credit score insights

Credit Score, powered by a partnership between ALEC and SavvyMoney^®, is a comprehensive program offered by ALEC, that helps you stay on top of your credit. You get your latest credit score and report, an understanding of key factors that impact the score, and can see the most up-to-date offers that can help reduce your interest costs or lower your monthly payments. With this program, you always know where you stand with your credit and what opportunities you have to save with ALEC.

Credit Sense also monitors your credit report daily and informs you through digital banking and by email if there are any big changes detected such as: a new account being opened, change in address or employment, a delinquency has been reported, or an inquiry has been made. Monitoring helps you keep an eye out for identity theft.

The credit report provides you all the information you would find on your credit file including a list of current or previous loans, accounts, and credit inquiries. You will also be able to see details on your payment history, credit utilization, and public records that show up on your account. The best part, when you check your credit report, there will be no impact to your score.

The Score Simulator is an interactive tool that allows you to select various actions you may take and see how your score could be affected. Different actions, like paying off a credit card balance might make your score move up or down. Using the simulator does not affect your actual credit score.

No. Credit Sense is entirely free, and no credit card information is required to register.

As long as you regularly access digital banking, your dashboard will be updated every 7-days and displayed within your online banking screen. You also have the ability to refresh your score and full report every 24-hours by clicking “Refresh Score” on the main dashboard.

Your credit profile is pulled from TransUnion, one of the three major credit reporting bureaus, and uses VantageScore 3.0, a 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.

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 considered when calculating a score and each model may weigh credit factors differently, so no scoring model is completely identical but should directionally be similar.

No, ALEC uses its own lending criteria when making final loan decisions. However, Credit Score can show you estimated savings opportunities on new and existing loans. Final rate, term, monthly payment, and other factors will be determined at the time of application.

No, ALEC does not have access to your credit file unless you choose to share with them. If you would like to share your credit report with us or any trusted party, you can easily download your credit report by navigating to the “Credit Report” tab and clicking “Download Report”. If sharing your report electronically, please use a secure channel.

This tool 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.

This product is designed to help you manage your credit so when it comes time to borrow for a big-ticket purchase — like buying a home, car, or paying for college — you have a clear picture of your credit health and can qualify for the lowest possible interest rate. You will also see how you can save on offers with ALEC.

Based on your information, you may receive ALEC pre-qualified offers (invitation to apply) on products that may be of interest to you. In most cases, these offers may have lower interest rates than the products you already have or can save you money on your monthly payments. The educational articles are designed to provide helpful tips on how you can manage credit and debt wisely.

No. Checking your credit using this tool is always a soft inquiry, which does not affect your credit score. Typically, lenders use hard inquiries to make decisions about your credit worthiness when you apply for loans.

Yes. After you have enrolled for the first time, it will monitor and send email alerts when there’s been a change to your credit profile. When applicable, you can also find these monitoring alerts within your online or mobile banking account.

Your information will automatically be updated when you update your personal information with ALEC. After you have made the change, the next time you log in, the update will occur.

Yes. Navigate to the Resources tab, then click Profile Settings. There you can choose which email notifications you receive. Emails received from the Credit Score tool will display a sender address of “ALEC via SavvyMoney”. There are three types of emails: Credit Monitoring Alerts, General Messages, and Monthly Notices. You will be automatically enrolled in all email communications and can easily unselect the specific email types you choose not to receive. There are also subscription management settings at the bottom of these emails that you can change.

Yes, this tool is available on both mobile and tablet devices and is integrated within our mobile banking app.