It Ain't What It Used To Be
Written: Aug 27 '03 (Updated May 27 '04)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Customer Service: |
 |
|
| Web Site Experience: |
 |
|
| Web Site Load Time: |
 |
|
|
Pros: I CAN NO LONGER SAY THIS IS TRUE - Alerts you to credit inquiries.
Cons: Expensive, levels of service and reliability have gone down hill.
The Bottom Line: Shop around. You can probably get the same service cheaper.
|
|
|
| meowzebub's Full Review: Privista |
***UPDATE 05/26/04 AT END OF THIS REVIEW***
I have used Privista for a couple of years and was happy with them until they began curtailing their service a few months ago. The most important feature - and the one I looked at first thing at least once a week - was a snapshot of your credit rating by number. This gave you an overall view, from poor to excellent, of where your numerical rating was and how it related to the average credit rating for the rest of the country. This may not have been 100% in line with what the credit agencies used, I don't know how their criteria lines up with the credit bureaus. However, when I was shopping for a new car, their number matched the finance company's number exactly. This feature has disappeared. Now you have to request a FICO report and pay 12.95. They say that your first report is free - although I paid 12.95 for mine - but you don't get updates without paying additional money. I know from when they did provide this information that this number does change unexpectedly. I want to know about changes without having to pay 12.95 each time I check.
In addition, over the last few months the connection to this site has been absolutely lousy. I have to try several times before I can connect, and I've gone several days where I would try a couple of times and give up until the next day.
A year ago I was considering getting everyone in my family a subscription. Now, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. You are paying for a Cadillac and getting a Yugo.
***UPDATE***
05/26/04 - Just a quick addendum, over the past few months I have
1) Applied for a credit card (triggering a hard credit inquiry)
2) Spent thousands on my credit card in a week (my alert limit says to tell me if my account changes by more than $200.00 in one week)
3) Increased my account balance by more than the 2% per week alert limit
While all this happened in the last few months, there has been plenty of time for the data to work its way through the credit reporting system.
How well did Privista keep me informed of these signs of potential abuse and identify theft?
Not at all. Null, zero, zilch, nada. When I e-mailed Privista's customer service to ask just what is it that I'm paying for, I was told that they only use Equifax's credit information. If the account that I hold, or the bank to which I applied didn't report to Equifax, the activity wouldn't appear in Privista. Since one of these banks happened to be Chase Manhattan Bank, I'd like to think they were big enough to be under Equifax's scrutiny.
While I bemoaned the loss of features and difficulty accessing and navigating the site, I find this absolute lack of information on significant changes to my account very, very troublesome. The features I first complained about were only annoyances.
The issue of not getting updated on changes to my account carries real potential for damage. Having Privista has given me a false sense of security. I believed that while I was as at risk as the next person for suffering identity theft or having one of my accounts used fraudulently, I would at least find out about it in time to minimize the damage. I now know that this simply isn't true. At this point, I really can't think what benefit I'm getting from Privista. I definitely won't be renewing with them.
Recommended:
No
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
meowzebub
|
|
Reviews written: 3
Trusted by: 0 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.