Current credit scores no longer available from Scorewatch

[Anonymous]

I got an email this morning from myFICO informing me that as of July 13 I would no longer receive an email notification of changes in my credit score. This is supposedly due to some software issue, but I think it's more likely that they have decided they'd rather make us pay every time we want to know our score rather than letting us know via a paid subscription.

My only real reason for subscribing to Scorewatch was to find out what my score is, so they have effectively eliminated my reason for subscribing. I guess this is the way it is with business -- any way they can find to make you pay, they will use it. It's not enough that I'm paying them every month, now they want me to buy my score every time I want to know it.

I'm getting really tired of being led  by the nose by FICO. Yes, I want to know my score, but I am not stupid enough to pay TWICE for the information I want. If $8.95 a month isn't enough money for them to let me know about my score, then I guess I'll have to go without.

[Anonymous]

I think you miss read the email-

This is temporary- from my understanding- I believe this email is only being sent to users that are affected my the issue.

the "any score change" alert setting will be removed from the SW alert panel, due to a recent discovery that it's been preventing the alerting system -- specifically the "target score" setting -- from working properly.

[Anonymous]

I called customer service to ask what this change means, and was told that it means that the only notification I will get from now on is when my score reaches a threshhold that I have set. It will not notify me if the score drops. When you call a product "Scorewatch", that creates the impression that it watches your score. It is no longer doing this in a valuable way. Yes, now it will let me know if I've reached a particular threshhold, but will not do what I found valuable, that is, being informed when there was any change at all in my score. I have just canceled my subscription. If I want to know my score from now on, I can save money by just doing a quarterly check. It wil be better than spending over $100 a year just to know if I met a threshhold. What a racket FICO has going!

[MidnightVoice]

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minonda wrote:

I called customer service to ask what this change means, and was told that it means that the only notification I will get from now on is when my score reaches a threshhold that I have set. It will not notify me if the score drops.

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Will it still monitor account increases, new inqs etc?

[Anonymous]

I assume so. The only change is in the notification of changes in your credit score. I didn't ask about those features because the only thing I am really interested in is my credit score.

[MidnightVoice]

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minonda wrote:

I assume so. The only change is in the notification of changes in your credit score. I didn't ask about those features because the only thing I am really interested in is my credit score.

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But if you carefully arrange for one of you CCs to increase the balance by $1 a month, you can make sure it alerts you every month at least 

[Anonymous]

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minonda wrote:

I called customer service to ask what this change means, and was told that it means that the only notification I will get from now on is when my score reaches a threshhold that I have set. It will not notify me if the score drops. When you call a product "Scorewatch", that creates the impression that it watches your score. It is no longer doing this in a valuable way. Yes, now it will let me know if I've reached a particular threshhold, but will not do what I found valuable, that is, being informed when there was any change at all in my score. I have just canceled my subscription. If I want to know my score from now on, I can save money by just doing a quarterly check. It wil be better than spending over $100 a year just to know if I met a threshhold. What a racket FICO has going!

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Set your target score to your current score and you will still be notified.  The functionality that is being removed was redundant functionality, anyway.

Only the "alert me whenever my score changes" alert is being removed, but that can be replicated by the "target score" alert as I posted above.  All the other alerts will remain.

[MidnightVoice]

cheddar wrote:

Set your target score to your current score and you will still be notified.  The functionality that is being removed was redundant functionality, anyway.

Two problems:

1, one has to remember to change the score whenever the score changes

2, this allows only a unidirectional alert - either up or down.  If set one way and the score goes the other, it will not work.

Hence, the product has lost functionality (theoretical functionality I guess I should say, as the score change alert has been erratic for months).

[Anonymous]

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MidnightVoice wrote:

Two problems:

1, one has to remember to change the score whenever the score changes

2, this allows only a unidirectional alert - either up or down.  If set one way and the score goes the other, it will not work.

Hence, the product has lost functionality (theoretical functionality I guess I should say, as the score change alert has been erratic for months).

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1)  This is true.  Can't argue with that.  Although since you're most likely going to log in and look at the alert when you receive it, it shouldn't be that much of a hassle to change it right then and there.  That's how I've been handling mine, and I've never missed any alerts at all.

2)  It does not allow only a unidirectional alert.  If your score is, for example, 750, and you set your target score to 750, you will receive an alert if your score changes in either direction.

Message Edited by cheddar on 07-08-2008 10:41 AM

[MidnightVoice]

cheddar wrote:

2)  It does not allow only a unidirectional alert.  If your score is, for example, 750, and you set your target score to 750, you will receive an alert if your score changes in either direction.

But if I do that it should alert me the next day that I have reached my target.  If it goes below or above, I will not have reached my target.

Or is it just peculiar?

Or can't they just do it when your score changes - which your method, if it works, would suggest that they are doing.

I am totally confused.

And BTW - my last alert took 4 weeks!  I have been defending this product for 3 years, but I am seriously considering terminating when this year is over