Welcome to Credit Sense!

Log in to Mobile Banking
and click on the My Credit
Score link at the bottom of
the Accounts tile.

Then, tap the GET
STARTED banner.

Enter basic information
including name, address,
DOB and SSN, so we can
pull your credit profile.

Note: this is a soft pull,
so it does not affect your
score.

Then, proceed to a
confirmation screen.

Check the approval box
to give us authorization
to retrieve your credit
score and report, then
proceed to validation
step.

Last step! Answer a few
simple questions to validate
your identity for extra
security.

You’re in! View your
personalized, Credit
Sense home page.

1. Why is it a good idea to review both FICO and Vantage Scores?
   • You may not realize this, but FICO is not the only major kind of score used by the major credit reporting agencies. They also use a newer kind of score called Vantage. Here are a few things you should know.
2. What is a Vantage Score?
   • Vantage is a newer kind of credit score, which is similar to FICO, and is endorsed by all the major credit reporting agencies.
   • Because Vantage is newer; however, it isn’t used as widely as FICO, so many lenders, like your Credit Union for example, check credit using only FICO for lending decisions.
3. What scores does your Credit Union use?
   • Your Credit Union only checks your credit using FICO. For example, the Credit Union will use FICO score when opening a new account and for all its lending decisions. This is the also the score that you will find on your quarterly statements, if you opt in to receive it.
   • We still recommend; however, that you review your Vantage Score, which is why we made it available to you on our Credit Sense site. Other financial institutions you do business with may, in fact, use this score in making lending and other decisions.
4. How are Vantage and FICO scores similar, and how do they differ?
   • Both FICO and Vantage use an overall credit score range from 300 (worst) to 850 (best). And, both consider similar general factors in creating your score – so, if you remember to pay bills on time and use less of your card credit limits, for example, both your scores would improve.
   • But, there are important differences. The sub ranges in each kind of score do not exactly match up. E.g. with FICO, an “exceptional” score is 800-850, but in Vantage the equivalent, “excellent,” is 750 – 850.
   • This means you should NOT compare your FICO directly with your Vantage – the numbers will be slightly different. But, you should generally fall in the same range for both. E.g. if you are “good” in one, you should be “good” in another.
   • If this is not the case, and you are “good” in one and “fair” in another, an example could be because each kind of score places different levels of importance on some factors, and you might need to check further.
   • For example, while both scores will ding your credit score for a late payment, FICO will penalize all kinds of late payment to the same degree. However, with Vantage, it will hit you harder if you are late on your mortgage than on a credit-card payment. This is yet another important reason we are making this score available to you as well as FICO.

So, be vigilant and monitor BOTH scores so you can manage both of them and keep both heading in the right direction.