Frequently Asked Questions
What is SavvyMoney Credit Report?
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. When you view your credit report, there will be no impact to your score.
Is there a fee?
No. 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 SavvyMoney
site from within online banking.
How does the SavvyMoney Credit Score differ from other credit scoring offerings?
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 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, Poor < 501.
Will HAPO honor my SavvyMoney credit score for loan applications?
Absolutely. While your SavvyMoney credit score may differ from the scores we get internally from the credit bureaus, our goal is to provide you with the best offer we can. If your SavvyMoney score is different than the score we have, simply print out
your score and let us know. We will review your information and determine if there is a better offer we can provide you.
Will HAPO honor any credit score provided by the member through other online credit providers, financial institutions, or dealers?
No. HAPO will only use the credit score pulled internally during the application process or your current SavvyMoney credit score while enrolled through HAPO’s online and mobile banking.
Will SavvyMoney share my credit score with HAPO?
No, your 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.
How does SavvyMoney Credit Score keep my financial information secure?
SavvyMoney uses bank level encryption and security measures to keep your data safe and secure. Your personal information is never sold to a third party.
What if the information provided by SavvyMoney Credit Score appears to be wrong or inaccurate?
The 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 contacting 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 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 HAPO product offers and financial education articles. Why am I seeing this?
Based on your SavvyMoney Credit Score information, you may receive offers from HAPO 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 SavvyMoney Credit Score ‘ping’ my credit and potentially lower my credit score?
No. Checking 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 SavvyMoney offer credit report monitoring as well?
Yes. SavvyMoney will monitor and send email alerts when there has been a change to your credit profile.
How do Members change their email address or other personal information?
If you access SavvyMoney program through your online banking, you have to do nothing! Your email address will be updated automatically in SavvyMoney when you update it in online banking.
Can Members use SavvyMoney on mobile devices?
Yes, SavvyMoney Credit Score is available for both mobile and tablet devices and is integrated inside our mobile application.
Will HAPO reprice current loans using my SavvyMoney credit score?
No. HAPO will only consider the SavvyMoney credit score when an application is made for new credit.
Can I use SavvyMoney with my ITIN?
At this time SavvyMoney is not available to use with an ITIN.