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credit monitoring services

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MrDudeMan

MrDudeMan

Lifer
I'm interested in using one of the services that provides constant access to credit scores. I have excellent credit and I'm not trying to buy anything, but I thought it would be a good way to prevent issues in the future if I'm able to constantly monitor my reports. Does anyone have any experiences that would help guide me toward or away from specific companies?
 
highland145 said:
Not on the companies but your could do a credit freeze at the 3 providers.
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Yeah, I considered that, and I may still do it. However, I also want to see how my spending habits influence my credit score simply to understand how it works. I'm typically between 790 and 810, but I can't seem to get above that range. It's worth a few dollars per month to me as a weird hobby.
 
You can't get above a certain range. The deck is stacked. But you have to play the game, charge stuff, to stay in. Granted, pay it off every month.

FICO gives 3 reason why you aren't an 850 (equifax). I was at 815ish and their ding was my excessive credit card debt....$40 on $18K limit...Really?

So confirm your score and freeze them. Your history will still be recorded but no one will be able to pull it unless you unfreeze it. Supposedly keeps ID theft at bay. That's all I've done after my state gave away 4M people's info.
 
Is there a website where I can place a credit freeze to all the stupid credit reporting services at once? I never use credit and don't foresee anyone wanting it except BS credit offers by mail.
 
highland145 said:
You can't get above a certain range. The deck is stacked. But you have to play the game, charge stuff, to stay in. Granted, pay it off every month.

FICO gives 3 reason why you aren't an 850 (equifax). I was at 815ish and their ding was my excessive credit card debt....$40 on $18K limit...Really?

So confirm your score and freeze them. Your history will still be recorded but no one will be able to pull it unless you unfreeze it. Supposedly keeps ID theft at bay. That's all I've done after my state gave away 4M people's info.
Click to expand...

I'm not really interested in freezing them, but I may eventually do that like I said in another post. That's not really the point of monitoring it, though. I use my credit a LOT because it pays well to use it 'correctly' as opposed to not using it at all (I make ~$6k/year with credit and I spend exactly $0 that I didn't already have to spend). I think the biggest ding on my score is my average account age, which is 8.1 years. I have no negative information on my report in any capacity, so I'm trying to figure out which second order knobs I can turn to go above 820 while my average account age continues to rise.

I keep my credit utilization above 4 and below 20%, which is what an underwriter told me to do over dinner once (the most common advice is above 0 and below 30%). He wouldn't give me the secret sauce, but I got enough information to know how to get above 800 pretty easily. I was already at 806 (Experian) at that point, but I was able to tighten it up with his advice. Regardless, I can't make educated guesses about the trajectory of my score without empirical data from the credit bureaus. I'm obviously able to vary the input, but I need output at a faster cadence and I want to use a service that's both reputable and not cost prohibitive to provide it. Cost prohibitive in this conversation is more than $15-20/mo based solely on principle.

I understand all of the typical reasons credit scores fluctuate. I'm after the uncommon reasons and that requires a lot of data and a model, which I can build once I get more data. I already keep track of my expenses, balances, and all things related to my credit in a database (not for any real reason other than to query for fun), but I'm missing the score. I'd like to sign up for one of the services that lets you check the score every day or at least every week. Every day would be preferable as the model I'm building has that kind of resolution, but every week would be sufficient.
 
i use Experian, mainly because this past February my current landlord sent me a request via Experian to check my credit score.

as i was fixing my credit around then as well, i decided to pay the $17.95 a month to keep track of my score. i paid off all things but one in January. my score went from mid 500's to 657. there is one thing left on my credit report until July when it will be removed.

so after i saw that i decided it wasn't worth 18 bucks a month. called customer service to cancel, no complainin' or nothing, just a routine cancellation call - and they immediately offered me 75% off, so 4 bucks and change a month. no commitment, no contract. so decided to keep it for now.

it's useful for me as my next step is to use credit cards to build up my credit even more.
 
I use citi identity monitor - gives you scores and unlimited access to credit report and monitors activity- really though only reason I have them is I got in on a deal for $2.99/month so jumped on it- not sure what their regular rate is.
 
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