Free credit score monitoring, included with your NW Plus membership
NW Plus CU partners with Credit Sense to provide members access to free credit score and credit report monitoring. You get your latest credit score, credit report and an understanding of key factors that impact your score – all at no cost.
Credit Sense pulls your credit profile from TransUnion, one of the three major credit reporting bureaus, and provides you all the information you would find in your credit file including a list of open 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.
Checking Credit Sense is a "soft inquiry", which does not affect your credit score.
Monitoring your credit helps keep an eye out for identity theft. It can also 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.
Members must sign up for online banking to access Credit Sense. Both are entirely free and no credit card information is required to register. As long as you are a regular NW+ online banking or mobile app user, your credit score will be updated monthly.
Sign up for online banking today, to start seeing your updated credit score whenever you want:
Credit Sense Frequently Asked Questions
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What is Credit Sense?
Credit Sense is a comprehensive Credit Score program offered by NW+, 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 from NW+ that can help reduce your interest costs. With this program, you always know where you stand with your credit and how NW+ can help save you money!
Credit Score also monitors your credit report daily and informs you 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 injury has been made. Monitoring helps users keep an eye out for identity theft.
What is a Credit Sense Credit Report?
Credit Sense Credit Report provides you all the information you would find on your credit file including a list of open 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. Like Credit Score, when you check your credit file, there will be no impact to your score.
Is there a fee?
No. Credit Sense is entirely free and no credit card information is required to register.
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. You can click "refresh score" as frequently as every day by navigating to the detailed Credit Sense site from within online banking or through our mobile app.
How does Credit Sense differ from other credit scoring offerings?
Credit Sense 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.
Will NW+ use Credit Sense to make loan decisions?
No, NW+ uses its own lending criteria for making loan decisions.
Will Credit Sense share my credit score with NW+?
No, Credit Sense is a free service to help you understand your credit health, how you make improvements in your score and ways you can save money on your loans with NW+.
How does Credit Sense keep my financial information secure?
Credit Sense 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.
If Northwest Plus Credit Union doesn't use Credit Sense to make loan decisions, why do we offer it?
Credit Sense can 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'll also see offers on how you can save money on your new and existing loans with NW+.
What if the information provided by Credit Sense appears to be wrong or inaccurate?
Credit Sense 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 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 their Credit Sense Credit Report. However, The Federal Trade Commission website offers step-by-step instructions on how to contact the bureaus and correct errors.
There is a section on the site that features both NW Plus product offers and financial education articles. Why am I seeing this?
Based on your Credit Sense information, you may receive NW Plus CU offers 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. The educational articles, written by Jean Chatzky and the Credit Sense team, are designed to provide helpful tips on how you can manage credit and debt wisely.
Will accessing Credit Sense 'ping' my credit and potentially lower my credit score?
No. Checking Credit Sense 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.
Does Credit Sense offer credit report monitoring as well?
Yes. Credit Sense will monitor and send email alerts when there's been a change to your credit profile.
How do I change my email address or other personal information?
If you access the Credit Sense program through online banking in Personal Branch, you do nothing! Your email address will get updated automatically in Credit Sense when you update it in Personal Branch. However, we always encourage you to inform your financial institution of any contact information updates.
Can I use Credit Sense through my mobile devices?
Yes, Credit Sense is available through our NW+ Mobile App via mobile or tablet devices and is integrated inside our mobile application. View the Credit Sense PDF for more information.
How do I opt out of Credit Sense email notifications?
How do I Deactivate Credit Sense?
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