Credit monitoring: May i recommend it....

[CCsAreEvil]

Interesting.. I just caught up on this thread (didn't notice it before). Since (hopefully) we are all more cautious with money, we know spending into a credit monitoring service appears to be money down the drain. However, I just checked my true FICO scores and was appalled to find out that being 1 year post discharge, the mortgage company went ahead and slapped the owed balance (over 200k) back onto the account with reporting 120+ day late in payments on my credit reports! I was infuriated. Of course, it's true, but the account was discharged.

I did online disputes with TU and EQ. It took them both a day or two to correct the issue.

For the short term when you need it, I think CM is fine. In general, the free annual reports should be sufficient... HOWEVER, we are a bunch of people post BK, so I think it may actually benefit for probably a year or two.

I'm going to look into Costco's CM service. I think it's month 2 month (can cancel at any time)? I'll look into it.

Edit: btw, with the negative/illegal reporting, it dropped my scores down about 75 FICO score points. Since I will be foreclosed on in the near future, I need to make sure my credit is in a decent condition. It seems most owners run credit reports on prospective tenants.

[dneil]

Great thread....love the debates....good for thought processes....keeps us younger! I must say I use a credit monitoring service...but it was free because Transunion screwed up sometime in the past. Was I sucked into the drama of credit scores....hell yes. In the big scheme of "life, family and loved ones" does it matter....hell no. My kids better not put my FICO score on my headstone

Now on to the reality of it........since I filed BK, I truly find the need to keep tabs on whats going on with how "big brother/big business" perceives me. We can't change the marketing strategy that etched the need for perfect credit into the soul of society....Since my BK, I am judged as a person based on that BS score. Doesn't matter if you filed because your kid needed a kidney transplant or you ran all your cards through the roof on a round-the-world vacation. Your still judged on that score and since a BK drops your score to the basement, it's good to at least know! Sucks but what can we do, live in a tent...sure...if that is your choosing.

In a time where I am going through some big changes in my life, I do have the need to keep close tabs. I got a new job 2000 miles away and I have a house I can't sell. Needless to say, I watch my credit, dispute the BS and I actually hooted and hollared when I broke the 700 barrier.....but I don't subscribe to any pay services....by my choice. Although, I have reviewed all of my reports several times since my discharge for a couple reasons. One, to be sure they are accurate and two, to benchmark my lows so I can celebrate my victories.

I...being democratic, so to speak....can clearly see both sides on the coin....I have to watch my scores right now, because I am at a time where I will be judged on those three digits and not the person I truly am......a man of honor and integrity. I respect those who monitor their credit...it is those frequent successes (that 2 point increase in your score) that encourages us to reach higher.....just like the new scoring system in this forum.

Low debt ratio's, smart credit usage, and time is what will keep us in the good graces of those who judge us based on those three numbers. Use the services now, but remember to cancel them in the future.....you likely won't need to watch them so cloely as time passes....just the occasional pull your annual reports to keep tabs on the CRA's.

My kids better not put my FICO score on my headstone

I think I will put that down for my status lol

[doudis2]

Interesting.. I just caught up on this thread (didn't notice it before). Since (hopefully) we are all more cautious with money, we know spending into a credit monitoring service appears to be money down the drain. However, I just checked my true FICO scores and was appalled to find out that being 1 year post discharge, the mortgage company went ahead and slapped the owed balance (over 200k) back onto the account with reporting 120+ day late in payments on my credit reports! I was infuriated. Of course, it's true, but the account was discharged.

I did online disputes with TU and EQ. It took them both a day or two to correct the issue.

For the short term when you need it, I think CM is fine. In general, the free annual reports should be sufficient... HOWEVER, we are a bunch of people post BK, so I think it may actually benefit for probably a year or two.

I'm going to look into Costco's CM service. I think it's month 2 month (can cancel at any time)? I'll look into it.

Edit: btw, with the negative/illegal reporting, it dropped my scores down about 75 FICO score points. Since I will be foreclosed on in the near future, I need to make sure my credit is in a decent condition. It seems most owners run credit reports on prospective tenants.

Hello,

I would be cautious in thinking you are in the clear. I'm not sure about the "owed balance" reporting, but they can, and most likely will, continue to report the 120+ days late. It does not matter if it was discharged or not. Like you said this is the truth and they can report it. Also they can show your high balance so don't confuse this with balanced owed.

Why I say to be cautious is I think you can expect to see these items reappear on your reports in the future. They were probably only removed during the investigation. Best of luck, I hope they stay off for good!

Just keep in mind that discharging a debt does not remove it from the credit reports or we would all have high score post BKT (except for the BKT in the public records section pulling it down.)

[CCsAreEvil]

I would be cautious in thinking you are in the clear. I'm not sure about the "owed balance" reporting, but they can, and most likely will, continue to report the 120+ days late. It does not matter if it was discharged or not. Like you said this is the truth and they can report it. Also they can show your high balance so don't confuse this with balanced owed.

Why I say to be cautious is I think you can expect to see these items reappear on your reports in the future. They were probably only removed during the investigation. Best of luck, I hope they stay off for good!

Just keep in mind that discharging a debt does not remove it from the credit reports or we would all have high score post BKT (except for the BKT in the public records section pulling it down.)

Where are you getting your information from? I'm pretty sure once you file BK (and especially post discharge), they can no longer report that you are late on payments or have a balance because you are no longer liable for the debt, ever! Of course, if you were already making late payments pre-BK, those dings can stay on your credit report. Also, the balance owed needs to report as $0 (or at least blank). I could care less about the "highest balance" field.

So, please backup your claims here.

[doudis2]

Where are you getting your information from? I'm pretty sure once you file BK (and especially post discharge), they can no longer report that you are late on payments or have a balance because you are no longer liable for the debt, ever! Of course, if you were already making late payments pre-BK, those dings can stay on your credit report. Also, the balance owed needs to report as $0 (or at least blank). I could care less about the "highest balance" field.

So, please backup your claims here.

Hello,

I'm just passing along information as I understand it after reading it here and on other forums regarding credit reporting/repair.

To clarify, it is not OK for them to report that you ARE CURRENTLY (post-bkt) late on payments by 120+ days, it is OK to show that you were in the past. Take a look at the month(s) that has the 120, is it from pre-bkt? Basically they can report all the naughties you committed pre-bkt because it is true. You are correct post BKT you no longer owe this debt so they CANNOT report payments as late (I don't know how it works if you reaffirm a debt though).

So it sounds like we agree; if you have a debt showing 120+ day late in any of the months post-bkt they are indeed reporting falsely. Sorry if my post was not clear, but remember your post said "Of course, it's true, but the account was discharged," so I was assuming that this "true" stuff was pre-bkt so they would be able to report that.

Best of luck!

[CCsAreEvil]

Ok, yeah. There's just a misunderstanding then. So, to clarify, I was discharged Dec 2009. At that point, the mortgage company correctly set the balance owed to $0. I always made my mortgage payments on time pre- and post-BK. However, in late 2010, I decided to move on (stopped making payments) so in Nov 2010, they updated my mortgage line balance to over $200k (the amount owed pre-BK) and also noted I'm 120 days late.

So, we can't trust these companies at all. This is why credit monitoring "can" make sense post-BK for a couple of years. Then maybe just do the free annual credit report from then on.

[doudis2]

Did you ever reaffirm? That might make a difference, but like I said I'm not sure.

It sounds though like those evil bastards just screwed up and reported you wrong. This could be a silver lining. If you can keep this off all your reports, and the subsequent foreclosure, AWESOME! The less negative on the CR the better!

BTW going back to you original post, I use Costco's Identity Guard for $7.49/mo ea. (me and the misses). I like it. I get notified if anything changes on mine or my wifes reports. I get update fako scores every month. It has a nice tool that allows you to get an idea what adding a new CC account or car loan etc. might do to your score. This is pretty cool. Can't beat the price. Costs a few bucks more if you not a Costco executive member though. And yes you can cancel anytime you want. I send you the link to check it out.

[CCsAreEvil]

Nope, never reaffirmed. I do have Costco Executive and will try out the service.

Again, I disputed this issue with both Transunion and Equifax. Each fixed the balance back to $0 without any late reporting. Also, waiting to hear back from Experian. They should be updating it to $0, also.

[hist111]

These services are pointless wastes of money, especially the credit score monitoring services. I am sorry, but it really is not that important, credit takes care of itself. Paying to monitor it is like paying someone to take your pulse to make sure you are alive.

I have to agree with HHM here. Knowing you score is quite pointless, as it means little and there is generally nothing you can do about it. Of course, ensuring you have a clean CR, and then working on building your credit from there is what matters. Knowing my score (or not) has no bearing on a credit application.

Coming June/July, creditors will have to advise you of your score whenever you apply for certain credit anyway. I've already seen a few auto loan apps I made come with my actual score.

[IBroke]

Well, what happens "over time" is not only the re-establishing of your credit - that's just one thing. The other thing is that the longer you don't monitor your credit, the more errors you gonna have on file - especially after a BK.

The myfico score-monitoring service is not "only" monitoring your score. In fact, I consider the score-update as an add-on. There are certain things that actually trigger an alert and a change in your score is just one possible cause. Changes in balances on revolving accounts, new accounts etc. are the main triggers. Maybe it's just me but I would have felt pretty lost during my BK-filing without knowing what's happening to my credit.

[Amy26]

Yea, I'm not sure how the last few pages turned into a "score" focus. Getting your score is just kinda icing and I wouldn't go out of my way to obtain just the score.

Incidentally, next week I'm going to attempt to have the BK public record removed off my Trans Union report.

[JGra]

I pay 12.99 x 2 ( 1 for me and 1 for my wife ) with USAA's credit monitoring system so I can receive any alerts to changes or postings to my file, I can generate daily credit reports of my own. Each report comes with a full list of everything available to see from equifax, experian, and transunion plus their score. Could update my score everyday if I wanted to but would annoy the crap out of me I'm sure tryin to figure out the 2-3 point daily flucuation or something.

Its been nice, I started bk with score of 520, jumped down to 514 after filing, and not even discharged yet and its up to 598 due to me getting an Orchard Card about 2 weeks after 314 meeting. Was actually approved for non secured surprisingly enough, my wife was not.

I'm intrigued by that credit doctor, because I've been lookin for a good source for letters, found plenty online for free though so don't really see a reason to pay for some.

I've also just received a letter in the mail about previously being a Americorps member for 2 years, apparently they got hacked and alot of info was leaked and they are offering free credit monitoring in case of identity theft, to which I said good luck to anyone trying to get credit on my name haha.

[JGra]

Sorry to double post but wanted to add that I also just found out the credit monitoring I've been using is Experian's PLUS not Fico, as IBroke has pointed out only myfico can supply you with the true fico scores and they can get fairly pricey doing it often.

I called to cancel my question my current provider, which is apparently Exerpian themselves. They offered me a discounted rate since I have been with them so long, and they are now providing their services to me @ 50% off. so about 6.50 a month x 2. Which isn't bad see'ing how that even though its not showing me the accurate Fico scores, its still showing me an approximation of my credit worthiness and allowing me to generate a credit report through all 3 bureaus every day of the week.
So I'm gonna keep it at the discounted rate and probably just buy my transunion / equifax reports through myfico every quarter or so. May sign up for the equifax one as it provides their score once a week, transunion is once a quarter.

[Amy26]

Also, if you want your equifax fico if you purchase equifax's "score power", that gives you your fico with them. If you get "Equifax Complete" it provides a score but its a FAKO. Just FYI.

And also as I pointed out, you cannot get your Experian FICO through myfico.com ... it only does equifax and trans union. If you want your Experian FICO you're gonna have to find a way to get into PSECU (Pennsylvania State Employees Credit Union).

[hist111]

I decided to bite the bullet and see my score today. Unfortunately, I learned this about Equifax the hard way. They're now using their own 'risk assessment' type score, aka fako.

Should have listened to my own instinct, knowing your CS is pointless, and basically a money making machine for these credit reporting agencies..