Comments on: FICO Credit Score Tracking #8 – What the Deuce?

By: ericksond

ericksond — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 12:35:25 +0000

Cap and anyone else:

Have any of you used myFICO Scorwatch before? I’m on a free trial yet on their forums, there seems to be a lot of grumbles of it not working as expected. Nonetheless, what is your most recommended means of Credit score tracking?

The WaMu tracking that Cap uses seems pretty cool, but I do not wish to open up another account.

By: Philip

Philip — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 13:19:52 +0000

One thing that you should all know about the “Credit Score” that Wamu provides on their website, it is NOT your FICO score. I found this out recently when I was purchasing a house, thinking I knew my FICO score. It turns out that they show a credit based score, not over your entire FICO standing. Also, the score is based on a system that goes up to 900 instead of 850.

When I had a real FICO score it was 50 points LESS than what I saw on WAMU.

Use the wamu # as a means to see fluctuations such as this and not to try to get credit with it, just a warning.

By: Tariq

Tariq — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 06:21:39 +0000

Wow this is nuts, I had the exact same problem with the exact same card.

I’ve never used it, never taken it out, didn’t even sign the back, but I liked having that free credit monitor.

Then I get a letter in the mail stating that I owe like $157 and it’s 4 months overdue. So I thought, “no problem”, it’ll be handled as easily as the fraud charges on my American Express card.

Boy was I wrong, they made it such a hassle to go through, I had to pay off the credit card so it wouldn’t affect my credit score, and they took like 6 months to refund the money, and not even all of it, they kept some of the interest they charged me.

I canceled the card, it wasn’t worth the hassle, and it makes me wonder what kind of data leak they had, and didn’t even inform their customers, or was it an internal thing, and it’s some fraud scheme that Wamu drummed up? Who knows.

What a coincidence that you blogged about this. Thanks for posting it.

By: thehungrydollar.com

thehungrydollar.com — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 17:07:47 +0000

That $37 fraudulent charge is exactly why you should check your credit report annually for errors. Personally, I check mine once a quarter (every 3 months). I found some errors on my report and was able to get them removed. I look forward to seeing your post on the disputing a charge process. I’d like to compare it to my experience.

By: Money Blue Book

Money Blue Book — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 19:44:08 +0000

I track my credit report only for theft identity monitoring purposes. Other than that, I see my FICO as something that doesn’t come into play until I need credit.

Of course, the closer I get to buying a house one day, the greater the effort I will need to take to ensure the score remains high.
-Raymond

By: Jodi

Jodi — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 19:26:55 +0000

According to Dave Ramsey, credt scores are debt lovers’ scores. I only keep up with mine in order to monitor any potential id theft. I don’t worship at the Altar of the Great FICO. We’re almost debt free!!!

I realize every argument in the book for why one should have “good credit”, but if you don’t borrow $, who cares about credit scores? Not me! One less thing to worry about. Spend less than you make, I say.

You can buy a house w/out having borrowed $ in a while. In the 70′s credit cards barely existed.

There is something that most people don’t do much of anymore, and that’s called “saving.” Save for the car before you buy it people.

There’s a funny SNL skit that Steve Martin did about not buying things you can’t afford.

By: budgets are sexy

budgets are sexy — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 14:07:12 +0000

I think it’s great that you stay on top of this! It’s been on my list of “things i always forget to do” but perhaps it’s time to check in once and for all.