I don't know who's winning the game if I can't read the scoreboard...

[TheRealT]

Hello, I'm new here.  Could you help clear something up for me?  Please use small words and speak slowly...

I subscribed to MyCreditHealth.com before I found myFICO.  I pulled my credit report from all 3 agencies and got one set of numbers.  It thought I was being proactive and monitoring my credit.

I recently contacted a lender about a purchase and they ran my credit using a company called CIC Credit Inc.  My scores reported were drastically different than what I got from MyCreditHealth.com.  In fact, one score was 150 points different (and not to the good).

What gives?  Is what I am getting from MyCreditHealth.com not accurate numbers?

Thanks for the assistance.

[llecs]

It doesn't appear they use FICO scores. Score-providers will often point out whether a FICO score is used via a FICO trademark and I didn't see any indication at all. 150 points is quite a bit. I'm thinking that they use a VantageScore. Ignore those scores.

[TheRealT]

By your comment "ignore those scores", do you believe I am throwing money down a hole by paying for this service?   How would the credit monitoring service here at MyFico be different?

Thanks for the help.

[llecs]

If your primary goal for this service is to monitor your score, then you are wasting money. However, most people use credit monitoring services (CMS) to monitor and track changes to their credit reports. I subscribe to a couple CMSs that give a fake score (aka FAKO score) but will alert me if there is an inquiry, new account, dropped account, changes, etc. Once those changes occur, then I pull my associated FICO report to track the score change. IMO, it isn't a waste of money if they allow you frequent access to new reports and you can see changes as they occur.

MyFICO offers two monitoring services. Click the links at the very bottom of this page to see some more details, but ScoreWatch allows you to track changes to your EQ FICO score and reports as it happens. Sometimes the service is a hit or miss, but not bad for a few bucks each month. TU has the quarterly monitoring service, but it is the same as pulling a new report through myFICO every 3 month. Basically you prepay for your report. I personally recommending not subscribing to that and pulling TU as changes happen.