Watch the file, not the score.
Tri bureau reports and scores pulled on a schedule, with each pull compared against the last one. What you get told about is what actually changed on your file, and every pull is a soft inquiry that does not affect your score.
Told about everything is the same as told about nothing.
Alert fatigue is what kills monitoring products. Changes are graded, and only the top two grades interrupt you. The rest wait for the digest.
- CriticalA new derogatory account, a new public record, an account opened that you did not open, an address change you did not make
- WarningA new inquiry, a balance crossing a utilization threshold, an account status getting worse
- InfoA balance moving within its normal range, a score change, an item removed
You are already entitled to a free copy of your file.
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act you can get your report from each nationwide bureau free every twelve months, at annualcreditreport.com. Monitoring is a paid convenience on top of that right: it runs on a schedule, it compares each pull to the last, and it tells you what moved. It is not a replacement for the free report, and we will not pretend otherwise.
FCRA §1681j · soft inquiry · cancel in one step