@drkaje wrote:
@ Ilecs,
I'm curious enough to burn a power report.
What discrepancy is worth calling to cancel?
It could be dead accurate or many points off. What is a reasonable expectation?
Your call. I tend to approach things logically. I make the assumption that the product is flawless, and therefore the onus on me is to prove otherwise. Part of that is to debunct any reason as to why the score changed (assuming you discover one) and to prove that the score changes were due to changes on the report that should have resulted in a SW alert. Absent credit alerts, I then have to prove that score changes were due to something that SW doesn't alert for (e.g. dropped accts, dropped balances, dropped lates, etc.) and that those changes were OUTSIDE of the 7-10 day EQ FICO monitoring period as described on the SW Guide.
For example, let's say I pull today and it's a 30 point difference, either way. I would want to know why there wasn't an alert. I would look at credit alerts first and rule those out since that's the easiest. I'd look for balance increases, new TLs, new baddies, new inquiries, etc. I know from experience that my credit alerts for these items came within the same day up to a day later, or even two on rare occassions. If I didn't get an e-mail then I would look within the alerts themselves just in case an e-mail got lost somewhere. If a change occurred yesterday, for example, then I know an alert could be forthcoming. I also wouldn't make the assumption that if EX or TU changed, then EQ would too. There are a lot of complaint posts on here citing that, but in fact EQ didn't change at all in examples I've seen.
Credit alerts aside, I would move on to score alerts. I know that score alerts come within 7-10 days of the change. What are these changes? These are changes to the report or score that aren't triggered by a credit change (e.g. a baddie ages, a new TL ages, AAoA hits a b-day and score increases, a TL drops, etc.). There are a lot of reasons behind score alerts. So, if I pulled and using the 30 pt change, I would then examine the reports to figure out why, and more importantly, when. If the change occurred 5 days ago, then SW would alert you within 2-5 following that. I would also make sure I always reset my target to exactly match my known score. Figuring the source of a score alert is difficult especially since SW doesn't say why, other than guesses.
If I was really looking for a flaw in SW, I would do it mid-month. IME, most of my score changes occurred on the first of the month as TLs age and TLs drop. Everything turns a month older on the first and a lot can happen to the score. So, if you pull today, certainly account that the score change could have occurred yesterday with a scheduled score alert by the 7th to the 10th when the score is monitored next. In an example like this, SW is working as advertised. And this is of course the target was set right.
I made this too wordy. I'll leave it up without revising it. Need coffee. I used to subscribe to SW for the 30% discounts on future reports. I would pull several times monthly and the savings cancelled out the monthly fee to the service and made it worth it, whether it worked or not. In the nearly 6 years of subscribing to it, I can only recall a couple of times where it did not work as advertised, but Barry had alerted us before I knew what was happening/didn't happen. It's definitely not perfect and it can use an overhaul (BTW, Sarah indicated there are some changes forthcoming...don't know what they are though). I guess now I'm out of the credit loop, I would consider cancelling if I didn't get obvious credit alerts (e.g. balance increases, new TLs) or if I went weeks without any score alert and I knew in my heart that EQ FICO should have changed.
Starting Score: 675
