25% off any myFICO Product
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MyFICO, a division of Fair Isaacs, is the place to obtain and monitor your FICO scores and myFICO offers low cost and free trial options to obtain your FICO score online from the company that created the FICO score. Here are some of the options available from myFICO:
Score Watch
- Monitors your credit report at Equifax on a daily basis and your FICO score on a weekly basis
- Notifies you when you reach your target score or when you qualify for a better interest rate
- Alerts you when unexpected changes to your credit report cause your FICO score to drop
- Provides two Equifax Score Power reports each year
Score Watch features include the following:
Monitor your FICO score: See your new FICO score every time you get an alert of a change on your credit report. Find out when your FICO score changes enough to impact the interest rate you would likely receive on a home mortgage, auto loan or home equity loan.
Timely credit alerts: Receive alerts via email or wireless text message when Score Watch detects important changes to your FICO score or Equifax credit report.
Receive two Equifax Score Power reports: Receive two Score Power reports when you subscribe — one at enrollment and one to be used at any time during your subscription. In addition, you will receive two additional Score Power reports each year of your Score Watch subscription. Score Power reports include your complete Equifax Credit Report, FICO score, FICO score simulator and factors hurting or helping your score. Also, receive additional discounted Score Power reports while you are subscribed to Score Watch for just $10.95 each (regularly $15.95).
You can get your credit score from MyFICO, which is run by Fair Isasc, and now that credit score can be obtained for free. One of the things I really like about myFICO.com is that it doesn’t just give you your score. myFICO.com also explains why your score is what it is (good or bad). This information can help you start the process of improving your score.
Get your FICO score from myFICO
myFICO.com will give you more information about each factor that is either helping or hurting your credit score. You also receive tips on how to improve those factors that may be keeping your FICO score down. As I mentioned above, for my score past inquires and amount of debt/opened accounts have hurt my score. Both of these were identified by myFICO.com, which gives me a clear indication of what I need to work on if I want to improve my credit score. Another great feature of myFICO.com is that they tell you how your credit score will impact the interest rates you’ll receive on a mortgage, home equity, or car loan.
The credit reporting service at MyFico.com is simply a service where you get a summary of your credit history complete with credit scores. If you want only one bureau the cost is $19.95 or if you want more scores the cost increases…all one time fee.
Or you can go the membership route and get everything they offer with a 10 day Free Trial which rolls into $14.95 per month if not canceled.
The process can get a little cumbersome if during the sign-up phase you can’t get verified immediately through the websites question-and-answer phase it puts you through. They provide a a customer service phone number to use if the online method fails.
I got right through but a friend of mine had to call to get enrolled. I did have to use the customer service line to cancel, but it was a breeze.
Once you are member, you not only get your scores, but you also get the ability to view the summary reports and an explanation for the risk factors used to calculate your score(s).
WARNING: Do NOT underestimate the power of this knowledge if you are shopping for a mortgage! See “A Secret For Mortgage Shoppers” below for more.
The MyFico.com provides a real service for a reasonable price whether you buy one-off reports or join as a member. Of course, members get more to see and understand exactly how your credit scores were calculated, what may be hold them down, and ways to fix the problems…always a good thing.
MyFico.com’s recurring membership also includes fraud detection, quarterly credit reports, ID theft alerts, and ID theft insurance…all of which seems a little like a lot of information to me…but all of my friends with better scores than me love it.
Go figure!
But let’s face it, if you already have a great score and therefore you have something to protect…it beats using Lifelock or some other firm as your ID Theft Protection provider.
This can be especially useful if you are currently shopping for a big ticket item like a car or a mortgage. Car loans are approved on the FICO score alone, so just order that score and save a little money.
This information can be really useful if you are looking to buy or refinance a home, or perhaps get a car loan. In my case, if I were looking to buy a home, I would want 760 as my credit score goal. A good credit score is anything over 700 and a perfect credit score is 850, so 760 is pretty solid. In fact, with Credit Watch, you can set a goal, and myFICO.com will alert you every time there is a change to your credit score. So now that you know your credit score, know what’s helping and hurting your score, know how to improve your score, and know what impact your score will have on interest rates, it’s time to look at your credit report.
With myFICO.com, you not only get your credit score, you also get your credit report. Of course, you can get your free credit report from annualcreditreport.com, too. If it’s just your credit report you’re after, that’s the place to go. But it’s still nice to get your credit report along with your credit score at myFICO.com. What’s particularly nice about myFICO.com is that it presents your credit report in an easy to read and understand format. myFICO.com breaks down your credit report into five separate screens that cover the following five topics: (1) Credit at a Glance; (2) Accounts; (3) Inquiries; (4) Collections; and (5) Public Records.
The Credit-at-a-Glance feature gives you a snapshot of your credit report. In addition to showing you any missed payments and length of credit history, it also shows your total debt, number of accounts opened, recent inquiries, and more. You then can easily move from page to page to see everything in your credit report. When reviewing your report, it is important to carefully review the accounts section. This will show you if there are accounts opened that you don’t know about. It will also show you if any creditors have reported missed or late payments. If you think there is an error in your credit report, myFICO.com offers form letters you can use to dispute information in your report.
MyFico Service Summary
So, to wrap up this review of the MyFico.com Credit reporting service:
Good for big ticket shoppers or those new to credit reports. Excellent for those mortgage or car shoppers needing to know their credit scores before they apply. Do it after…well that can be embarrassing!