Capital One offers CreditWise as a free tool to track your credit score. You may wonder if CreditWise from Capital One is accurate. After all, why would you use a credit score tracker if it is not accurate? The short answer is yes, CreditWise is accurate. The long answer is yes, but sometimes it is less accurate than you may expect.
Overall credit score or FICO credit score is provided by credit bureaus. The score is used to make a decision whether to approve you for a credit card, loan, mortgage, and any other type of credit. It helps lenders to estimate your credit worthiness.
Does CreditWise hurt your credit score?
No, CreditWise makes so called soft pull of your credit score. In contrast with a hard inquiry it doesn’t count towards your recent checks. The same can be said about other credit score tracking tools like Chase Credit Journey. Soft checks are not reported and you cannot find how many of them you have.
You should also be aware that opening checking account doesn’t affect your credit score.
What credit score does Capital One CreditWise use?
Capital One and CreditWise use Vantage score from TransUnion. There are 3 major credit bureaus: TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. They never show the same credit score. The score is always a few points more or less than others. That is why people often have doubts whether the presented credit score is accurate. When you apply for a credit card or a loan, you have to find out which score your new lender checks.
How accurate is CreditWise from Capital One?
Credit score is as accurate for the date it was last updated. It means if your credit score was updated 20 days ago, then your credit score is not very accurate. We can check FICO credit scores from 3 credit bureaus using tools of many banks and decide whether the score is accurate.
For example, Chase has “Credit Journey” that uses Experian to track your credit score. The benefit of Chase is that it checks credit score weekly. American Express has “MyCredit Guide” that show Vantage credit score from TransUnion.
How often does CreditWise update?
Like the majority of other credit score trackers, CreditWise updates once a month. It means that credit wise is not always accurate. In contrast, Chase Credit Journey updates weekly. It means it Credit Journey is more accurate.
Example of credit score sourced from multiple banks
| Tool | Bureau | Date Updated | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capital One CreditWise | TransUnion | 16 | 723 |
| Mint by Intuit | TransUnion | 14 | 723 |
| SoFi | 723 | ||
| Chase Credit Journey | Experian | 8 | 722 |
| American Express | TransUnion | 6 | 729 |
| Wells Fargo | Experian | Previous month | 729 |
| Bank of America | TransUnion | Previous month | 751 |
| CitiBank | Equifax | Previous month | 757 |
| US Bank | TransUnion | Previous month | 732 |