September 2004 Credit Score: TransUnion/635, Experian/732
Some of you asked me why I haven't posted my September credit score yet. I didn't post it earlier because I recently changed the source to get my score. As you might recall, I had been using Eloan's Credit Monitoring Service in the last 12 months. At $29.95 a year, it is an economical plan to get monthly scores.
But there is a cheaper alternative for me now: with the recent upgrade to Microsoft Money 2005, I am entitled to one year of free credit monitoring service from Experian. In a nutshell, this free offer includes a one-time credit report from Experian, and, as far as I know, unlimited Experian PLUS score for the period. (The free trial offer signup does not require credit card information; upon signup, Experian will send you a snail mail will access code information so it may take up to two weeks to get access to the credit report and credit score.)
(On a side note, you also know from my previous credit score updates that I am using the free TransUnion score provided by my Providian card too. It is free and a monthly score is usually available on 25th of every month. The Providian free service just offers a score but very limited other information.)
Now here comes the score for September: Experian thinks I am an "excellent" risk, giving me a score of 732 which puts me ahead of 54% of the population. (You might remember it is well above the 675 score PrivacyGuard reported to me in mid-August.) TransUnion turns its back on me, slashing my credit score my 99 points in a month to 635.
| TransUnion | Eloan | Difference | |
| September-03 | 686 | 636 | 50 |
| October-03 | 686 | 663 | 23 |
| November-03 | 686 | 650 | 36 |
| December-03 | 673 | 649 | 24 |
| January-04 | 689 | 673 | 16 |
| February-04 | 695 | 684 | 11 |
| March-04 | 697 | 691 | 6 |
| April-04 | 710 | 675 | 35 |
| May-04 | 704 | 679 | 25 |
| June-04 | 730 | 700 | 30 |
| July-04 | 719 | 710 | 9 |
| August-04 | 734 | 666 | 68 |
| TransUnion | Experian | Difference | |
| September-04 | 635 | 732 | -97 |
I can understand some of TransUnion's concerns. The system shows my revolving balance is now $15,000 to $19,999 and this is partly due to my unsuccessful Fleet balance transfer. I almost maxed out my credit limit on two cards; one due to the Fleet issue, and the other is due to the 0% APR deal from Discover. With this nasty experience off my back, I expect to see positive changes to my score in the next couple of months.
December 1 finally comes! Today marks the first day people living in western states can order their credit reports for free from the top three consumer reporting agencies: TransUnion, Experian and Equifax. I blogged about this news six months ago and 8 days ago, and ... Read
October brought some positive changes to my credit score. The lagging score, reported by TransUnion (thru Providian) rose 24 points to 659. The score from Experian also improved 12 points and ended the month at 744. This brings the gap between the two numbers down ... Read
BankOne is in the game of aggresively marketing its credit card insurance program. Like CitiBank, which sent me a $15 check to lure me into its Credit Protector program back in May, BankOne is now giving me a $20 one for its variation called First ... Read
If you follow my gold credit card portfolio to get your share of $1,000 cashback rewards every year, you might notice the biggest bottleneck to squeeze even more cashback dollars is the caps put in the top two cards. Specifically, Citi® Dividend Platinum Select® Card ... Read
Some credit cards are now offering free monthly scores. Providian (the provider of my Paypal credit card) is offering this service. Also, I'm down to under 8K of revolving debt! Woohoo!
