I have read numerous posts, and I am still not clear the relative advantages of one service over another. I have compiled a list of some of the providers of this service, and some of the relevant features that people tend to want:
Product/True FICO scores/Alerts for score changes/recommendations/all 3 CRA/price
Myself, I think I want true FICO scores, alerts to changes, recommendations to improve score, all 3 CRA. This is just a start. I thought having this in one place might be beter than multiple posts, some of them from 2003 that seem out-dated (such as the one in the FAQ thread). If you have information regarding this, please post it.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Transunion based
TrueCredit N Y Y Y M $9.95 InfoSignup
NatlCityIdentity Protect N ? ? Y M $8.95 FWF threadnot daily anymore?
Experian based
CreditSecure N Y Y Y D $11.99 InfoSignup
PrivacyMatters N Y Y Y D $29.95 FWF threadSIGNUP
ConsumerInfo N Y Y N D $11.95 InfoSignupEquifax
MSMoney&Experian N Y Y N N Included with MSMoney Premium
Other based
myFICO Y Y ? Y D myFICODiscount
PrivacyGuard N Y ? Y M
Costco IdentityGuard N N Y Y M $7.49-9.49 InfoSignup
Citicard IdentityMonitor N Y Y Y M $4.95 InfoSignup
Chase Identity Protection N ? ? Y M $11.95 Info
Chase ID Protection N ? ? Y M $11.xx Info Offered by Fist Advantage / CredCo.
Message edited by: jackcrawfish on 2009-09-02 11:32:19 CDT
I really don't care about score monitoring as much as I care about knowing what information is on my report. Other than that, I need the ability to pull daily reports. Privacymatters works for me
As alluded to in cameron2003's original post, there is an offering through WalMart for the TrueCredit service, which features daily pulls (must be separated by at least 24 hours) on all three bureaus for $7.46 per month. For details, see this archived thread, and in particular, scroll down to falcontx's first post.
As alluded to in cameron2003's original post, there is an offering through WalMart for the TrueCredit service, which features daily pulls (must be separated by at least 24 hours) on all three bureaus for $7.46 per month. For details, see this archived thread, and in particular, scroll down to falcontx's first post.
This is great info, except it seems to be closer to $12 a month now. Still a better deal, and the first month is not $25. I am trying to sign up right now, but I am getting an error message about "Credit bureau not responding - try again later". Will update this with more info. By the way, I signed up with the Truecredit service under their free deal. So if this works out, I will get the full 3 service monitoring for $12 a month, including the first month.
Edit: just got it through. Works like a charm.: 3-Bureau Credit Monitoring $ 11.25 for the 1st month, $11.21/mo thereafter
Message edited by: thinwallet4d on 2006-07-30 03:00:03 CDT
agent73 said:with TrueCredit and daily pulls from the 3 credit bureaus, does that mean i can get my current FICO score at any time as well? No, TrueCredit will give you FAKO's from all 3. I use TrueCredit mainly for the daily pulls and to prevent ID theft since they are quick at sending you an alert if your file gets pulled from any of the big 3. I find those FAKO's useless. I pulled my real Experian FICO from MyFico the other day and it was 828 while TruCredit has it as 774. I can understand some difference but that just seems to much
scott1961 said:agent73 said:with TrueCredit and daily pulls from the 3 credit bureaus, does that mean i can get my current FICO score at any time as well? No, TrueCredit will give you FAKO's from all 3. I use TrueCredit mainly for the daily pulls and to prevent ID theft since they are quick at sending you an alert if your file gets pulled from any of the big 3. I find those FAKO's useless. I pulled my real Experian FICO from MyFico the other day and it was 828 while TruCredit has it as 774. I can understand some difference but that just seems to muchThe FAKOS are useless when compared to FICOS, but they're the first thing I look at - because if the scores change - then I immediately know to scour over my report to see what caused it. If they don't change - them I'm pretty much sure I don't have to waste time looking at the whole report.
Looks like CreditSecure from AMEX gives unlimited access to all 3 bureau credit reports and all 3 FICO scores. First month is free and $11.99 per month after that. Pretty good price for real FICO scores, reports and daily credit monitoring.
Hindustani said:Looks like CreditSecure from AMEX gives unlimited access to all 3 bureau credit reports and all 3 FICO scores. First month is free and $11.99 per month after that. Pretty good price for real FICO scores, reports and daily credit monitoring.
Has anyone used this service? Any commets? Where do you see that they give real FICO's? I very much doubt you are getting true FICO. Still it is a good price to get daily pulls on all three reports along with alerts. Pretty much the same as TrurCredit but a few bucks cheaper
Hindustani said:Looks like CreditSecure from AMEX gives unlimited access to all 3 bureau credit reports and all 3 FICO scores. First month is free and $11.99 per month after that. Pretty good price for real FICO scores, reports and daily credit monitoring.
Has anyone used this service? Any commets?
I am using it for my wife. Not sure if it is FICO or FAKO. Her score from FICO.com and CreditSecure are same.
- The credit report from Experian doesn’t include a FICO score. - The 3 in 1 credit report you buy from Experian doesn’t include a FICO score, but Experian’s proprietary score. - The 3 in 1 credit report from TransUnion doesn’t include a FICO score, but TransUnion’s proprietary score. - TransUnion sells a credit report with a FICO score, but they also sell their own score and you must select the one you want. - The 3 in 1 credit report you buy from Equifax includes a FICO score.
If you want FICO (like I do) forget Experian, and forget all those third parties resellers, none of them are FICO. If you want all 3 FICOs, forget that too. Best you can do is buy either the FICO from Equifax (or myfico) and/or Transunion.
Transunion's product is $20/quarter and includes FICO emails 4 TU reports Equifax has several products. Score Watch is $80/yer for FICO alerts and 2 reports.
On the face of it, TU seems better since you get more reports. I didn't compare the reports though, so I cant comment on quality. But I might try Score Watch first anyway.
Also, Equifax has products that offer family discounts. THis might be helpful if you want to track multiple credit card holders in your family.
Oh, I came across a coupon for myfico, no idea if this really works or not... http://www.stingier.com/online-coupons/myfico/
tuphat said:cameron2003 -- Have you considered / evaluated the FICO score provided by Providian for free to its cardholders?
Oh yea. THat one seemed unclear to me if it was FICO or FAKO or even PFICO whatever the hell that is. It seemed good since it was free, but if its not FICO, I dont care. And the fact that you cant connect score changes to causation makes it unvaluable too. I want to a. find out about FICO score changes and b. learn what caused them. THanks for the tip though, seems like a useful card to have.
Regarding Providian -- When I view my account, it is presented as a FICO score, registered trademark and all. I assume it's the real deal, or they would have gotten sued by Fair Isaac a long time ago.
It's true that you don't get access to your full-blown credit report, but you are provided with primary reasons as to why your FICO score is what it is, e.g., "The proportion of balances to credit limits on your revolving/charge accounts is too high." Also has a FICO Simulator.
IMHO, worth getting a Providian card simply for this feature.
PS. They also provide email alert if your FICO changes by +/- 20 pts.
Message edited by: tuphat on 2006-07-31 08:20:07 CDT
If you have MS Money, you can monitor Credit Score (Credit tracker -not sure if this is the real FCIO score), pull reports every month, new alerts every day, new accounts and summary of your credit report from Experian. I think all these are free only for a year.
I use the free Providian score (I'm assuming it's true FICO also, but am not sure).
One downside is that it takes a long time to update. I did some BTs in May, and they were only reflected in my total balances (one of the 3-4 other data fields they provide) a few days ago. I also use the free Paypal Equifax alerts, and they are also quite delayed.
I haven't used any of the other products, so I'm not familiar with their updating speed.
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