Outdated Reports and the Credit Monitoring Score

[Anonymous]

I've read some older posts asking a similar question and the general answer seems to be that the score calculated from the monitoring product will change appropriately whenever any monitored activity happens (balance change, new account, etc.)

I have seen evidence of that - score going up slightly with an inquiry, etc.

But... I don't really trust that the whole score is being recalculated.  I know that I have a few tradelines that have been removed and I haven't seen a related change in the score.  I also know that some negative tradelines are hitting the 2 year mark.  I'm not seeing a related score change.

I see a warning when I go into the Fico Simulator that it's based on data older than XX days, so I should re-order reports to have more accurate results.  I'm wondering if it's worth it to get new reports to see if there are any score changes.

Has anyone out there who subscribes to a monitoring product seen a drastic score change when ordering new credit reports?

[NRB525]

Welcome to the forums.

You will see many alarmed users post in this forum when their score jumps or falls for some innocuous seeming $2 change in a balance. These are the red flags that something more significant in the background, which is not in the Alert category, has changed in the last several days or weeks in that person's file, just waiting for that $2 balance change to trigger a recalc of FICO, and give us something to talk about.

All those subtle changes you mention, they will be included in your FICO score update, maybe not the day they happen, maybe a week after they happen when a balance change or other trigger occurs, but they will be seen by that recalculation. They don't trigger a direct alert on their own, but they are referenced ( or removed in the case of dropping baddies ) by the score calculations when they run.

[Anonymous]

I didn't really understand how the monitoring worked when I signed up.  I purchased new reports monthly for the first 3 months.   I also purchased scores from Equifax to compare.  It was a waste of money.  The scoring was pretty accurate.  The simulator is driven off the report so you won't be able to calculate how some things can affect your score if the report is older. 

The only time I anticipate updating my report again will be when we are ready to buy a house.  Other than that, I will monitor here and get my free annual report.  Credit Karma is good to monitor updates to your report but their scores are based on a different system that isn't widely used, not to mention a little questionable lol