cantretire wrote:
llecs wrote:
I find that SW only, for me anyway, catches about 20% of what has been going on. I still rely on sites like TC to help fill in the gaps. And likewise, TC only catches about 20%. I pull each FICO report twice a month and TC 6-10x per month in order to get that clear picture. And no, it's not a ripoff. While 20% is a failing grade on any scale, I don't think there is anything better out there for credit monitoring.
Isn't that REALLY expensive? Or do you use another product?
It is expensive if I don't back these pulls with a plan of action in cleaning up each report. I use a discount code but if I continue pulling at this rate, then the annual cost is around $900. Yikes! It sounds like a lot of money....
However, it costs more money not to pull the reports. Let me explain...
I did not care about credit prior to this past August. I didn't use any CCs, I used cash, and the only thing on my (our) reports were two car notes, therefore our scores were low without the experience. The first one was for a car at a rate at 12%!!! Ouch. Two years later, we bought another car and didn't really care AND didn't learn our lesson the first time and signed on a 19.9% loan (NOT a typo)!!
Here's why it is cheaper to pull reports and back it with action....Had I studied the reports and backed it up with action, then maybe I could have received a moderate 8% on those notes. Based on that, I could have saved about $1,771 in interest on the first car and $10,505 in interest on the second car loan!!!!!!! "Could have" are the operative words. I didn't save anything and failed to prep my credit before I signed the papers. I went in blind, uneducated, and unaware.
This is probably the biggest single thing affecting people in today's economy. People are giddy on the prospect of buying a new home, but unfortunately they are charging in full speed without any forethought on their credit situation. Had I not found these forums, SW, and MyFICO last summer, I would be one of those within the course of a year from now. My scores were in the mid-500s. and based on FICO's mortgage projections, I would have qualified, if lucky, for 10.2% home 30-year fixed loan. Based on my scores today, and all things being equal, we would qualify for around 6.6%. Now I know these figures are guesstimates, but that is a 3.6% difference. That's a difference of $127,000 in interest on a 30 yr note for 200k!!!
It was a no-brainer for me; $900 in pulls twice a month was a whole lot cheaper than the consequence. I also have to say that it is a waste of money if you pull and don't back it up with action. It is also not necessary, IMO, to pull this frequent if you don't have anything happening credit-wise in the next 1-2 yrs.
Message Edited by llecs on
02-14-2008 04:32 PM
