Re: ScoreWatch Questions/Comments/Suggestions

Anonymous · ‎07-02-2008

@iamrayl wrote:
I use TC and it's a good product. As the other posted said, you can pull your reports every 24 hrs + 1 min. The one thing I wish it did was alert you immediately of any changes to your reports but there seems to be a 24 hr lapse between the credit report change and the actual alert but of course you can manually pull the report and see all the changes. It is a cheap way to monitor your credit reports and you can use that service to figure out when you want to come here and spend money to pull your true FICOs. You get scores with TC but there are FAKO scores.

When you say "pull your true FICOs" with an s at the end - do you mean there are 3 true FICO's? I thought there was just one?

wahmom · ‎07-02-2008

There is a True Fico score for each CRA. One for EQ, TU & EX.

Anonymous · ‎07-02-2008

wahmom wrote: There is a True Fico score for each CRA. One for EQ, TU & EX.

Okay, thanks, that's good to know. But just as a commentary, I have to ask, WHY should there be 3 true FICO scores? Shouldn't one's credit be reported accurately by all 3 bureaus? And if it is reported accurately by all 3, why the need for 3 separate true FICO scores? Seems like just a way for FICO to make more money, maybe...? For that matter, why are there 3 credit bureaus? Why not just one?

Message Edited by pdsnickles on 07-02-2008 02:31 PM

wahmom · ‎07-02-2008

Each bureau has different trade lines reporting. For instance, my local credit union only reports to EQ. I have had 5 loans with them and all were paid on time with 0 balance. But these tradelines aren't on the other two so I don't have that history on them and therefore the scores are very different.

Anonymous · ‎07-02-2008

@wahmom wrote:
Each bureau has different trade lines reporting. For instance, my local credit union only reports to EQ. I have had 5 loans with them and all were paid on time with 0 balance. But these tradelines aren't on the other two so I don't have that history on them and therefore the scores are very different.

Okay, I can understand that. But - again I guess I'm just being logical here where there is no logic - why should there be 3 credit bureaus in the first place? Doesn't this just contribute to making more inaccuracies? If there were only one it would be a lot simpler, no? All creditors would have to report to just that one, and all debtors would only have one to deal with. The way it is, is DUMB! (Just blowing off steam, because this is such a MESS to contend with cleaning up THREE CR's! And it really makes no sense to have 3. It would be like if we had 3 driving records for Ins. Co's to base our Ins. rates on! Arggghhhh!)

Anonymous · ‎07-02-2008

@Anonymous wrote:

@wahmom wrote:
Each bureau has different trade lines reporting. For instance, my local credit union only reports to EQ. I have had 5 loans with them and all were paid on time with 0 balance. But these tradelines aren't on the other two so I don't have that history on them and therefore the scores are very different.

Okay, I can understand that. But - again I guess I'm just being logical here where there is no logic - why should there be 3 credit bureaus in the first place? Doesn't this just contribute to making more inaccuracies? If there were only one it would be a lot simpler, no? All creditors would have to report to just that one, and all debtors would only have one to deal with. The way it is, is DUMB! (Just blowing off steam, because this is such a MESS to contend with cleaning up THREE CR's! And it really makes no sense to have 3. It would be like if we had 3 driving records for Ins. Co's to base our Ins. rates on! Arggghhhh!)

Yes, this is a very good point. Never thought of it that way, but you really make a lot of sense. Think we can convince them to merge them all into one?

Anonymous · ‎07-02-2008

There are three major CRAs because there happen to be three companies that have risen to be the leaders in this industry. The Big Three are not officially or governmentally sanctioned as THE credit reporting "authorities" in any way. Nobody just decided one day that we will have three CRAs. It just worked out that way. We have three major CRAs for the same reason we have McDonald's, Burger King, and Wendy's. They are competitors, each of which has a certain share of the market in their industry.

By the way, even if your reports are identical across the three CRAs, your FICO scores will not be the same because each of the three CRAs uses a slightly different version of the FICO scoring formula to generate scores.

Message Edited by cheddar on 07-02-2008 04:07 PM

Anonymous · ‎07-02-2008

Back on topic (for a moment, LOL)...

I do use TC and I think it's worth the $15 a month, and then some.

One thing that TC gives you that many of the other similar services don't is the actual reporting date for each tradeline in mm/dd/yyyy format. Other services typically give the reporting date as mm/yyyy, but thanks to TC I know exactly when during the month all of my tradelines report.

Anonymous · ‎07-02-2008

cheddar wrote:
Back on topic (for a moment, LOL)...

I do use TC and I think it's worth the $15 a month, and then some.

One thing that TC gives you that many of the other similar services don't is the actual reporting date for each tradeline in mm/dd/yyyy format. Other services typically give the reporting date as mm/yyyy, but thanks to TC I know exactly when during the month all of my tradelines report.

I'm not arguing, there are a lot of things I love about TC, too. In fact, without them, I would not have immediately caught the dirty debt collectors I've recently posted about.

However, I've been meaning to tell you guys about what the guy at TU said to me this morning. After being tossed around on the phone between TC, TU, TU corporate, etc. I called this morning to complete my final investigation as to why TC was showing a new inquiry and TU couldn't see it yesterday...(makes no sense, since TU is where TC gets the info. from!). Anyway, during the call I kept referring to my TC monitoring service and the report and the guy from TU told me in not so many words that my TC report was worthless and if I wanted the REAL deal to order it directly through the TU website, so I called him out and said... "So, you mean to tell me that the service I am paying for every month, that has the TransUnion name and logo displayed on the top of the website is essentially worthless and I am wasting my money?" and he responded "Yes, that is basically what I am saying ma'am because blah, blah, blah". I was floored that he would make a statement like that about a product that they sell under their own name.

wahmom · ‎07-02-2008

@Anonymous wrote:

One thing that TC gives you that many of the other similar services don't is the actual reporting date for each tradeline in mm/dd/yyyy format. Other services typically give the reporting date as mm/yyyy, but thanks to TC I know exactly when during the month all of my tradelines report.

Wow, thanks for saying that. I didn't know that. That does mean a lot and it also let's you know if or when a CA update your report after you have sent them a DV.

Message Edited by wahmom on 07-02-2008 04:19 PM

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