Score Watch™ Overview
Score Watch™monitors your score and notifies you when a change in your score could impact the interest rates you are likely to receive on a selected type of loan. Score Watch checks your score when there are key changes to your credit report or weekly if there are no changes. You may also select a target score as an alert preference. Alerts come with detailed explanations for key credit file changes, score changes and trending of your score each time it is displayed. Receive two Score Power® reports - one at purchase and the second to be used any time during your subscription. Plus you receive discounts on additional reports.
Select any of the topics below to learn more about the features of Score Watch
Score Monitoring
Score Watch™ checks your score when there are key changes to your credit report or weekly if there are no changes.
You have two types of score monitoring preferences:
Score band monitoring - Equifax is provided with average interest rates received for various loans by FICO® score band. Score Watch will notify you when your score crosses into a new score band, changing the interest rate you are likely to qualify for on a certain type of loan. Mortgage is the loan type default for score band monitoring. You may change the type of loan to an auto or home equity loan.
Target score monitoring - You may set a target score and Score Watch will notify you if your score rises above, falls below, or reaches your target score.
There are 3 types of score alerts you may receive:
- FICO score band change alert
- Target Score Alerts
- Score change at the time you receive a credit alert, even if it does not meet a score alert preference you have set
Each time you receive a score alert Score Watch provides a description of why the change may have occurred and detailed information about what the new score means.
Credit Monitoring
Score Watch provides you the same credit monitoring features as Equifax Credit Watch™ Gold which includes notification of:
- Name change
- Change of address
- New credit inquiries
- New accounts
- Changes to existing accounts
- New or changes to public records
- New or changes to collection accounts
In addition to these standard alerts you have the following customizable credit alerts:
- Balance change alert. You may set up your credit alert preferences to notify you when certain changes occur (by dollar amount or percentage) in the balances of your credit accounts. The default settings are a $200 balance change, or a 25% balance change.
- Dormant card alert. You may set up your alert preferences to notify you when a credit card is considered inactive, and you will then be notified if the card is utilized after such a period of inactivity. The default inactive card time period is 6 months.
- These alerts are triggered when balance changes or card utilization is reported to Equifax.
Score Trending
Score Watch™ tracks your score over time and lets you know where you stand relative to the FICO® score bands used to signal your score change alerts and any target score you have set. At the same time you can see the national average interest rates for the loan type you have selected by FICO score band.
What Your Score Means
Score Watch™ provides a detailed "Bottom Line" of what your most current score means - whether it came from an alert, or from a Score Power® report you accessed. This includes
- The Bottom Line - A summary of what your score means to lenders
- How Lenders See You - What the average delinquency rate is for people in specific score ranges
- Average Loan Rate Finder - A calculator that shows you the average interest rate for a variety of loans for your score band
- How Can I Manage My Score? - Helpful tips for managing your credit score
Score Power Reports
At the time you enroll in Score Watch™ a Score Power® report is delivered to you. You can access this report from the Summary page or the Score Power left navigation option. You have one additional free Score Power you may use any time during your subscription, and discounts on additional Score Power reports purchased during your subscription.
Learn more about Score Watch™ in the Score Watch™ FAQs.
