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Did you know the FICO score is used by 90% of lenders? That’s why it’s important to understand your score, what played into it, plus how it plays into your interest rates for a mortgage, auto loan, or credit card.
myFICO, a division of Fair Isaac, offers consumers tools to monitor their credit, track their FICO credit score, and obtain their credit report. In this review, we’ll look at these features, evaluate their costs, and compare the various plans available.
myFICO Plans
There are a couple of paid packages to choose from, depending on your credit tracking needs. Here is what myFICO has to offer:
myFICO 1-bureau credit report
- Get a one-time report from the credit bureau of your choice—Experian, TransUnion, or Equifax.
- Includes your FICO score, plus a number of score calculations, like mortgage/auto lending scores.
- Instantly access various tools to analyze your score, from the FICO Score Simulator to how lenders view you, to score analysis.
- Get access to myFICO’s credit education resources.
- $19.95 one-time cost
myFICO 3-bureau credit report
- Get a one-time report from all three credit reports—Experian, TransUnion, or Equifax.
- Includes your FICO score, plus a number of score calculations, like mortgage/auto lending scores.
- Instantly access various tools to analyze your score, from the FICO Score Simulator to how lenders view you to score analysis.
- Get access to myFICO’s credit education resources.
- $59.85 one-time cost
myFICO Basic
- Receive and access your initial report and FICO scores immediately.
- Access a number of score calculations, including mortgages, auto loans, and more.
- Monitor your credit report via Experian as well as your FICO 8 score, and receive monthly updates.
- Access to a detailed credit report, which includes accounts, collections, inquiries, and public records. This credit report also includes several myFICO-specific data, with the FICO Score Simulator and unique insights regarding your credit data.
- Watch your score’s progress with the myFICO historical tracking graph.
- Monitor changes to your FICO Score (version 8) and track your scores over time.
- Get access to $1 million theft insurance, 24/7 identity restoration, and lost wallet protection.
- $19.95/month
FICO Advanced
- Receive and access your initial three reports and scores immediately.
- Access a number of score calculations, including mortgages, auto loans, and more.
- Monitor your credit reports at all three bureaus, and receive updated reports and scores from all three bureaus quarterly.
- Access to a detailed credit report, which includes accounts, collections, inquiries, and public records. This credit report also includes several myFICO-specific data, with the FICO Score Simulator and unique insights regarding your credit data.
- Watch your progress across all three bureaus with the FICO Score 8 historical tracking graph
- Get access to $1 million theft insurance, 24/7 identity restoration, lost wallet protection, and identity theft monitoring.
- $29.95/month
FICO Premier
- Receive and access your initial three reports and scores immediately
- Access a number of score calculations, including mortgages, auto loans, and more.
- Monitor your credit reports at all three bureaus, and receive updated reports and scores from all three bureaus monthly.
- Access to a detailed credit report, which includes accounts, collections, inquiries, and public records. This credit report also includes several myFICO-specific data, with the FICO Score Simulator and unique insights regarding your credit data.
- Watch your progress across all three bureaus with the FICO Score 8 historical tracking graph
- Get access to $1 million theft insurance, 24/7 identity restoration, lost wallet protection, and identity theft monitoring.
- $39.95/month
myFICO Features
All of the monthly service options also include the following features, standard:
- Lost wallet protection: This provides coverage for credit cards, passports, military ID cards, traveler’s checks, driver’s licenses, checkbooks, insurance cards, and more. Exclusions apply.
- $1 million identity theft insurance: Get up to $1 million in identity theft insurance, including data breaches, identity theft, and fraud. See myFICO.com for more information.
- 24/7 full-service identity restoration: If an identity thief misuses your personal information, myFICO is available 24/7 to help. Their US-based certified resolution specialists will help you restore your identity.
Related: Protecting Your Identity With LifeLock
Pros and Cons of myFICO
Pros
- Immediate access to scores and reports so you can start keeping tabs on your credit immediately.
- Access various score calculations, including interest rates for mortgage and auto loans.
- FICO score access and monitoring with the FICO Score 8 historical tracking graph.
- Access to detailed credit reports and monitoring.
- $1 million identity theft insurance, 24-7 full-service identity restoration, and lost wallet protection
Cons
- Cost
- The basic tier doesn’t use all three credit bureaus
Beyond Your FICO Score
One of the things I really like about myFICO.com is that it doesn’t just give you your score. Rather, it gives you your score and helps you decipher it. You’ll see where you shine and where there’s room for improvement. For example, monitor your score using the myFICO historical tracking graph, or see how it measures it up when securing a mortgage or auto loan.
Another perk? myFICO also breaks down why your score is what it is, good or bad. myFICO will give you more information about each factor that is either helping or hurting your credit score. You also receive tips on how to improve those factors that may be keeping your FICO score down.
For example, my score is impacted by past inquiries and my amount of debt and opened accounts. Both of these were identified by myFICO, which gives me a clear indication of what I need to work on if I want to improve my credit score.
You can also look within the report itself (not just the score) to see which items are impacting your report. myFICO will tell you exactly how particular accounts may be impacting your credit score. All this to say, this detailed information can help you start the process of improving your score.
Planning Ahead
Another great feature of myFICO.com is that they allow you to use their FICO Score Simulator to determine how future moves will impact your credit. This information can be beneficial if you are looking to buy or refinance a home, get another credit card, or take out a car loan. You can see exactly how a big financial move will impact your score with each bureau.
Sure, you can always see your free credit report from a site like AnnualCreditReport.com. If it’s just your credit report you’re after, that’s the place to go.
But if you want to get your FICO score, see how you stack up at the three different credit bureaus, access score calculations, like mortgages and auto loans, play out up to 24 different simulations to see how they might impact your score, plus get access to full your credit report, then you’ll need a more in-depth analysis, like myFICO.
Related: How to Get Your Totally Free Credit Report
What’s particularly nice about myFICO, though, is that it presents your credit report in an easy-to-read and understandable format. The site breaks down your credit report into five separate screens that cover the following topics:
- Credit-at-a-glance
- Accounts
- Inquiries
- Collections
- Public Records
In addition to showing you any missed payments and length of credit history, it also shows your total debt, number of accounts opened, recent inquiries, and more. You then can easily move from page to page to see everything in your credit report.
When reviewing your report, it is important to carefully review the accounts section. This will show you if there are accounts opened that you don’t know about, a red flag when it comes to fraud. But don’t worry, myFICO will help you with that, too.
myFICO will also show you if any creditors have reported missed or late payments, which can impact your score in a big way. And if you think there is an error in your credit report, myFICO offers form letters you can use to dispute information in your report, making disputes that much easier.
myFICO Alternatives
Credit Karma
Credit Karma offers users a free look at their credit report and score and updates daily. When you log in, you’ll have access to view all of your open and closed credit accounts, check for errors, and report anything you believe to be a mistake.
Because Credit Karma knows a lot about you, they use that data to offer financial products that you’ll be approved for. They offer the Karma guarantee, where if they say you’ll be approved for a product, you apply and are not approved, they’ll pay $50. (Your credit score will take a hit for the application, so apply wisely).
Experian
Experian is one of the three main credit bureaus, so they know more than anyone what a good credit report and score should look like. With Experian, you’ll have access to a 7-day trial for $1, which will give you access to your Experian credit report and credit score. After the trial expires, you can choose a few different CreditWorks plan options, beginning at $21.95 per month.
Experian also has a neat product called Experian Boost, where they’ll use data like your rental payments in an effort to provide an immediate boost to your credit score. Experian Boost is free to use and has shown to be a great way to get an immediate bump in your credit that could provide a better interest rate for your next credit application.
The Bottom Line
For those looking to improve or monitor their credit and get a more comprehensive view of what’s affecting it, myFICO is a valuable tool.
That’s because it offers a variety of financial tools, from full credit reports to score calculations, credit report monitoring at the three bureaus, access to a detailed credit report, and access to easy-to-understand graphs so you can monitor your score’s progress in real time. That’s not to mention myFICO’s $1 million theft insurance, 24/7 identity restoration, lost wallet protection, and identity theft monitoring.
Does anyone really love checking their credit score? Probably not. But it’s a necessary piece of your long-term financial health and should be treated as such.
myFICO
Summary
myFICO is the leader in credit reports and scores and offers a variety of plans to help you monitor and fix your credit report. The only drawback of myFICO is it’s a bit more expensive than most.