 14.95/mo program is the EQ monitoring, which seems more widely used.

Please correct me if I'm wrong so far.

I was ready to get the basic monitoring for my wife and I but am concerned that I would be monitoring something that is not as widely accepted/utilized. Paying $30/month for the EQ monitoring for both of us is steep and that money would be better spent on paying down debt imo.

Here are my questions:

Are there any family programs or discounts offered?
Is the TU score worth monitoring or am I paying to watch something that isn't a great gauge of credit score?
The next major purchases planned for both of us next year are new cars. At the present time I think we are looking at a VW and a Toyota. I believe VW credit uses the auto-enhanced score based on TU. I'm not sure which Toyota uses. Would TU monitoring be good enough for this type of purchase?

Thanks for your time!

Barry · ‎05-11-2011

@road2freedom wrote:

The 4.95/mo program is the TU score monitoring. From what I've seen this score is used the least by creditors and tends to be more forgiving.

The 14.95/mo program is the EQ monitoring, which seems more widely used.

Please correct me if I'm wrong so far.

I was ready to get the basic monitoring for my wife and I but am concerned that I would be monitoring something that is not as widely accepted/utilized. Paying $30/month for the EQ monitoring for both of us is steep and that money would be better spent on paying down debt imo.

Here are my questions:

Are there any family programs or discounts offered? Unfortunately, not at this time that I'm aware of. Others here may know and are welcome to chime in.

Is the TU score worth monitoring or am I paying to watch something that isn't a great gauge of credit score? It's a real FICO score that's used by many more lenders than any of the FAKOs sold on other sites. However, it's not the latest version of TU FICO, which most lenders who use TU use.

The next major purchases planned for both of us next year are new cars. At the present time I think we are looking at a VW and a Toyota. I believe VW credit uses the auto-enhanced score based on TU. I'm not sure which Toyota uses. Would TU monitoring be good enough for this type of purchase? Depending on your current scores and where you want them to be when auo buying time comes, either EQ or TU -- whether bought individually or through monitoring products -- should get you close enough to have a good idea of where the score your auto dealer pulls will fall. Most auto lenders use the auto versions of the scores, which tend to be close to the regular scores, but they aren't sold directly to consumers.

Thanks for your time!

Hi road2freedom,

In addition to my answers above, I'm curious as to why you're looking for a credit monitoring product vs. just buying the occasional single score and report?

-Barry

road2freedom · ‎05-11-2011

Hi Barry - thanks for taking the time to answer my questions!

I was considering the monitoring since we will not be making these purchases until sometime next year. In the meantime I'm working on rebuilding my file (individual BK7 discharged 9/09) and also paying down some of the revolving accounts in my wife's name. I did end up just ordering individual TU reports for both of us. I'll probably sign up for the monitoring closer toward the end of this year.

Barry · ‎05-12-2011

@road2freedom wrote:

Hi Barry - thanks for taking the time to answer my questions!

I was considering the monitoring since we will not be making these purchases until sometime next year. In the meantime I'm working on rebuilding my file (individual BK7 discharged 9/09) and also paying down some of the revolving accounts in my wife's name. I did end up just ordering individual TU reports for both of us. I'll probably sign up for the monitoring closer toward the end of this year.

Makes sense. If you haven't done so already, you may way want to add some positive credit, i.e. secured card, to help your score recover more quickly. Good luck!

road2freedom · ‎05-12-2011

Definitely - got a 1 year old secured from a CU and a 3 month old CapOne Platinum. Thanks again for the info!