WHAT IS CREDIT AWARE CREDIT SCORE?
Credit Aware powered by SavvyMoney is a comprehensive Credit Score program 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. With this program, you always know where you stand with your credit and how your financial institution 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 inquiry has been made. Monitoring helps you keep an eye out for identity theft.
WHAT IS CREDIT AWARE CREDIT REPORT?
Credit Aware powered by SavvyMoney 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 report, there will be no impact to your score.
IS THERE A FEE?
No. Credit Aware powered by SavvyMoney 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 and displayed in your online banking screen. You can click “refresh score” as frequently as every day by navigating to the detailed Credit Aware powered by SavvyMoney site from within online banking.
HOW DOES THE CREDIT AWARE CREDIT SCORE DIFFER FROM OTHER CREDIT SCORE OFFERINGS?
Credit Aware powered by SavvyMoney 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 you 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. Each financial institution uses different bureaus, as well as their own scoring models--including us! 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 FIRST GUARANTY BANK USE CREDIT AWARE CREDIT SCORE TO MAKE LOAN DECISIONS?
No, First Guaranty Bank uses its own lending criteria for making loan.
WILL CREDIT AWARE SHARE MY CREDIT SCORE WITH FIRST GUARANTY BANK?
No, your Credit Aware powered by SavvyMoney Credit Score 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 First Guaranty Bank.
HOW DOES CREDIT AWARE CREDIT SCORE KEEP MY FINANCIAL INFORMATION SECURE?
Credit Aware powered by SavvyMoney 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 THE FIRST GUARANTY BANK DOESN'T USE CREDIT AWARE CREDIT SCORE TO MAKE LOAN DECISIONS, WHY DO WE OFFER IT?
Credit Aware powered by SavvyMoney Credit Score 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 at First Guaranty Bank.
WHAT IF THE INFORMATION PROVIDED BY CREDIT AWARE CREDIT SCORE APPEARS TO BE WRONG OR INACCURATE?
The Credit Aware powered by SavvyMoney Credit Score 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 www.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 Aware powered by SavvyMoney 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 FIRST GUARANTY BANK PRODUCT OFFERS AND FINANCIAL EDUCATION ARTICLES. WHY AM I SEEING THIS?
Based on your Credit Aware powered by SavvyMoney Credit Score information, you may receive other First Guaranty Bank 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 SavvyMoney team, are designed to provide helpful tips on how you can manage credit and debt wisely.
WILL ACCESSING CREDIT AWARE CREDIT SCORE 'PING' MY CREDIT AND POTENTIALLY LOWER BY CREDIT SCORE?
No. Checking Credit Aware powered by SavvyMoney Credit Score 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 AWARE OFFER CREDIT REPORT MONITORING AS WELL?
Yes. Credit Aware powered by SavvyMoney 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 Aware powered by SavvyMoney program through your online banking, you have to do nothing! Your email address will get updated automatically in Credit Aware when you update it in online banking. However we always encourage you to inform us of any contact information updates.
CAN PEOPLE USE CREDIT AWARE ON MOBILE DEVICES?
Yes, Credit Aware powered by SavvyMoney Credit Score is available for both mobile and tablet devices and is integrated inside our mobile application.