Identity Guard
Rating:

Bottom line: Most comprehensive service w/ tons of features; Free 30-day trial
Equifax with Score Power
Rating:

Bottom line: Free FICO score & 3-in-1 credit report plus 3-bureau monitoring
CreditCheck Total
Rating:

Bottom line: Unlimited reports & scores from all 3 bureaus, free 7-day trial
FreeCreditReport.com
Rating:

Bottom line: Free Experian credit report and score plus cheapest 3-bureau monitoring solution
myFICO
Rating:

Bottom line: Best way to monitor your FICO score but otherwise limited
True Credit 3 Bureau
Rating:

Bottom line: Access to all three reports and scores every 30 days but no free trial

Compare All Services

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Reader Question: What is the best way to monitor my FICO score

Posted by Joe on April 1st, 2008

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This is the first post in our new "Reader Questions" series where we will begin sharing questions from real readers for the benefit of the community at large. If you have questions for the NextAdvisor team you can submit them directly to us through our contact form.

Q: I was impressed by your review of the various credit reporting services, but also a little confused by all the choices. Maybe you can help me. My primary concern is to check my FICO score on a regular basis (say, monthly) — which service would be best for me?

A: If your primary goal is to monitor changes in your FICO score then we believe that myFICO is the best credit report service for you. However, if you want some of the additional benefits that people typically associate with credit report monitoring services, such as on demand access to credit report data and credit report monitoring, you may want to consider a service like CreditCheck Total.

MyFICO will provide you with two free score power reports each year which include your up-to-date FICO score. They will also provide you with an updated FICO score anytime there is a change to your credit file. This will ensure that you always know how changes in your credit report are impacting your FICO score.

There are some limitations to MyFICO in that they only monitor your Equifax credit report. Since all three of your credit reports, including Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, can differ from each other you won't necessarily have direct access to all the information that could be impacting how lenders view your creditworthiness. Additionally, MyFICO only gives you two reports a year while some other services allow you to access data at any time.

CreditCheck Total, for example, will give you access to all three credit reports and all three credit scores on demand. This doesn't include FICO scores, but will still give you a good indication of how you overall credit health is trending. CreditCheck Total also has the added benefit of helping protect you from identity theft by monitoring all three of your credit reports for changes.

The trade off with CreditCheck Total is that you won't have access to the FICO score data you are most interested in receiving on a frequent basis. CreditCheck Total also has a more expensive monthly fee at $19.95 versus MyFICO's $7.50

The good news is that both MyFICO and CreditCheck Total offer a free trial of 30 and 7 days respectively. So, you could try each out and decide which is right for you.

You can also learn more by visiting our full comparison of credit report monitoring services.

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One Response to “Reader Question: What is the best way to monitor my FICO score”

  1. peter rao Says:

    I llike to kow where I can try out various scenarios for cridt score (fica) changes by purcashing or paying of credit card loans etc.

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