Top perks
Monitor your credit score for free
Your credit score is one of the most important financial numbers to monitor. Through CreditWise, you can access your credit score and report at any time. Your credit summary is a great starting point for specific advice to help improve your credit score and check up on your financial health. As part of the free monitoring service, CreditWise gives you the factors that may move your credit score up or down.
Keep in mind: The CreditWise score is calculated using the TransUnion® VantageScore® 3.0 model, which is one of many scoring models. Your CreditWise score is a good measure of your overall credit health, but it is not likely to be the same score used by creditors. Some monitoring and alerts may not be available if your enrollment information does not match the information at one or more consumer reporting agencies.
Tailored suggestions to help increase your score
CreditWise gives you a detailed and personalized credit summary so you can better understand your score. It also has a score improvement section with tips for increasing your credit score. The score improvement suggestions list the main issues that could be impacting your credit score, ranked in order of impact.
Your suggestions and CreditWise credit score may update as frequently as daily when you sign into your account. The suggestions address the factors that could help positively influence your score. So even if you're doing great, CreditWise still identifies factors you could address to help improve your score.
TransUnion or Experian credit alerts
CreditWise provides credit report alerts from two of the major credit bureaus: Experian and TransUnion. CreditWise gives you real-time alerts if there are any inquiries, delinquent accounts, or other meaningful credit report changes. These and CreditWise's other features use soft inquiries that do not affect your score.
Dark web alerts
CreditWise also searches the dark web, scanning thousands of unsafe sites, hacking forums, and illegal digital marketplaces for your Social Security number and email address. The dark web is a network of websites that are hidden from search engines and only accessible with special software. Hackers and fraudsters use the dark web to sell stolen personal information on the black market, which could lead to identity theft.
CreditWise will send you an alert if it finds your SSN or email address somewhere suspicious. Also, fraudsters may have more than just your SSN or email address. If it finds additional personal information (such as credit card numbers, usernames, or passwords) linked to your SSN or email, CreditWise will send you an immediate alert as well. CreditWise scans the dark web for your information daily.
Credit score simulator
Want to borrow money for a car or house? Or maybe open a new credit card or buy something with your available credit? The CreditWise Credit Simulator is a tool that helps you understand how specific credit choices may affect credit scores. It can be used to determine how certain credit behaviors can have either a positive or negative impact on your credit score. While it does not guarantee to show how your score will change, it is a helpful tool to see how certain actions, like paying down your balance or increasing your credit limit, may affect your score.
What could be improved
Does not track Equifax
CreditWise provides credit report alerts based on data from two of the three credit bureaus: TransUnion and Experian. A single bureau may provide an incomplete picture of your credit activity because lenders are not required to report to every bureau. For example, a lender could report to Experian but not Equifax, or vice versa. If a lender uses Equifax, then CreditWise may not give you a complete picture.
Does not use FICO credit scoring model
FICO uses a different credit score model than the TransUnion VantageScore 3.0 credit score that CreditWise uses. Only information reported to TransUnion will impact it. Your CreditWise score does not include information reported to Experian, and Experian alerts have no impact on your CreditWise score.
While both the FICO® Score and VantageScore 3.0 models are based on similar key factors, there may be differences and FICO® Scores are more widely used. According to FICO, 90% of top lenders make lending decisions based on FICO® Scores.
