Embassy Bank For the Lehigh Valley

What is SavvyMoney Credit Score?

SavvyMoney is a comprehensive program that helps you stay on top of your credit. The program provides free, ongoing access to your latest credit score and report, monitors your credit for key changes, and finds savings opportunities on existing and new loans and credit cards – all through your online and mobile banking account.

With this program, you can check your credit score, factors that influence it, and your full credit report. The scores are updated automatically every month, or you have the option to refresh your score and report daily. You always get the most updated offers you are eligible for every time you log in, so you can evaluate new loans, or refinance existing ones to lower rates or reduce your monthly payments.

The program also monitors your credit report daily and informs you through digital banking and by email if any big changes are detected – a new account has been 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 SavvyMoney Credit Report?
SavvyMoney Credit Report provides you with all of the information you would find on a 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 the public records that show up on your account.  Like Credit Score, when you check your credit report it will have no impact on your credit score.

What is the Score Simulator tool?

The score simulator tool 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. Just like checking your credit score through SavvyMoney, using the simulator will not affect your actual credit score.

Is there a fee?
No. SavvyMoney is entirely free, and no credit card information is required to register.

How often are credit scores updated?
If you regularly access digital banking, your credit score will be updated every 7-days and displayed within your digital banking. You can also refresh your credit score and full report every 24-hours by clicking “Refresh Score” and navigating to the detailed Credit Score Dashboard within digital banking.  

How does SavvyMoney Credit Score differ from other credit scoring offerings?
SavvyMoney pulls your credit profiles 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. Key factors that drive the score are the same.

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 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. You’ll see that SavvyMoney Credit Scores are represented along a credit score range, which helps you get an easier understanding of where you stand. 

Will Embassy Bank For the Lehigh Valley use SavvyMoney Credit Score to make loan decisions?
No, Embassy Bank For the Lehigh Valley uses our own lending criteria when making final loan decisions and has no access to SavvyMoney Credit Score.

Will SavvyMoney share your credit scores with Embassy Bank For the Lehigh Valley?
No, SavvyMoney Credit Score is a free service to help you understand your credit health, make improvements in your scores, and see loan and credit card offers from Embassy Bank For the Lehigh Valley.   Embassy Bank For the Lehigh Valley doesn’t have access to your credit file with SavvyMoney unless you choose to share it. If you would like to share, you can easily do so by navigating to the Credit Report tab and clicking “Download Report” to share at your discretion.  

How does SavvyMoney Credit Score keep your financial information secure?
SavvyMoney has put in place bank level encryption and security policies to keep your data safe and secure. SavvyMoney also has a sophisticated system that scans for and thwarts online bots, intrusions, and attacks.

SavvyMoney’s policies and processes are reviewed annually by a third-party auditor and have been verified by multiple digital banking platforms’ Security and Compliance teams for meeting stringent security guidelines.

What if the information provided by SavvyMoney Credit Score appears to be wrong or inaccurate?
The SavvyMoney Credit Score is not intended to be comprehensive and may not provide all information about your accounts. That’s why we encourage you to take advantage of obtaining free credit reports from www.annualcreditreport.com to look for any incorrect information or discrepancies across all three bureaus. Each bureau has its own process for correcting inaccurate information, but you can “File a Dispute” by clicking on the “Dispute” link within your SavvyMoney Credit Report. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau website also offers step-by-step instructions on how to contact the bureaus and correct errors.

There is a section on the site that features both Embassy Bank For the Lehigh Valley product offers and financial education articles. Can you explain more about this?

You may receive Embassy Bank For the Lehigh Valley offers (invitation to apply) on products that may be of interest to you.  In some cases, these offers may have lower interest rates than the products you already have, or they may save you money on your monthly payments. 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 SavvyMoney Credit Score impact your credit and potentially lower your credit score?
No.  Checking SavvyMoney Credit Score is always a “soft inquiry,” which does not affect credit scores. Typically, ‘Hard inquiries’ are used by lenders to make decisions about your creditworthiness when you apply for loans. Hard inquiries can lower a credit score. 

Does SavvyMoney offer credit report monitoring?
Yes. When you successfully enroll in the credit score solution the first time, you are automatically enrolled into credit monitoring. Your file is scanned daily for key changes, and an alert is sent when a significant change is detected. These alerts are provided within digital banking and via email. You can update your email preferences for SavvyMoney emails by navigating to “Resources” and the “Profile Settings” section.

SavvyMoney will provide the following monitoring alerts:

• An account has been included in bankruptcy.
• An account is reported as delinquent.
• A fraud alert has been placed on the credit file.
• A previously derogatory account is now current.
• A new account has been opened.
• An account in your name shows a different address.
• An account in your name listed a new employer.
• A new inquiry on the credit file.
• A new public record has been reported.

How do you change your email address or other personal information?
When you access the SavvyMoney program through your digital banking, you do not need to update your information directly with SavvyMoney. When you change your email address or other personal information in your digital banking profile, SavvyMoney automatically updates that information on its side as well. SavvyMoney always encourages you to inform your financial institution of any contact information updates.

Are you able to choose which emails you receive from SavvyMoney?

Yes, you can easily choose when SavvyMoney contacts you. Navigate to the “Resources” tab and then under “Profile Settings” you can choose which email notifications you receive. SavvyMoney sends out 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 do not wish to receive. 

Can you use SavvyMoney on mobile devices?
Yes, SavvyMoney Credit Score and all other features are available to use on mobile and tablet devices and is integrated within Embassy Bank For the Lehigh Valley’s mobile banking application.