topic Re: Product recommendation in General Credit Topics

Product recommendation

marcuscan — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 20:10:40 GMT

I'm thinking about buying some sort of product that will allow me to stay on top of all 3 of my scores as I continue my trek from the high 400s to the low 500s (which is where I'm at now) on the path to the 700s.

which one of myFICO's products would you guys recommend? Does such a product even exist? Again, wanna see all 3 scores.

Re: Product recommendation

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 20:13:08 GMT

No, no such product exists. However, many people around here use TrueCredit to monitor their CRs (ignoring the TC scores) and just pay myFico for a FICO score report when there is a change.

Re: Product recommendation

llecs — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 20:16:01 GMT

mrscharlie wrote:
No, no such product exists. However, many people around here use TrueCredit to monitor their CRs (ignoring the TC scores) and just pay myFico for a FICO score report when there is a change.

Ditto.

Re: Product recommendation

makeynik — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:50:26 GMT

Hi, I was wondering the same...

So true credit has real credit reports, but a TC "fako?"

Thanks...

Re: Product recommendation

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:12:54 GMT

TC is Truecredit...they have ALL real reports...and ALL FAKO scores...

Re: Product recommendation

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:27:58 GMT

Does TC monitor ALL THREE CRAs? Or just TU?

I got an e-mail offer from them for a free 30 day trial for TU, no mention of the other three, though.

is there such a beast that will let you monitor all THREE CRAs? Or do you have to belong to a monitoring service for each individual one??

Re: Product recommendation

llecs — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:43:59 GMT

Wonderin wrote:
Does TC monitor ALL THREE CRAs? Or just TU?

I got an e-mail offer from them for a free 30 day trial for TU, no mention of the other three, though.

is there such a beast that will let you monitor all THREE CRAs? Or do you have to belong to a monitoring service for each individual one??

TC monitors all three. They won't monitor the scores, but will monitor changes like inquiries, new accounts, critical changes, addresses, delinquent or past due accts, etc.

TC costs around $14-$15 or so per month and you can pull once every 24 hours.

So, to answer your last question, TC does all 3. I also have creditchecktotal (CCT) and it does the same for double the price, but allow you to pull more often.

Re: Product recommendation

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 01:18:55 GMT

Thanks for the info, Ilecs! As always, you're da Man!

But I did see a problem (on your recommendation, I went ahead and signed hubby up) ... on EX and EQ, we have a CU checking account charge-off (paid immediately after COed) and yet, it doesn't show up in hubby's reports at TC. Any idea why???

Again, thanks, Ilecs! This is an AWESOME tool! And it will save us oodles of $$ in pulling FICO scores (which, I seem to have been doing every two weeks, URGH!)!!

Re: Product recommendation

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 01:25:44 GMT

Did the scores there, too (I know they're FAKOs) ...

EX FICO: 528 EX FAKO: 575
EQ FICO: 578 EQ FAKO: 566
TU FICO: 600 TU FAKO: 573

Does that make any sense? I mean, the mid FAKO is the highest FICO?

(The FICOs are from a couple of weeks ago. They might have gone up a bit, though, as some accounts reage and as two collections -- a medical collections and a paid tax lien) go bye-bye)

Re: Product recommendation

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 05:37:23 GMT

Wonderin wrote:

Does that make any sense? I mean, the mid FAKO is the highest FICO?

There is no FAKO/FICO correlation. Ignore the FAKOs completely. I know it's tempting to look at them and try to find some pattern. Don't. There is no pattern.

You could tell us that your FAKOs were all 115 points higher than your FICOs (or vice versa) and most of us here wouldn't bat an eye. Par for the course.

Really. Just ignore them.

Message Edited by cheddar on 07-01-2008 10:37 PM

Re: Product recommendation

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 06:23:00 GMT

Well, crud, then, Cheddar. :/

So how do you guys know when it's beneficial to pull your scores?? I've wasted about $50 pulling our scores just to see such minor changes!!!

Or is it a "hunch" type of thing?

Re: Product recommendation

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:45:52 GMT

Wonderin wrote:
Well, crud, then, Cheddar. :/

So how do you guys know when it's beneficial to pull your scores?? I've wasted about $50 pulling our scores just to see such minor changes!!!

Or is it a "hunch" type of thing?

Wonderin, I think there are 2 triggers that might indicate that it's a good time to check your score.

1. If you use ScoreWatch, you will get an email alert when your (Real FICO) score changes on Equifax. I've only been using it for DH & I a couple of weeks now and it seems to send an alert or "update" weekly.

2. If you're monitoring your credit reports and something major changes on your report, you might want to pull your FICOs to see if your score has changed.

I pulled all 3 FICOs for DH mid-June. For myself I only got my FICO from scorewatch. I won't pull (pay) again for DH or me unless I see a major change on one of our reports. I've gotten Scorewatch alerts for both of us, so I know there have been some subtle changes on both our scores.

Re: Product recommendation

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:21:18 GMT

Wonderin wrote:
Well, crud, then, Cheddar. :/

So how do you guys know when it's beneficial to pull your scores?? I've wasted about $50 pulling our scores just to see such minor changes!!!

Or is it a "hunch" type of thing?

Method #2 that Phoenix-rising mentioned above is the one that I use.

When you've been pulling your reports long enough, you start to know what sorts of changes are worthy of a FICO pull, and which ones are just run of the mill, everyday updates that likely won't affect FICO much.

Not really a "hunch" we're talking about here. More like an educated estimation.

If, for example, you pay your utilization down from %65% to 9% and want to see what sort of effect that has on your FICO, services like TC are great for knowing exactly when your reports are updated to reflect the lower balances. Then you can time your FICO pulls just perfectly.

Message Edited by cheddar on 07-02-2008 06:21 AM

Re: Product recommendation

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:13:11 GMT

Thanks, Phoenix!! Thanks Cheddar!!

You know ... I totally missed that!! Duh!! I can see via TC when our accounts update to more payments made to the good!! Yeesh!!

You know, I've been making payments on our accounts and then waiting two weeks to see if they posted and pulling our FICOs (using the force, I guess!) only to waste the $$ because they hadn't updated yet!!

As always, you guys ROCK!! I swear, I don't think I've ever belonged to a better forum with a better group of folks!! You guys just saved us some serious $$!! Thank you!!