topic Re: Credit Check Monitoring from USAA in Understanding FICO® Scoring

Credit Check Monitoring from USAA

andrewjv — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 07:01:26 GMT

About 7-8 months ago, as a USAA Member, I signed up for what I thought was a great deal. For a "discounted" rate of $ 12.95 a month, I could get all 3 credit reports, every day, refreshed, and a credit score whenever I wanted it from all 3 credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion with up to the minute Credit Reports from each one, refreshed daily if I wanted it to do so.

So I thought it was a great idea and I signed up.

Then after about a month, I began to notice that my score was the same in all 3 categories every day: a "740" for all 3 Credit Bureaus. This has continue day after day, month after month, for almost 5 months. Yesterday, my TransUnion Score finally changed to 744.

The information provided on the Accounts does seem to be accurate as far as balances, payments, etc. There are no notices of delinquent accounts or missed payments.

But I am not so sure this is worth $ 12.95 a month. What are they reporting and why isn't this score changing?

I mean with virtually no credit card debt (I pay everything off every month in full), I would think my scores should be improving. Or at least, not flat lining for 7 months???

The service for USAA members is provided by Experian.

Does anyone else use this service? I am thinking of canceling it since it doesn't appear to be giving me any real record of the ups and downs of my score.

Is there a web site (I do use my fico) that really shows a good record of your score. My FICO has shown me at 759 for 8 months and then suddenly dropped to 752 two days ago for no apparent reason. It said "late payment" or "credit overload" but I went through each card listed and there are no late payments and I have zero balances on all my accounts. So I don't know what they are talking about there.

Thanks.

Andrew

Re: Credit Check Monitoring from USAA

llecs — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 12:32:42 GMT

The service from USAA is a resell from a company called Creditchecktotal. CCT is a service created by Experian as you pointed out. I use this product too. It's great at pointing out balances, general account changes, spotting new accounts, dropped accounts, etc. However, there is one component that should be ignored, IMO, and that's the scores and the advice that goes with it.

The scores offered via this service are not FICO scores. They are a FAKO score called a PLUS score and have zero relation to your actual FICO score. Your PLUS score can go up and FICO down and vice-versa. It operates at a different range and both formulas are totally opposite. The advice on there (on the scores tab) is terrible too and is no way representative to FICO.

If you were to pull your FICO scores (you can get TU and EQ FICOs here; it's impossible to buy your EX FICO from anywhere), you'd find that your FICO scores are different than your PLUS scores from USAA's service.

IMO, it's a good service, but most of who have it, get it to track our reports as opposed to scores.

PLUS scores don't update daily as far as I can tell. I've had some major changes happen and there seems to be a delay on at least one of those scores.

I can't speak for how PLUS scores paying on time, but in terms of FICO, you really won't see an increase for paying on time. In other words, you don't get rewarded for good payments and you'll get nailed for bad ones. However, as things age, you'll see small, but gradual increases over long periods of time as your TLs hit a birthday, AAoA changes, etc.

Re: Credit Check Monitoring from USAA

Anonymous — Mon, 30 May 2011 01:41:40 GMT

you have to click "refresh report" on the left hand side of the page

Re: Credit Check Monitoring from USAA

ScoreBooster — Mon, 30 May 2011 05:18:48 GMT

The service USAA delivers is the best bang for the buck. Period.

Before I joined USAA, I paid $29.95 for the same service by consumerinfo - and even they could only go down to $14.95 when I cancelled and switched. I don't care about their scores - it's the information about the accounts that can be updated daily is what makes this service so valuable. Sure, myfico delivers the scores - but:

a) no information about Experian

b) obtaining the same info by pulling a report every day costs you how much? $800/month?

My package includes scorewatch from Equifax and the quarterly monitoring for TU from myfico along with the USAA-offer. That is the best value to get fico-scores AND updated reports.

Re: Credit Check Monitoring from USAA

Anonymous — Mon, 30 May 2011 15:19:53 GMT

What products do you need to have with USAA to qualify for this?

Re: Credit Check Monitoring from USAA

Anonymous — Mon, 30 May 2011 19:59:35 GMT

Anyone can get the credit monitoring with USAA. Just register with them online.

Re: Credit Check Monitoring from USAA

Booner72 — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 21:02:55 GMT

My FICO score from this site went up 10 points for paying down a maxed out 400.00 credit card to 50.00.

Re: Credit Check Monitoring from USAA

MrCredit — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 13:58:20 GMT

To the person who stated you cannot buy your EX score anywhere, PSECU if you are a member provides your FICO from EX monthly for free. Just an FYI.

Re: Credit Check Monitoring from USAA

bichonmom — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 00:16:26 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Anyone can get the credit monitoring with USAA. Just register with them online.

Can anyone really get this service? Don't you need to qualify as a member of USAA? I know their CCs are avail to everyone, but it was my understanding that all other benefits (incl the CMS) required m'ship for which you need to be in, or related to, the military.

Thanks!

Re: Credit Check Monitoring from USAA

ScoreBooster — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 03:46:46 GMT

I have a checking-account with them which anybody can open. I am a veteran but I was only enlisted for a few months so I was not entitled to other loans (i.e. auto-loan). Btw, you can also get their CC without any military-ties.

I could sign up for the monitoring-service without any problems.

Re: Credit Check Monitoring from USAA

bichonmom — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 04:48:00 GMT

Do you happen to know if they do a hard pull to open the ckg acct.? (assuming you need to have the ckg acct to get the CMS)

Thank you!

Re: Credit Check Monitoring from USAA

Anonymous — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 06:01:01 GMT

I'm totally canx out my account with USAA for the credit monitor. All it has done was cause me to ping and check it every single day. Also, there's such a huge gap in the difference between what's reported through FICO on this website and the 3 bureaus. Now I'm even more confused. Safe enough, checking my stats every quarter only through FICO.

I just paid the $49.95 or something for the Suze Orman package and got all the same details for the entire year.

Re: Credit Check Monitoring from USAA

ScoreBooster — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 16:33:10 GMT

@bichonmom wrote:
Do you happen to know if they do a hard pull to open the ckg acct.? (assuming you need to have the ckg acct to get the CMS)

Thank you!

No, there was no hard pull for the checking-account. Only for the CC.

I can tell that for sure because I applied for the CC a few weeks later and the inquiry appeared on my report the next day after I applied for the CC - so it was not for the checking.

Re: Credit Check Monitoring from USAA

bichonmom — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 17:34:53 GMT

Thank you!

Re: Credit Check Monitoring from USAA

devastatah — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 23:54:18 GMT

I'm going with this as well cancelling USAA on 1 November with my subscription being due on the 4th. Although I called USAA and got it cut in half for $6.50 a month, I can deal with quarterly monitoring. $6.50 would put me at 78 bucks when I can monitor and get my free credit report four times a year for $50. I got the original cut in half when I opened a secure AMEX thru USAA and it offered me 6 months free monitoring but I had already paid the $12.25 for the service so they said they would cut it in half for the duration of my subscription, the FAKO scores are pretty much useless though but seeing my report everyday was kinda useful for $6.50 I suppose quarterly will do though

Re: Credit Check Monitoring from USAA

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 02:46:40 GMT

@ScoreBooster wrote:

The service USAA delivers is the best bang for the buck. Period.

I don't care about their scores - it's the information about the accounts that can be updated daily is what makes this service so valuable.

Yes, its the information about the accounts that can be updated daily that makes this service the best bang for the buck. My husband and I are in rebuilding mode and we haven't even got any FICO scores and we won't have any for a long, long time. But, we definitely want to closely monitor what our credit reports say. Its a wonderful thing to be able to call up all 3 reports any day of the week and see what kind of progress is being made from all our hard work with PFDs and GWs.

We are very happy with the credit monitoring service from USAA.

Re: Credit Check Monitoring from USAA

boomhower — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 07:21:00 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@ScoreBooster wrote:
The service USAA delivers is the best bang for the buck. Period.

I don't care about their scores - it's the information about the accounts that can be updated daily is what makes this service so valuable.
Yes, its the information about the accounts that can be updated daily that makes this service the best bang for the buck. My husband and I are in rebuilding mode and we haven't even got any FICO scores and we won't have any for a long, long time. But, we definitely want to closely monitor what our credit reports say. Its a wonderful thing to be able to call up all 3 reports any day of the week and see what kind of progress is being made from all our hard work with PFDs and GWs.

We are very happy with the credit monitoring service from USAA.

Take a look at EIDT. They are the same price as USAA but they have the option to add your spouse for $5, so you two can monitor both of your credit reports for $17.95 vs. $25.90 with USAA. I don't know about you but I'll save $9 a month for the same service.

USAA/EIDT are both a great value. You get a complete report across all three CRA's for $13 a month. Any fraudulant activity you are aware of withing 24hrs. If you are rebuilding it's very easy to keep track of things. Yeah, the scores are worthless and that's well known. You have to come here to get two of them and really only one is accurate.(With all the different TU models being used you don't know who's looking at what) With all the ID Fraud going around. If your not doing any rebuilding so you changes aren't often then a more handsoff service like lifelock may be a better option. Considering the amount of damage ID theft can cause and the difficulty that it takes to correct with the corresponding financial impact it can cause I look at the $13-$15 spent on one of these services as dirt cheap insurance.

Re: Credit Check Monitoring from USAA

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 14:18:19 GMT

@boomhower wrote:
Take a look at EIDT.

My husband and I like the USAA product because you can pull a report EVERY DAY and, for us, its fine that we are only getting my husband's CR because he's the only one with any income. I have my 3 reports that I got from the annualcreditreport website and saw that there was an erroneous Tax Lien that I'm working with my state AG to get deleted. Other than that, my credit reports don't have any TLs. I have no income so, we are concentrating on my husband's CR and we're working towards generating a FICO score for him. We recently applied for 3 secured CCs and, just yesterday, we received an alert that they are FINALLY starting to report. It was terrific to be able to call up the report and see the CCs reporting all across Experian, Equifax and Transunion.

I am an AU on all my husband's CCs so that will generate some TLs for me on my reports which I will pull and check out in the New Year (2012).

There's a product out there that fits each person(s) particular need. EIDT works for you boomhower and, USAA works for us. its all good!

Re: Credit Check Monitoring from USAA

Anonymous — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 21:50:30 GMT

I ended up getting the Ex Plus score product and am pretty happy with it so far.