Well I've decided to pay off my credit card before signing up for Myfico.com. I'm tempted to do it now, but I'd rather the $20 go toward my debt...at least until next month. 
Will having almost maxed out my card a few months ago affect my first score? I was told that it wouldn't, so I used it when I lost my job. I'm going to pay it off at the beginning of August and hope that my score won't be negatively affected.
@Anonymous wrote:Well I just tried to take advantage of the free 10 day Score Watch trial. It rejected me because my Experian credit file didn't meet the minimum criteria.
It only mentioned Experian. Does this mean that my other two reports have generated a score?
Scorewatch is Equifax, not Experian.
Around here we abbreviate Equifax as EQ and Experian as EX. That confuses lots of people, because the industry abbreviates Equifax as EFX and Experian as EXP.
Anyway, it's possible that your account has updated your 6 months' statement to Equifax, but Equifax hasn't posted it yet, thus no score yet.
Experian no longer allows consumers to buy our EX FICO scores. 
@Anonymous wrote:Well I've decided to pay off my credit card before signing up for Myfico.com. I'm tempted to do it now, but I'd rather the $20 go toward my debt...at least until next month.
Will having almost maxed out my card a few months ago affect my first score? I was told that it wouldn't, so I used it when I lost my job. I'm going to pay it off at the beginning of August and hope that my score won't be negatively affected.
If it reports a high balance, yes, it will hurt your score until it's updated with a lower balance.
What gets reported in almost all cases is the balance that shows on your statement, not the balance as of this very minute, or the balance as of the due date. Whatever appears on your statement is what is going to be used in calculating your revolving util, which is a pretty big chunk of your score. That's why many of us (the more obsessed members) pay our CC's balances before the statements post so that they report a very low figure or $0.