WHAT ARE THE BEST PRODUCTS FOR MONITORING THE CREDIT SCORES ??

[Anonymous]

I currently have the "FICO Quarterly monitoring". Is that a good route to go. I thought I could add more later as I started to see results, I also want to keep the cost down. Will "QUARTERLY MONITORING" notify me when a change is made to my TU or is this just quarterly? I really just kinda jumped in to check my scores, but after reading the forum Im almost "addicted" to wanting to know what my scores are. I guess thats a good thing!! Right. Anyway, I would appreciate some insight and opinions from others on the subject. Please feel free to share any monitoring suggestions you may have. Thanks  

[llecs]

TransUnion Quarterly Monitoring is just that...quarterly monitoring of your report and score. Basically it's a prepaid plan for 4 reports every 3 months with 20% off all future TU FICO reports. 

IMO, treat reports and scores differently. Treat them differently because your options to pulling a FICO score are very limited, and costly. What works best for me is to subscribe to a CMS that allows for daily pulls, like USAA's service. You can pull all 3 reports daily if you wanted to. Now ignore any CMS's scores because they are FAKOs as are their advice. But as you see changes to your TU and/or EQ reports and want to see your FICO change, then come back here and selectively pull a report. This is a lot cheaper than pulling blindly without knowing of any changes or waiting 3 months if you are impatient like I am. If you find yourself pulling frequently, then it's a better deal to subscribe to TUQM and SW due to the discount, and the regular updates to EQ FICO on SW.

[Anonymous]

Thanks. "SW" is what??

[Repo-ed]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks. "SW" is what??

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My recommendation would be to subscribe to a few services:

1 & 2 - would be SW and TU Quarterly monitoring found within this link http://www.myfico.com/Products/Products.aspx

3 - would be USAA CMS found here https://www.usaa.com/inet/pages/creditcheck_monitoring_main so that when you get SW alerts, you can then log-in to USAA CMS and pull all 3 reports for free to find out what exactly changed.

I have all 3 and couldn't be happier with either of them!

[Anonymous]

OK. Thanks guys. Anyone else have anything to add, Im all ears!! Thanks again.

[DaveSignal]

I agree with other posters.

The best way to monitor your FICO score is the EQ Score Watch from this site.

The best way to monitor your credit reports, allowing daily pulls if desired, is USAA CreditCheck Monitoring Service.

[Middleswarth]

I use the USAA CMS to monitor all 3 CRAs.  I also signed up for the quarterly scorewatch here to kinda keep tabs on my score over the next 2 years.  It may seem like a waste of money to have both (or either, really), but if you are rebuilding or aiming for a score at a particular time, I feel it is money well spent.

After my I get my house I will no doubt stop the monitoring services and go back to the free yearly reports from the 3 CRAs (I stagger them every 4 months).

[TsuSurf]

Can you get USAA CMS if you are not associated with the military or don't have one of their cards?

[Middleswarth]

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@jconvinced wrote:

Can you get USAA CMS if you are not associated with the military or don't have one of their cards?

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You can get a checking and savings account.  I'm not sure about credit cards or the monitoring service, but I believe the answer is yes.

[llecs]

Anyone can sign up to USAA's CMS and you don't need any of their deposit or credit products to register.