CreditSavvy

• How does CreditSavvy differ from other credit scoring offerings?
  

  CreditSavvy pulls your credit profile from TransUnion®, one of the three major credit reporting bureaus, and uses VantageScore 3.0®, a credit scoring model developed collaboratively by the three major credit bureaus: Equifax®, Experian®, and TransUnion®. This model seeks to make score information more uniform between the three bureaus to provide consumers a better picture of their credit health.

• Why do credit scores differ?
  

  There are three major credit-reporting bureaus—Equifax®, Experian® and Transunion®—and two scoring models—FICO® or VantageScore®—that determine credit scores. Financial institutions use different bureaus, as well as their own scoring models. Over 200 factors of a credit report may be taken into account when calculating a score and each model may weigh credit factors differently, so no scoring model is completely identical. No matter what credit bureau or credit scoring model is used, consumers do fall into specific credit ranges: Excellent 781–850, Good 661-780, Fair 601-660, Unfavorable 501-600, Bad Below 500.

• What if the information provided by CreditSavvy appears to be wrong or inaccurate?
  

  CreditSavvy makes its best effort to show you the most relevant information from your credit report. If you think that some of the information is wrong or inaccurate, we encourage you to take advantage of obtaining free credit reports from www.annualcreditreport.com, and then pursuing with each bureau individually. Each bureau has its own process for correcting inaccurate information but every user can “File a Dispute” by clicking on the “Dispute” link within CreditSavvy. However, The Federal Trade Commission website offers step-by-step instructions on how to contact the bureaus and correct errors.

• What is CreditSavvy?
  

  CreditSavvy provides you all the information you would find on your credit file, including a list of open loans, accounts, and credit inquiries. You'll also see details on your payment history, credit utilization, and public records that show up on your account. With CreditSavvy, when you check your credit report, there will be no impact to your score. 

• Does CreditSavvy offer credit report monitoring as well?
  

  Yes. CreditSavvy will monitor and send email alerts when there’s been a change to your credit profile.

• Will accessing CreditSavvy ‘ping’ my credit and potentially lower my credit score?
  

  No. Checking CreditSavvy is a “soft inquiry”, which does not affect your credit score.  Lenders use ‘hard inquiries’ to make decisions about your credit worthiness when you apply for loans.

• How does CreditSavvy keep my financial information secure?
  

  CreditSavvy uses bank level encryption and security measures to keep your data safe and secure. Your personal information is never shared with or sold to a third party.

• Will CreditSavvy share my credit score with Granite State Credit Union?
  

  No, your CreditSavvy is a free service to help you understand your credit health, how you make improvements in your score and ways you can save money by using Granite State Credit Union for your lending needs.

• How often is my credit score updated?
  

  As long as you are a regular OnLine Banking user, your credit score will be updated every month and displayed in your OnLine Banking screen. You can click “refresh score” as frequently as every day by navigating to the detailed CreditSavvy site from within OnLine Banking.