These days it has never been more important for consumers to know their credit score. Lenders are taking a hard look at the loans on their books, and an even harder look at requests for new credit. Those borrowers with less than stellar credit are increasingly finding themselves unable to get the loans they need to buy new cars, new mortgages home refinancing deals and more. This lack of credit can have severe consequences, and all too many consumers are finding themselves out in the cold and unable to get the money they need.
In addition to these serious problems consumers also have to be on constant guard for signs of identity theft. No matter how good or bad the economy may be the bad guys are always out there, and consumers have to be on their guard. Fortunately for consumers there are a number of companies whose job it is to watch out for problems and help them get the credit they need and deserve – scoreassist.com is one such company.
What Does the Service Offer?
Consumers who sign up for the services of scoreasssit.com are promised a number of important services, including the following:
- SMART Credit Report – this part of the service promises a quick and easy glance at a number of different credit scores – not just the traditional credit score but others as well. These additional credit scores include the automotive credit score, employment score and insurance score. These scores are important – since they have a direct bearing on every consumer’s life.
- SMART Action Button – This button is highly touted on the Smart Credit site, and it is designed to place all the information a consumer needs in one easy to use location. The button is designed to let consumers view errors on their credit reports, detect and remove problems caused by identity theft and verify accounts. Consumers can also use the SMART Action Button to request corrections of negative information and settle outstanding debts. Consumers can also use this handy button to estimate the credit boosting power of many different actions.
- SMART Alerts – When your credit changes – for good or bad – you want to know about it and you want to know about it fast. The SMART Alerts service is designed to alert consumers when their credit status changes, and it is touted as an early warning system consumers can use to be proactive with their credit scores..
- SMART Credit Report Lock – The SMART Credit Report Lock service is designed to provide consumers with a proactive approach to protecting themselves and their credit scores. This service allows consumers to easily lock and unlock their credit files, helping to prevent identity theft and other potential credit hazards.
So how well does it all work, and how well does the Smart Credit website live up to its promises. To find out I signed up for the free trial and took it out for a test drive. Luckily I had recently pulled a copy of my credit report and verified that it was free of errors, so this made comparing the results of this new service easy. I also have a good idea what my overall credit score is, and the credit score provided by the Smart Credit service was definitely in the ballpark. I am one of the lucky ones – with a high credit score and generally easy access to credit.
I was intrigued by the insurance-specific credit score, and I found that my score on that front was also quite high. I was intrigued and spurred on to find out whether or not my own car insurance company factors credit into their premium calculations. I found that the company did consider credit scores as part of their proprietary risk model, and that helped to explain why my rates over the years have been quite a bit lower than some others I know.
I have not searched for a job in quite awhile, so I cannot speak to the accuracy or usefulness of the employment related credit score. But I can speak to the accuracy of the alerts I received while signed up for the service. I had recently applied for and been accepted for a new American Express card, and that credit inquiry did indeed show up in the alerts section of my report. So did something I was not aware of – a hard pull of my credit report performed by a bank where I had just opened a new checking account. I quickly came to see how useful this kind of alert could be.
These alerts also seemed to come in a bit faster than at some other services I have used. With some services it can take a week or more to receive an alert, but with Smart Credit my alerts showed up within a day or two of the triggering event.
With only five (5) days of free trial to work with I needed to make sure I canceled the service quickly, so I called and spoke to a very nice customer service representative. The wait on hold was only about five minutes, a reasonable wait for this kind of thing. Of course the representative tried to solicit my reason for cancellation, but she was very nice and very helpful. My service has now been canceled and no charges have accrued.
All in all the Smart Credit service seems to offer what it promises, with helpful protections for consumers and alerts when potentially negative information appears. My biggest complaint about the service is the length of the free trial – in my opinion five days is not nearly enough time to evaluate all of the services offered. I would recommend extending that free trial period to at least 10 days, and preferably to two weeks or more. This extended free trial period would give potential customers a good chance to evaluate the services without feeling rushed.
To Visit the Official score assist Website Click Here
