Basic Monitoring Service – FreeCreditReport.com from Experian provides basic credit monitoring service. It monitors your credit report from the three main credit bureaus and gives you alerts if there are any changes. It also has tools to tell you when is the best time to apply for credit.

Free Credit Score – To be honest, basic credit monitoring service is such a commodity now that I’m more interested if a company claims to let you monitor your credit score. But what score do you get? Most run of the mill credit monitoring service offer you a score that is derived from their own proprietary models and not the FICO score (because FICO does not want to sell it to them!). But this is Experian. So what do we get?

Unfortunately, the credit score that you get is not the FICO score (in fact, you can’t really get Experian’s FICO score any more). What you get instead is the PLUS score, which is a proprietary score that as Experian admits, “is not sold to lenders”! So while the score may approximate your FICO score, it is not the score that lenders see. Which kind of makes it useless in my opinion!

Assistance if your ID is stolen – freecreditreport.com also provides help and assistance if your ID is ever stolen.

Fees and Free Trial – If you sign up for this service, you will be given a 7 day free trial. But experian says that while it is a snap to get your Experian credit report, it may take up to 4 days to get your credit reports from TransUnion and Equifax and in fact, you may not get them during your free trial. Thereafter, you will be billed $14.95 a month if you do not cancel the service.

Website Ease of Use – As part of this review, I had to figure out which credit score do they actually give you. And they do not actually tell you right off the bat. In fact, I had to put in a bogus name and email to get to the second page where there was a terms and conditions button! That was where I got the necessary details. Below are screenshots.

Verdict – Lots of folks have signed up with this service and it is a very profitable one for Experian! But would I sign up for such a service? To be honest probably not. I think in terms of credit monitoring, it does not really matter which service you sign up for. They are all mostly the same. But if I were to pay a monthly fee, I would at least like to know my FICO score and not any other score. From this perspective, I would rather go with a myFICO service as they give you the real FICO score from either Equifax or TransUnion. You can either get the FICO® Quarterly Monitoring, which monitors your TransUnion score for only $4.95 a month or the FICO Standard, which a a one-time purchase of either you TransUnion or Equifax score.

Basic Credit Monitoring Service – Safecreditscore.com offering a basic credit monitoring service where you get access to your credit reports and you get credit monitoring services which alerts you to any changes to your credit report.

Access to Credit Scores – The service even says you can access your credit score. But which credit score? That was what I was interested in finding out.

My Investigation into the type of credit scores you get – This, to me at least, is very important because so many services offering scores that are not actually FICO scores! So I did what I had to do and filled in some bogus name and email address on the page. It took me to a second page where I had to fill in an address. So I found the address of a hotel in the zip code that I had entered and it took me to the final page where I had to fill in my social security number and credit card number. I expected to find a phone number but I could not! But through filling in the forms and clicking on a few links, I discovered that offering is actually owned by the same folks from gofreecredit.com and creditreporting.com! But still I had no phone numbers and hence I can’t even tell you what sort of scores they are providing.

Fees – You get a “7 day free trial” and thereafter will be billed $14.95 for the service.

Opinion and Verdict – I recommend you do not even get this service. Firstly, you can always get your credit report for free. Even if you want to get a credit monitoring service, this one does not come with any phone numbers in case you want to cancel. Just stay clear!

Another Credit Monitoring Service? – GoFreeCredit.com is really another credit monitoring service. You obviously get your credit reports every month and a credit score. The reason anyone wants to get such monitoring service is that you will be alerted if there are any changes to your credit reports.

What type of score do you get – In addition to getting your credit reports and having it monitored, you will also get your “credit score”, or so they claim. But exactly, what credit score? I tried to find out. But nowhere on the site was there any phone number to call. So I decided to enter a bogus email address bullshit@yahoo.com into the form and it took me to another page where there were more details about the fees and the terms and conditions. (See screenshot below).

The Phone Call – I managed to reach a customer service rep who sounded like they did not come from this country! (sounded Mexican). I asked her what sort of score do I get. She did not understand at all. So I had to explain to her that you can either get the FICO score, Vantage Score or a score that is developed by themselves. She put me on hold and spoke to a supervisor. She came back and told me that we will get a “score” that is given by all three bureaus. But it is not three scores, but just one score (so it could potentially be a Vantage score since they claim it should be the same across the board). But she did not know, and I could not be bothered to probe further cos I suspect it will get me nowhere.

Fees – You are given a 7-day “free trial” and if you choose to continue the service, you will be billed $29.95 a month. In addition, you will be billed an extra $2 a month for a membership to a “savings club”, which is absolutely ridiculous and a blatant upsell. You actually have to call a toll free number to opt-out of this “savings club” membership!

Verdict and Opinion – Let’s face it, $29.95 a month is an expensive fee to pay a month to get access to your credit report when you can get it free once a year and furthermore, you do not even get your FICO scores! And they even automatically enroll you in some savings club! Avoid this deal. Most of the better ID theft protection services provide the same service for much cheaper (about $15 a month) with much more benefits. This is simply an overpriced offering!

Well, creditreporting.com offers such a service. For a price of $34.90, you get a copy of your credit report. This alone really is not attractive since you can get it for free. But for an additional $9.95, you get your three credit scores. So what you are really paying for is your three scores, which is what most folks want to know.

So for a grand total of $44.85, you get

And that’s it. No monthly fees or any of those recurring bills.

But is the credit score the FICO score? – Turns out the answer is NO. I called their toll-free number and the customer rep explained to me that they could not get hold of FICO’s proprietary score and they score that is get is developed by them and it approximates the FICO score.

Verdict and Opinion – The problem with most credit monitoring service is that they charge you a monthly fee and provide with just a couple of credit scores from either one or two of the credit bureaus. But not many folks want to pay for these monthly recurring bills. CreditReporting.com is one of the few that offers you “credit scores that should approximate your FICO score” from all three credit bureaus. They are not exactly the FICO score. But for those who just wish to know approximately where they stand without paying monthly recurring fees, this may not be such a bad choice.

If you insist on getting an actually FICO score, then the FICO Standard is a better choice as you can purchase a credit report with the actual FICO score from either TransUnion or Equifax.

FICO Score Simulator – This is a tool that provides you with a what if scenario if there are any changes in the following:

Cost – The cost of getting a report and score from either one of the bureaus is $15.95.

Verdict – The FICO® Standard is a service that is perfect for those who simply want to know their credit scores from either TransUnion or Equifax. Unlike credit monitoring service, you do not have to pay a monthly recurring fee just to access your report and scores. For those who have a need to either apply for an auto loan or a mortgage in a couple of years but do not want to pay for a credit monitoring service, then this product provides the option for a one time fee.

Credit Reports and Scores from TransUnion – FICO actually made an arrangement with TransUnion to provide customers with their credit reports and an updated credit score quarterly (there’s no point getting updates everyday because your reports and scores simply do not change everyday).

Along with the quarterly reports also comes with charts and analysis to help you improve your credit score.

Database Monitoring – Aside from just monitoring your TransUnion report, public databases will also be monitored for potential ID theft situations.

ID Theft Insurance – myFICO also provides up to $25,000 in ID theft insurance and provides you with a kit that will tell you what to do should your ID ever be stolen. You are provided with a customer service number to call and you will be provided with tools like dispute letters, worksheets etc.

Cost – The best feature about this offering is its cost, at on $4.95 a month. If you decided to pay on a yearly basis, it will be at a better price of $49.95.

Verdict and Opinion – For those who are looking for a credit monitoring service or credit score monitoring service, the FICO® Quarterly Monitoring offers a very cost effective solution. Sure, it only monitors your TransUnion score and report. Having said that, at worst, your other credit scores will differ only by about 40 points or so. You can also get your annual free copy of your Experian and Equifax reports.

The disadvantage of this offering is that you do not get all three credit reports and scores. Hence, I think this will appeal to those who are price conscious because at $4.95 a month versus $14.95 a month for most other offerings, it represents quite a substantial savings versus other “full service” offerings.

A quick background – First a quick background about consumer rights and your credit reports. Each individual is allowed to get a free credit report from each credit bureau once a year (note that you only get your report and not your credit score). Credit Monitoring services gives you continuous access to your credit reports.

True Credit from TransUnion is no different. You get access to your three credit reports in a nice format. And you also get alerts if there are any changes to your credit report.

Access to credit scores – This is the area where this review gets interesting. True Credit claims to be able to give you access to all three credit scores. Hmmm! I was a little suspicious about this claim because there are hardly (actually just one) any products (especially from the credit bureaus) that give you access to all three credit scores from the credit bureaus. You can see your reports but not your score. So if you get a similar product from Experian, you can only see your Experian score and not the other two. So how did TransUnion manage to negotiate this deal with Experian or Equifax?

It’s actually your Vantage Score! – Upon looking at the fineprint, I realize that you will not get your FICO scores but rather your Vantage Score! What is the Vantage score? Vantage score is a new credit score developed by the three credit bureaus to provide what they deem is a more consistent and better scoring method than FICO. The score ranges from 501 to 990.

$25,000 ID theft insurance True Credit also provides up to $25,000 in ID theft insurance.

Fees – This service has a monthly cost of $14.95.

Verdict and Opinion – A service like this is going to appeal to folks who want to monitor their credit reports and scores for about a year or two ahead of a planned mortgage or auto loan. It is also useful to folks who have been discharged from bankruptcy because very often, your old loans and debts gets sold and it was never stated as discharged and gets reported in the credit bureaus (you really want to catch this).

They key selling point of True Credit’s monitoring service from TransUnion is that they provide you access to “all 3 credit scores”!. However, they do not say explicitly that it is the Vantage Score you get. The six million dollar question is this : Do lenders consider your FICO score more important? or the Vantage score? Or do they look at both? To be honest, I do not know. There are simply so many lenders around. You also have to consider that the Vantage Score is relatively new and I suspect that lenders and creditors would refer more to your FICO score. Having said that, if you have a good FICO score, that should be reflected in your vantage score as well. If that is how you feel, then the TrueCredit.com 3-Bureau Monitoring would be the service to get.

However, if you insist that you want access to all three FICO credit score plus a credit monitoring system, then the service from Identity Guard® Total Protection is actually a better service to get because it provides the same credit report monitoring service, has the same ID theft insurance, and it also gives you updates to your FICO scores quarterly. Plus the monthly fee is the same as True Credit. Ironically, Identity Guard markets itself as a ID theft protection service though I think it is better as a credit monitoring service!

As a Credit Monitoring Service – As a credit monitoring service, Identity Guard provides the following features.

As an Identity Protection Service – The “identity protection service” that Identity Guard offers is actually simply the credit monitoring service. Customers are provided with a one million dollar insurance in the event of an identity theft. Should your ID be stolen, Identity Guard has a team to help you resolve it. They also monitor the internet for clues and signs that your ID or address is being used by others. They also have a lost wallet service where they will actually call your credit card companies and banks on your behalf if you lose your wallet.

Cost – The cost for this service is $14.95 a month with a 30-day free trial.

Verdict and Opinion – After looking at the features of Identity Guard, I find that its credit monitoring service and ability to let you have all three credit scores from the major credit bureaus makes this a really good credit monitoring service. There are many such services around (including those by the credit bureaus themselves). While all three provide you with credit reports in a format which allows you to compare them side by side with each other (you can get one credit report for free each year by the way), most do not give you all three credit scores. So if you get a credit monitoring service from TransUnion for example, you only get TransUnion scores, but not Equifax or Experian’s.

As a identity theft protection, it falls short of the service provided by folks like Lifelock, who will actually call you when a lender or creditor request to check your credit bureaus (this is real on time protection). Identity Guard merely monitors your credit bureaus though it also scans the internet for possible use of your ID and address. The only issue I have with this feature is that they do not state clearly where they are doing the monitoring.

Hence, I think that if you are looking just for a credit monitoring service and want access to your three credit scores all the time, then the Identity Guard® Total Protection is one of the best credit monitoring service out there. If you are really concerned about ID theft, Lifelock would be the better alternative (the only problem with Lifelock is that though you also get credit monitoring services, you cannot see your three credit scores).

Out of work in early 2001, I was unable to pay off my credit card debt that I had accumulated on some wild business ideas. By the time I was employed again, my salary had been reduced by a third leaving me unable to resume paying off my debt.

At the time, I felt my only option was to allow my credit cards to go into default. I didn’t know enough about bankruptcy to safely file without horrible repercussions, and thought that default was the lesser of two evils.

A few years later, I realized I needed to start rebuilding my credit so that I would have some positive history on my credit report that would counter balance all of the negative items. To do this involved acquiring some new credit.

First, I worked out a collection deal with two of my defaulted credit cards. The agreement involved transferring the debt to two new credit cards. This would help me pay off the old debt and build a solid payment history. Looking back, I’m not so sure this was the best option, but it did help to establish my credit, so it wasn’t the worst choice I could have made.

Next, I became a cosigner on my husband’s credit card. His credit card had a higher credit limit than my repayment cards, so my overall available credit increased, and my debt to credit ratio looked healthier. I also started a repayment plan on my student loans to dig them out of default. After nine on-time payments, the loan was in good standing. It was also helpful that I now had an installment account in good shape as well as my revolving accounts. Since 10% of a credit score is based on the types of loans available to the credit holder, this mixture of loans helped boost my overall score.

During this period, I was building a positive payment history, which accounts for 35% of a credit score. I began receiving credit card offers. I was very selective in applying for these as 10% of a credit score is based on new credit. Meaning, the more accounts you acquire in a short period of time, the more points are deducted off your credit score. I opted for a Capital One credit card. This card was my first “real” credit card in a long time. It boosted my overall available credit, had a lower APR than my repayment cards that had been paid in full, and listed me as the primary cardholder.

Finally, as the 7-year mark was approaching on the old debt, I began disputing the negative items. Each time I received an updated credit report, there were fewer accounts hanging around in the negative list and more accounts in the positive items list. My last negative item was removed off my report in late 2009, increasing my credit score by almost 200 points in a year. I started out the year with a pitiful score of 542 and ended the year at a blissful 703. I’m still working towards increasing my score to over 740, but with a solid payment history and no new debt, this goal will be accomplished.

Mr. Credit Card -

I’ve got a specific issue that I’m hoping you can help me with. I’m lucky in that I have the means to pay my bills, but because of the nature of my career (and my own disorganization) I was plagued with many “30 day late” negative credit reports. Over the last 2 years I’ve changed my ways (setting up auto bill pay has been a god-send) and boosted my credit score from ~600 to 707. Until today.

I just pulled my monthly report today and saw that there was a 30-day late posting from Nordstrom. Nordstrom was the one account (I barely use it) that I could not successfully get set up on my bank’s bill pay. I manually paid this $129 bill On Dec 16, but thought I had made it within the window, but after looking today I see that it was actually 37 days past the first statement due date.

So, today when I pulled my weekly Experian report, my score had plunged from 707 to 658. I am relocating for work and buying a home next month, and as you know, 700 is the threshold for good mortgage rates vs. not so good. This is my fault, and I accept that, but this $129 bill and the seven days too late will cost me thousands in the additional interest I’ll pay from a higher mortgage rate. I don’t have leverage (I have no balance on this card or any other). Do you have any suggestions on how I might get reporting to go away?

Thanks -
Mr. Ken Sandifer

Answer – Ken, this is quite a difficult situation in that the negative item was correct and accurate unless for some reason it was reported inaccurately. If that is the case, you could “technically” dispute it, though the credit card issuer could then report the correct facts. My suggestion would be to call the credit card company and speak to a supervisor and explain the reason you were late. Chances are that they will not do anything but I guess it never hurts to ask. I once discovered I was late for 2 months on my Merrill Lynch credit card because they stopped autopayment just after I enrolled. But for that, I obviously have a valid reason (aside from forgetting).

Also, when you are speaking to your mortgage broker or banker, explain the situation to him. Not too sure that will help much but it may. Also, check your other credit scores, your credit card issuer may not have reported to all three bureaus.

Good Luck.