Score Watch Guide

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myFICO Score Watch Guide

It’s best to think of the Score Watch monitoring alert system as having two types of alerts: 

1.       Score Alerts

2.       Credit Alerts

Score Alerts – these alerts notify the subscriber of Equifax FICO score changes in a couple of ways. (See table below.) 

• If a Credit Alert is triggered, the latest score is always shown on that alert.

• When no Credit Alerts are triggered, the scores are monitored every 7-10 days for changes. 

Credit Alerts – these alerts notify the subscriber about Equifax credit report changes. (See table below.) 

• Equifax reports are checked daily for Credit Alert changes to the credit report.

• A Credit Alert should be received by the subscriber within 2-3 days following a change to the Equifax credit report.

• All Credit Alerts include the subscriber’s latest Equifax FICO score.

• All Credit Alerts stay turned on automatically and cannot be turned off.

• The subscriber can control the frequency of Balance Increase and Account Dormancy alerts by the thresholds that are set.  For example, the lower the threshold setting, the more likely that an alert will be triggered.

Reasons why you may not receive a Score Watch alert

Changes that don’t trigger Score Alerts or Credit Alerts:

• A balance decrease won’t trigger a Credit Alert.
• The removal of an item from the credit report will not trigger a Credit Alert.
• During the 7-10 days between Score Alert checks (when there are no Credit Alerts), the score can change multiple times between these Score Alert checks and the monitoring system won’t be aware of them – resulting in some score changes occurring without Score Alerts being generated.
• Changes that that are not specifically listed in the table below will not trigger an alert.

Reasons why your Score Alert or Credit Alert may arrive late or not at all:

• There is often a delay of 30-60 days in the reporting of updated trade line, collection, and public record information from the source of the information to Equifax.
• Alerts often get caught in spam filters, so check there first if you believe you should have already received an alert.

Score Alerts	Subscriber Control	Description
Target Score	Subscriber can turn on/off and set target score.	Triggered whenever the score reaches or crosses the target score set by the subscriber. The target score can be set above or below the current score. If the target score is set equal to the current score, an alert is triggered by any score change either up or down.
Interest Rate Band	Always on.  Subscriber can choose the loan product.	Triggered whenever the score goes from one interest band to another interest band for the loan product they have selected. The subscriber can choose between three loan products: 30 year mortgage, 15 year home equity loan, or 48 month auto loan.
Credit Alerts	Subscriber Control	Description
Balance Increase	Always on. Subscriber can choose the percentage or dollar amount.	Triggered when the balance on any trade line listed on the report increases more than the threshold that the subscriber has specified.  The subscriber can specify the increase threshold as a percentage and/or as a fixed dollar amount. If the user specifies both thresholds, alerts will get triggered if either one of the thresholds is met.  By default, these alert thresholds are set to 5% and $1, which are their lowest possible values.
Account Dormancy (inactivity)	Always on. Subscriber can choose the number of months dormant.	Triggered when an account has been dormant (inactive) -- no new information reported by the lender to Equifax -- and then becomes active when updated at Equifax. The subscriber can specify how many months (3-24) of dormancy must occur before new activity will generate an alert.  By default this is set at 3 months.
Name Change	Always on	Triggered when the name on the Equifax credit file is changed.
New Address	Always on	Triggered when a new mailing address becomes associated with the subscriber’s Equifax credit file.
Change of Address	Always on	Triggered when there has been a change in the “primary address” on the Equifax credit file.
New Account	Always on	Triggered when a new trade line is added to the subscriber’s Equifax credit file.
Change in Account	Always on	Triggered when there is a change to one of the following items on an existing trade line on the Equifax credit file: -          Account status -          Date of first delinquency -          Date of last activity -          Balance increase (according to setting by subscriber)
New Bankruptcy	Always on	Triggered when a new bankruptcy public record item is added to the subscriber’s Equifax credit file.
Change in Bankruptcy	Always on	Triggered when there is a change to the status of an existing bankruptcy record on the Equifax credit file.
New Collection	Always on	Triggered when a new collection account is added to the subscriber’s Equifax credit file.
Change in Collection	Always on	Triggered when there is a change to the status of an existing collection account on the Equifax credit file.
New Judgment	Always on	Triggered when a new judgment is added to the subscriber’s Equifax credit file.
Change in Judgment	Always on	Triggered when there is a change to the status of an existing judgment on the Equifax credit file.
New Tax Lien	Always on	Triggered when a new tax lien is added to the subscriber’s Equifax credit file.
Change in Tax Lien	Always on	Triggered when the status of an existing tax lien changes on the Equifax file.
New Inquiry	Always on	Triggered when a new “hard” inquiry appears on the subscriber’s Equifax credit file.