FICO Quarterly Monitoring Review

myFICO.com, the folks who originally came up with the FICO credit scoring model also has it’s own “credit monitoring service”. How does this compare with other folks who have similar offerings? Let’s find out.

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.