My Credit

Take control of your credit rating with this consumer-friendly program.
It's just three simple digits, but your credit score is a key factor in your life. It can help determine whether you get a loan or credit card - and what the interest rate will be. It may also play a role in whether you qualify for a lease or get hired for a job. With My Credit, you can easily learn where your score stands, find out what factors are affecting it, and learn what steps might make it better - or keep it great.
  • My Credit is a free digital program for Empower FCU members accessible within Online Banking
  • Receive daily credit monitoring with alerts for major changes
  • Identify and easily dispute errors made by the three major credit bureau
  • Understand the factors that impact your credit score
  • Try out the Credit Score simulator to see the potential impact of opening new accounts or paying off balances
  • The “Recommended” section highlights personalized financial offers that may be of interest to you
Empower Federal Credit Union is a full-service financial institution serving members throughout New York State.

  1. Log into your Empower account through Online Banking or access it through the Empower Mobile App.
  2. Select 'My Credit' within online banking under the Financial Planning menu. In the App, ‘My Credit’ is available at the bottom of the Accounts menu by selecting the Credit Score card. In addition, mobile users can tap ‘More' to access the 'My Credit' link under Financial Planning.
  3. Review and accept Savvy Money agreement.
  4. See all that 'My Credit' has to offer.

Q. What is My Credit?
A. My Credit is a comprehensive Credit Score program offered by Empower FCU, 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 Empower FCU can help save you money.

My Credit 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.

Q. What is my credit report?
A. Your 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.

Q. Is there a fee?
A. No. My Credit is entirely free and no credit card information is required to register.

Q. How often is my credit score updated?
A. 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 My Credit site from within Online Banking.

Q. How does the My Credit differ from other credit scoring offerings?
A: My Credit 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 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.

Q: Why do credit scores differ?
A: 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, Deficient below 500.

Q: Will Empower Federal Credit Union use My Credit to make loan decisions?
A: No, Empower Federal Credit Union uses its own lending criteria for making loans.

Q: Will My Credit share my credit score with Empower Federal Credit Union?
A: No, My Credit 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 Empower Federal Credit Union.

Q: How does My Credit keep my financial information secure?
A: My Credit 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.

Q: If Empower FCU doesn’t use My Credit to make loan decisions, why do we offer it?
A: My Credit 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 Empower Federal Credit Union.

Q: What if the information provided by My Credit appears to be wrong or inaccurate?
A: My Credit shows 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. In My Credit every user can “File a Dispute” by clicking on the “Dispute” link within their Credit Report. The Federal Trade Commission website offers step-by-step instructions on how to contact the bureaus and correct errors.

Q: There is a section on the site that features both Empower Federal Credit Union product offers and financial education articles. Why am I seeing this?
A: Based on your My Credit information, you may receive Empower FCU 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 financial expert Jean Chatzky, are designed to provide helpful tips on how you can manage credit and debt wisely.

Q: Will accessing My Credit ‘ping’ my credit and potentially lower my credit score?
A: No. Checking My Credit is a “soft inquiry”, which does not affect your credit score. Lenders use ‘hard inquiries’ to make decisions about your creditworthiness when you apply for loans.

Q: Does My Credit offer credit report monitoring as well?
A. Yes. My Credit will monitor and send email alerts when there’s been a change to your credit profile.

Q. How do Customers change their email address or other personal information?
A: If you access My Credit program through your online banking, you have to do nothing! Your email address will get updated automatically in My Credit when you update it in online banking. However, we always encourage you to inform your financial institution of any contact information updates.

If you signed up with My Credit from our website, please log into the website and click on your name displayed on top right of the screen. Select the Profile link from the drop down, and follow instructions to update your information.

Q: Can members use My Credit on mobile devices?
A: Yes, My Credit is available for both mobile and tablet devices and is integrated inside our mobile application.
 
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