Down Side to 'Free Credit Score' Included with most Credit Cards?

[calisig]

I have often wondered if there is a downside to signing up for 'Free Monthly Credit Score' included with many credit cards. What I wonder specifically is if signing up automatically allows your bank to review your credit score more often than they would get it if they had to request it on their own. The downside to this is that the bank of the enrolled account could potentially see your activity in your other accounts when you don't want them to, when they might not have accessed your score otherwise, they might flag your account for an automatic review or reduction in credit line more often. If that were the case, it would be in consumer's best interest to review their credit scores outside of their credit card, like at myFico or Experian, etc. Do you think enrolling in credit card included 'free credit score' causes banks to automatically review your account more frequently than they would if you didn't enroll in 'free credit score'? Anyone have any inside knowledge on this?

[Aim_High]

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@calisig wrote:

I have often wondered if there is a downside to signing up for 'Free Monthly Credit Score' included with many credit cards. What I wonder specifically is if signing up automatically allows your bank to review your credit score more often than they would get it if they had to request it on their own. The downside to this is that the bank of the enrolled account could potentially see your activity in your other accounts when you don't want them to, when they might not have accessed your score otherwise, they might flag your account for an automatic review or reduction in credit line more often. If that were the case, it would be in consumer's best interest to review their credit scores outside of their credit card, like at myFico or Experian, etc. Do you think enrolling in credit card included 'free credit score' causes banks to automatically review your account more frequently than they would if you didn't enroll in 'free credit score'? Anyone have any inside knowledge on this?

There's no downside, @calisig. Lenders can and do review your credit file with soft pulls as often as they prefer, regardless of whether you sign up for credit monitoring. It's just a courtesy lenders provide with no hidden agenda. 

[Anonymalous]

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@calisig wrote:

I have often wondered if there is a downside to signing up for 'Free Monthly Credit Score' included with many credit cards. What I wonder specifically is if signing up automatically allows your bank to review your credit score more often than they would get it if they had to request it on their own. The downside to this is that the bank of the enrolled account could potentially see your activity in your other accounts when you don't want them to, when they might not have accessed your score otherwise, they might flag your account for an automatic review or reduction in credit line more often. If that were the case, it would be in consumer's best interest to review their credit scores outside of their credit card, like at myFico or Experian, etc. Do you think enrolling in credit card included 'free credit score' causes banks to automatically review your account more frequently than they would if you didn't enroll in 'free credit score'? Anyone have any inside knowledge on this?

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That may be true to some degree, but you can't really hide the information, or know when they'll do a review, so at best it's weak.

And there's an advantage to using your own financial institution. The reason many third parties can provide free or cheap monitoring services is because they aggressively sell your information, and that's their entire business model. So by signing up, and frequently refreshing, you're losing another bit of control over what's out there, and who's using it. Conversely, a bank that gives you a credit card already has your information, and their primary interest is the money they make off your use of the piece of plastic. So sharing your information isn't as central to the relationship, plus you may be able to call in and opt-out of a few voluntary types of sharing.

[Bmac66]

Like previously said they can check your credit whenever they want.  It will show on your credit report as "AR" for Account Review" and will only be viewable by you. 

[pizzadude]

Agree with the posts above, SPs are something that creditors can do regardless of whether you signup for a score.

From my perspective, it's all good because I get access to FICO scores from several of my creditors each month.