More consistent monitoring options?

Anonymous · ‎08-21-2015

The lack of updates from my fico just make this product obsolete in my opinion. I need to stay on top of my credit for the purposes of buying a home and being a full month or more behind on reporting is not going to work for me. Even credit karma is 3 weeks ahead of my fico in reporting.

For expamle, I have a newer credit card that is 2 months old that reported on credit karma a month ago, still doesent show up here. I had a pfd that showed up on credit karma 3 weeks ago, still hasent showed up here. Ive paid all my credit card balances to 0. Still hasent showed up here. In fact no alerts in two weeks now.

Anyone have any suggestions on a paid service with all three scores similar to my fico but with consistent updates?

Thanks

teeder27 · ‎08-22-2015

I'm using a service called identitysecure. I am able to get fresh reports every 30 days for all 3 bureaus. Their scores jive pretty closely to what myfico.com is showing me, so I've chosen to keep the service going. www.identitysecure.com

_NERD · ‎08-22-2015

Credit Check Total (CCT). It's discussed daily on these forums. Experian updates daily, and 3 Bureau updates monthly, manually. That means you can pull your 3B reports 3X monthly when YOU want.

I pay $14.95 monthly for this solution.

3B profile optimization in progress...

Anonymous · ‎08-22-2015

@ShortBus wrote:
Credit Check Total (CCT). It's discussed daily on these forums. Experian updates daily, and 3 Bureau updates monthly, manually. That means you can pull your 3B reports 3X monthly when YOU want.

I pay $14.95 monthly for this solution.

I have had trouble with the updates on CCT. Have you?

Anonymous · ‎08-22-2015

I actually tried signing up for cct last night. After going through the signup process it gave me a screen that said something lke this. Success, we have successfully located your information. Unfortunatly we are having technical difficulties and can not display your credit score at this time. Your credit card has not been charged.

I tried logging in and my accont does not exist. So it didnt save any of my information. Frustrating

_NERD · ‎08-22-2015

MusicLover: never. Smooth sailing.

localh7184: when I tried signing up for a myFICO subscription back in May, I got a similar prompt from myFICO during the sign in process. At that time, the reason I couldn't get a 3B pull was because I didn't have a FICO score for EX yet. By the time I had a score, I went with another solution. Your situation may be different but the prompt you received was nearly identical to mine.

3B profile optimization in progress...

Anonymous · ‎08-22-2015

Thanks for the help everyone.

This is what happened when I tried to signup for credit check total.

I think I'm just going to garden for awhile and forget about monitoring for 6 months.

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/General-Credit-Topics/Credit-check-total-Clueless-customer-support/t...

Anonymous · ‎08-22-2015

Call MyFico. I had similar problems to you. Frankly we all have. The service could be so much betetr for what we are paying for.

Before calling look over this link, make a note of how many things that should have triggered an update in your scores have been met. Once you call tell them exactly what your triggers were. They very well may not even know about this link. I had to help the CSR find this information on their website. Tell them you want your scores updated ASAP and you want a coupon to purchase a new report(s). Update us once you get this resolved.

http://myfico.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/463/kw/3-bureau%20monitoring/session/L3RpbWUvMTQx...

Anonymous · ‎08-22-2015

I think there is a lot to be said for gardening and not worrying about checking your FICO a lot.

The low cost solution I have recomended to a few people is to largely rely on a free Vantage solution (e.g. Karma plus Credit.com). Once a year, grab a zillion FICO scores from a service like myFICO and on the same day pull your Vantage scores. Then cancel the paid service a few days later. Over the next year use the Vantage scores (appropriately adjusted by how they differed from your many FICOs) as a reasonable barometer for what your FICO scores are. It's not a perfect solution, but remember that your FICO 8 scores (which is what credit monitoring services supply throughout the year) also aren't a perfect measure of the score a lender will be using (lenders often use a mortgage flavor or an auto flavor or a CC flavor, which may differ a lot from your FICO 8).

takeshi74 · ‎08-22-2015

It's important to understand how different credit monitoring services work. There are a number that offer either a set or unlimited number of pulls. myFICO does not work that way and updates are based on trigger activity.

http://myfico.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/463/~/understanding-what-triggers-fico%C2%AE-3-bu...

It sounds like some of the updates mentioned in the OP should have triggered. However, if one wants consistent updates then one shoudn't rely on a service that is trigger based.

@Anonymous wrote:
I think there is a lot to be said for gardening and not worrying about checking your FICO a lot.

I recommend learning to assess one's own reports. You won't be able to accurately guess what your FICO's are but good reports will lead to good scores. Obsessing over specific numbers is likely to drive one crazy. Creditors don't all use FICO 8 for one thing.

@Anonymous wrote:
It's not a perfect solution, but remember that your FICO 8 scores (which is what credit monitoring services supply throughout the year) also aren't a perfect measure of the score a lender will be using (lenders often use a mortgage flavor or an auto flavor or a CC flavor, which may differ a lot from your FICO 8).

Even credit card issuers don't all use FICO 8.