We have a credit monitoring service we use. We've had too many instances of medical bills going to the wrong address or otherwise going astray in the past several years to not keep a sharp eye on things. And now especially while we are preparing to buy a house in the next year or so, it feels worthwhile for us to have it for that extra piece of mind. I don't want to walk in there when it's time to go for a mortgage loan and have them say there is something we didn't know about that will prevent us from getting one. Maybe I'm a little paranoid, but it's worth it for my piece of mind.

Regardless, our credit score just took a major jump up to 790 from 777 as the credit bureau finally caught up to where we're actually at (well, not quite, it's still reporting higher amounts in 3 categories than we actually have, but it's a lot closer now). I'm sure this has to do with our debt to income ratio now being below 45% by about 2%.

I think this is the first time it's ever been above 780 before, though for most of my adult married life it's been at least 750 or above, even during the worst debt load. I am hopeful that when we pay off the BoA VISA I might actually see it jump to 800. I'd love to have it be in the 800's when we are ready to get a new house and mortgage.