Best way to track fico score?

[awfarmington]

I'm digging my way out of a hole, like a lot of people. I have paid to see my credit score a few times and seems pricey to keep doing that. For those who check their scores often, what is the most economical way? Also, my score was mid 500's. I got a First Premier card, credit limit of 300. And a Capitol One with a 200 limit. My score went down about 15 points a couple months later, even though I wasn't late in paying??

[pizzadude]

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@awfarmington wrote:

I'm digging my way out of a hole, like a lot of people. I have paid to see my credit score a few times and seems pricey to keep doing that. For those who check their scores often, what is the most economical way? Also, my score was mid 500's. I got a First Premier card, credit limit of 300. And a Capitol One with a 200 limit. My score went down about 15 points a couple months later, even though I wasn't late in paying??

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Welcome to the forums !

The least expensive option is to find a creditor that can give you your FICO score, either with a CU, or a credit card.   The Wal~Mart card gives a free TU08 FICO score each month.    There is a CU in PA ( PSECU ? ) that provides a free monthly experian score if you join.

Also you can purchase several scores from MyFICO and use them along the way to track your progress.

[awfarmington]

Pardon, but what is CU? Also, for the walmart card, is it based on credit?

[pizzadude]

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@awfarmington wrote:

Pardon, but what is CU? Also, for the walmart card, is it based on credit?

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CU ~ credit union.   Also, yes the Wal~mart card is here ~ there should be link to apply on this site and info about their FICO score.

[Anonymous]

Personally, I would probably just use one of the free services like creditkarma or creditsesame.  They only give FAKOs but alert you to changes.  Given you situation, I probably wouldn't be spending money constantly checking your fico scores.  Your FICO score will go up and down a little based on utilization and the fact you have applied for credit recently.  The walmart option is nice if you can qualify for the walmart card, but TU08 isn't used much either.  The credit union is great if you can get in (i think they closed the loophole).  Both options will require another hard inquiry on your credit report.

Your best bet is to continue to PIF (and make sure no late payments) on your current cards for 6 months or so.  Time your payments for one month in 6 months from when you last applied for any credit so that all the cards report 0 balance but 1 card that reports really small balance.  At that point, get your FICO score from myfico (i recommend equifax for more accurate FICO assuming all the reports are similar).  Assuming you timed your payments correctly, that should be around your highest current FICO.  Assess where you are and see if you should apply for more cards etc.

[Anonymous]

If you want semi continous tracking of a real FICO score, I think SW from this site is the way to go.  You can set it up to alert on score change.  This will give you weekly tracking of Equifax Beacon 5.0 score which is most widely used Equifax score by the lenders.  The update could be more frequent than weekly if there are other changes that generate alerts.

Walmart TU08 is free so that is good, but it will be monthly and it is TU08 FICO score which is not widely adopted.  And of course, it will cost you a hard pull to get the card.  For me, it was a TU pull (on line app from MA).

DCU also offers free Equifax Beacon 5.0 score, but you need to sign up and open a checking account, set up direct deposit.  When I called DCU, they said that they will do a hard pull also.  They said equifax pull (in MA).

other credit monitoring sites are OK for tracking changes to your credit report(s), but you won't have much of an insight into your FICO scores as FAKO and FICO correlates not as well as you'd hope.

BTW, I use SW from this site, Walmart account and USAA credit monitoring.

[drkaje]

If you're expecting a lot of change, I'd avoid SW.

USAA is good but if you're struggling financially CreditKarma is an effective, free way to keep track of things for a while. Generally, negatives tend to fall off TU last.

[kjm79]

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@drkaje wrote:

If you're expecting a lot of change, I'd avoid SW.

USAA is good but if you're struggling financially CreditKarma is an effective, free way to keep track of things for a while. Generally, negatives tend to fall off TU last.

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+1 - I subscribe to SW for EQ, USAA (EX only, not the 3 CRA product), and TC for TU.  That covers my 3 CRA.  USAA and TC allow free daily pulls.  I like TC specifically because it highlights the specific change from the prior report.  So if a balance decreased by $100, it highlights it in yellow -$100.  Really easy to track changes this way instead of combing the report and comparing report to report.  As drkaje said, TU is the last to usually update AND it just so happens that TU contains ALL of my accounts where the other two do not.  I also am fortunate enough to get the free montly tri-pull instead of paying the insane $29.95 they charge new subscribers. 

As already said though for score tracking you'll need one of the options already listed.  There are so many different options for tracking reports however.  CK is an ok one, but tends to leave off tradelines.  Credit Sesame and Quizzle are other free ones.  But you have to pay for additional reports. 

[Student_Loans_Kill]

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@kjm79 wrote:

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@drkaje wrote:

If you're expecting a lot of change, I'd avoid SW.

USAA is good but if you're struggling financially CreditKarma is an effective, free way to keep track of things for a while. Generally, negatives tend to fall off TU last.

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+1 - I subscribe to SW for EQ, USAA (EX only, not the 3 CRA product), and TC for TU.  That covers my 3 CRA.  USAA and TC allow free daily pulls.  I like TC specifically because it highlights the specific change from the prior report.  So if a balance decreased by $100, it highlights it in yellow -$100.  Really easy to track changes this way instead of combing the report and comparing report to report.  As drkaje said, TU is the last to usually update AND it just so happens that TU contains ALL of my accounts where the other two do not.  I also am fortunate enough to get the free montly tri-pull instead of paying the insane $29.95 they charge new subscribers. 

As already said though for score tracking you'll need one of the options already listed.  There are so many different options for tracking reports however.  CK is an ok one, but tends to leave off tradelines.  Credit Sesame and Quizzle are other free ones.  But you have to pay for additional reports. 

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TC?

[MarineVietVet]

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@Student_Loans_Kill wrote:

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@kjm79 wrote:

 

TC?

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True Credit.