Credit Scores Coming to Your Online Banking

[KristinA]

One of the first ideas shared here on the Member Idea eXchange was access to your credit score (Thanks @jretych and all the MIX members who showed their support for the idea!) We’re excited to finally be bringing this to you within your online banking!

Over the next few weeks we’ll be turning it on through a rolling release to large groups of members at a time. If you don’t see your credit score right away, you will soon enough!

Here’s a sneak peek preview of where to look for it when you’re logged into your online banking; you’ll see the link to access it directly to the right of where you see your eStatements and tax statements:

For clarification, FICO Scores online are available for those BECU members with established Member Share Savings Accounts under your personal Online Banking login. If you share a BECU account and have not establshed membership with a Member Share Savings Account, FICO scores may not appear in your individual Online Banking.

We’re also providing a TON of additional FICO score information and insights so be sure to read through the FAQs to get the most out of this new feature.

We’d love to hear from you once you’ve seen your score and have had the chance to read through the information. What are your first impressions? If you had questions, were you able to find the answers you needed with the information provided?

Share your feedback by commenting on this post. We’re looking forward to hearing from you!  

[Dennis]

Thank you, BECU, for providing online access to members' credit scores.  This is an excellent example of BECU's continued good service.

[KristinA]

@Dennis- Welcome to the MIX and thanks for the positive feedback, we're looking forward to it too! Cheers, KristinA 

[dragonflygypsy]

Love this idea!! Will it be accessible in the app? 

[JohnS]

Welcome @dragonflygypsy! Yes, eventually this will be accessible through the mobile app. We're still working on the details and will definitely update the community when we know more. JohnS

[Sfrisch]

This is awesome! So excited for the roll out! My son (age 1) has a savings account- will my husband and I be able to view his credit score and therefore monitor it for fraud protection? Also, my husband and I share accounts - will we each be able to see our credit scores or will scores only be available for the primary account holder? 

Been a member since I was 2 and I LOVE everything y'all are doing!

[JohnS]

We love your enthusiasm @Sfrisch, thanks for being here! You and your husband will be able to view your respective scores when you log into your individual Online Banking profiles as long as each of you have established separate Member Share Savings accounts. If you happen to be using a "shared" login (we know it happens), you'll see the score of the primary user ID. When your son is old enough to start building credit (usually around age 18) his credit score will then become available when he logs into his accounts. In the meantime, you can monitor your son's credit activity by using www.annualcreditreport.com. Thanks! JohnS

[dhindmarch]

Thank you so much for adding this feature. I've long been frustrated with the difficulty of getting an accurate credit score without paying a fee. This is such an important tool for people trying to improve their credit and could be a great source of motivation as they see their score climb, as well as an early warning if it drops.

[conchitach]

Excelent service.

This will actually help me a lot.

How often will it be updated and how many times can I access it in a year?

[KristinA]

@dhindmarch- Thanks for your feedback and the important elements you pointed out! I can confirm that key factors impacting your score display right on the page with your credit score so that will be really valuable info. 

And @conchitach- Glad you'll find this helpful! You can expect to see it updated monthly, (since credit scores don't typically fluctuate too much in a month), and you can access it as often as you'd like! Be sure to take a look at the additional Q&As linked from your score once it becomes visible to you in your online banking.

Cheers, KristinA 

[Dennis]

Kristin, this service keeps sounding better!

Thanks for pointing out the features.

Dennis

[jhalffman]

I am a consultant at Silverdale NFC (and a member myself) and I am absolutely thrilled about the release of the credit scores! My members have already provided great feedback and I myself am overjoyed about it. Great job BECU! Proud to represent this company

[LadySpark]

Fantastic. One idea I didn't have and thrilled to see this. It can be a challenge to access accurate data

[KristinA]

@LadySpark- We're glad you're thrilled, it's a great feature we're proud to finally offer! Cheers, KristinA 

[OyasDaughter]

I really appreciate this! And looking forward to learning what steps to take to increase my score!

[Dennis]

I accessed my credit score yesterday, and thank you for providing it!

[StaceyC]

@Dennis - Yay!  You're very welcome! StaceyC

[jdodoubleg]

This is great. But, now having seen it and experienced the score change (for the better) I have a couple thoughts.

1. The image used for the score looks like it is a placeholder for the actual score. The image is a tad bit blurry and is well, an image, which doesn't appear to be a dynamic entity that might change. I don't know how else to say it. It took a couple visits for me to accept that the image was indeed the score and not a place holder for an eventual score.

2. Now that my score has changed, I wanted to know why. But you don't offer that info, at lease on mine. I also couldn't remember my previous score so i don't know how much it went up. I would like to know how much it went up.

Thank you for the access to the fico score though. 

[JohnS]

Congrats on the improved score, that's great @jdodoubleg! We also appreciate your feedback about the graphic and historical data - I'll definitely share your thoughts with our Online Banking Team. In the meantime, there's information (a FICO Score FAQ) linked on the your score page that provides information on how your score is calculated and why your score can  fluctuate and change. Keep the feedback comming! Thanks! JohnS

[PASTORTLW]

First, let me start by saying I realize this tool is to help the members and its greatly appreiated, however, the FICO score displayed on the BECU website for me is incorrect.  As of 9/19/17 (which is the date BECU claims to have checked my credit wih Transunion) my score was 695 not the 581 displayed on the BECU website.  My score jumped 24 points making it now 719 with Transunion.  My concern is where BECU's information's actually coming from since clearly it didn't come from Transunion.  What would carry more weight with the members is for BECU to report information accurately since checking my FICO score on this site left me aggravated.  How could you guys be that far off the mark?  I would appreciate this information being reported accurately or not at all.  I've worked for almost 2 years without fail on improving my credit and have done an exceptional job to say the least, so when I saw the low FICO score and your exlanation it was troubling to say the least.  Consequently, I'm not impressed with the infomation regarding my credit score and I would appreciae it if you guys would correct & update my information so that it accurately reflelcts my numbers. 

[JohnS]

@PASTORTLW Thanks for joining the MIX and sharing your feedback. First off, congratulations on the hard work you've invested in improving your credit score, I know the  discipline required to make these improvements and I can see how you’d be frustrated to be presented with a number different than what you were expecting to see. I'm sharing your comments with our Product team as we want the information reflected to be as accurate as possible. Thanks again for sharing - stay tuned for a more information! JohnS

[JohnS]

Hi @PASTORTLW Thanks for your patience while we did some investigating into your concerns. It’s common to see a different FICO score from one place to the next. In fact, there are close to 50, yes 5-0, different FICO models - all of which can report a different score. It boggles my mind, if you’re like me you’re wondering, “How can there be so many variations on one score?” The answer to this question is complicated, to say the least.

BECU uses Trans Union Score 8 (which is one variation of the many algorithms FICO uses to report your score).  As you’ve already experienced, the score is dynamic so if the date and/or FICO model differ even slightly, the score can be quite different. For example, if there was a change (say a delinquency dropping off,  a collection status change, a change in balance, new account, account closures, etc) from one day to the next – the score could jump or drop significantly. It’s possible that the FICO score model we display is different than when you’ve directly accessed your score from Trans Union. 

It sounds like you’re already well-focused on the fundamentals of good credit: Making payments on time, keeping debt levels low, avoiding closing old accounts if possible, maintaining a good mix of accounts and applying sparingly for new credit.

Thanks for asking the question and for the opportunity to further dig into the complexities of credit scores. JohnS

[TrevorFoster97]

I've read a few pages about how credit scores can vary largely on different websites, for instance Credit Karma says my TU score is 715 but BECU is saying 743. Is this an actual Fico score and how accurate is it to the score a company may do a hard inquiry to pull for a loan?

Thank you

[JohnS]

@TrevorFoster97 Kudos to you for being on top of your credit score and financial health! And great question, BECU uses Trans Union Score 8 (which is one variation of the many algorithms FICO uses to report your score). As you’ve noticed, scores may differ from place to place, but it looks like you’re in a good range regardless of which score is used so a “hard pull” inquiry would likely be similar. If you have more questions, there's a hand FAQ that goes into more detail and your can access that here. Thanks! JohnS

[MarcBoyd]

 very empowering having access to my fico score!

I think it would be an even better tool if it would list the bad marks on the report and hints on what type of issue it is and ways to fix them. 

[JohnS]

Thanks @MarcBoyd, we think it's an empowering tool, too! Knowing and understanding what impacts your score is important, so we've included a FICO FAQ that goes into more details. As always, you can request your free credit report at www.annualcreditreport.com and if you have any questions along the way, we're here for you! Have a great weekend! JohnS 

[DW1025]

 What "FICO SCORE" ??? It's  been almost 1 Year now & NOTHING ?????? Thanks Again for........... Well NOTHING Actually ????????

V/R,

DW10

[JohnS]

Hi @DW1025, welcome to the community! FICO Scores online are available and will prominently display on your Account Summary page after login.  If you're not able to view your score, there are a few reasons why this could happen (this information is directly from TransUnion): 

• You may have opened your account with BECU recently.
  It may take up to three months before we receive your credit score. Your account will be updated once we have your score.
• We may be having trouble validating your name and/or address with the credit bureau.
  Please give us a call at 800-233-2328 to verify your information.
• You may have a foreign address.
  The credit bureau can only provide data on US addresses.
• Your credit file may not have an updated trade line associated with it or that trade line may not have been open for long enough.
  FICO requires that at least one trade line be updated within the last six months and have been open for at least six months.
• You may have requested that your credit report be frozen.
  Please contact the credit bureau to release your score. 

Please don't hesitate to contact us for help. We want this to be a useful tool for you to use. You can reach us at 800-233-2328. Thanks! JohnS

[Ttimm]

There is a huge difference with my transunion score between becu and credit karma.  Becu is 616 and credit karma is 785.  I know there are diffetent scoring algorithms but this is too large a difference to make sense.  Why is this?  Especially since becu is my bank.  Should i check other bank scores and change institutions or are there other means for me to work with my score at becu?

[JohnS]

Hi @Ttimm thanks for sharing. Huge differences in credit scores can be unnerving for sure. Often, sources other than the 3 major bureaus are known to provide outdated or inaccurate information to consumers. We recommend getting your credit report information directly from TransUnion, Equifax, or Experian and comparing to what Credit Karma is providing. If anything looks inaccurate we recommend contacting the credit bureaus and reporting the discrepancy. A free copy of a three credit reports can be obtained by visiting Annual Credit Report. Thanks. JohnS

[Franka64]

I appreciate learning how to increase my FICO score and having access to information as on how to increase financial power in general ... Thank you!  Francine 

[JohnS]

We think it's a pretty powerful tool too, Francine! Thanks for sharing and welcome to the MIX community! JohnS 

[PASTORTLW]

12345

[DT73]

Not Accurate at all. I monitor my credit score on multiple platforms and perform regular report checks. A very large difference from the BECU FICO score and all the other monitors. This probably explains why my quoted loan rate was so high. I ended up using a different Bank for my auto loan. It's a nice feature but do not buy into the accuracy too much.

[JohnS]

@DT73 Sorry to hear you ended up using another bank for your auto loan (although I understand wanting the best rate possible). BECU uses Trans Union Score 8 (which is one variation of the many algorithms FICO uses to report your score). As you’ve noticed, scores differ from place to place. If you'd like to know more, we have an FAQ that goes into more detail. Thanks! JohnS 

[Jazzercise]

L-o-v-e the ability to see my FICO credit score. I do wish I could see my history of scores though (like I do on my Chase acct) so that I could keep track of trends and stay alert to fluctuations that seem out of the ordinary.

[JohnS]

@Jazzercise Thanks for sharing that suggestion! I'll be sure share this with our Digital team for consideration for future enhancements. Have a great afternoon. JohnS

[Opakhnyuk]

The FICO score is now available on the website, but not visible on the mobile it, which is a much more convenient place to log into.

[JohnS]

@Opakhnyuk We agree and our mobile team has this on their radar. We'll keep you posted with updates when we have more details. Thanks!

[goodlord00]

This is a great option to have. I know I would be pushing my luck but, I would like to have the option to pull my own credit report. I am aware that I can from other sties but one stop shop would make me more comfortable. I always wonder what is on it, sometimes you just don't recall every little hit you may have or have had that is still sitting. Thanks again for giving use tools to look out for ourselves.