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Your credit score can impact many of your financial decisions, so it pays to protect it. Ranked among our top credit monitoring services, Capital One's CreditWise can help you keep an eye on your credit at no cost. However, the service has some gaps in its coverage, and more comprehensive monitoring is preferable if you want a complete picture of your credit profile. Read on to see whether CreditWise suits your needs.
CreditWise Overview
CreditWise is a credit monitoring service offered by Capital One, one of the nation's largest financial institutions. Originally launched in 2014 as the "Credit Tracker" for Capital One credit card holders, the tool was rebranded as CreditWise in 2016 and made available publicly. Unlike other credit cards that offer identity theft protection or credit monitoring, CreditWise is available and free even if you don't have any Capital One accounts, so long as you're over 18 with a valid Social Security number that can be linked to a TransUnion credit profile.
Like other credit monitoring services, CreditWise tracks activity on your credit report and alerts you to changes such as hard inquiries, newly opened accounts, balances, payments, and changes made to your personal information. CreditWise tracks changes to your credit reports from two of the three major credit bureaus (TransUnion and Experian), but only provides credit scores and credit reports from your TransUnion file. The service uses a soft inquiry to access your credit report, so checking your credit score will not impact your score.
CreditWise is available as an app on iOS and Android, where it has ratings of 4.8 stars and 4.6 stars out of five, respectively, based on over 350,000 reviews. You can also access CreditWise online through Capital One's website with all the same functionality as the app.
CreditWise is free to use. However, Capital One uses your personal information for internal business and marketing purposes and may also share your information with affiliates unless you opt out.
CreditWise Features
CreditWise offers a single level of service available for free to all members — there are no paid plans or add-ons. Your membership gets you the tools listed below and more at no cost.
Credit score — CreditWise shows your current credit score and updates it as often as daily when you log into your account. Instead of a FICO score, CreditWise offers a score generated using the VantageScore 3.0 model.
Key credit stats — CreditWise breaks down your credit score into its most vital components, including payment history, age of accounts, credit utilization, and recent inquiries. Seeing how you perform in the factors that affect your credit score can help you identify where there's room for improvement.
Credit and identity alerts — You'll be alerted (by email or push notification) of changes to your TransUnion and Experian credit reports, including new inquiries, delinquencies, and changes in your credit score or profile. You'll also be alerted of dark web activity associated with your identity and other suspicious activity.
Credit score simulator — This tool indicates how certain activities (like getting a mortgage, opening a new credit card, or paying down a balance) may impact your credit score calculations. Precision is not guaranteed, but the results of the credit simulator will give you some idea of whether a financial decision is prudent.
Score improvement — CreditWise offers suggestions for how you can improve your credit score, like reducing your balances or diversifying your debt. These suggestions are ranked from most to least impactful, so you can prioritize which actions to take.
How to Sign Up for CreditWise
You can sign up for CreditWise through Capital One's website or by downloading the CreditWise app through the Apple App Store or Google Play.
While you do not need a Capital One credit card to sign up, if you're already a Capital One customer, you can also enroll by signing into your Capital One account. Regardless of how you sign up, you may cancel your account at any time with no penalty.
When you sign up, be prepared to provide a phone number, address, date of birth, and Social Security number.
How CreditWise Compares to Its Competition
CreditWise stands out for offering functional credit monitoring at no cost. That looks favorable at first glance versus the monthly fees charged by many of the top credit monitoring services, but a thorough comparison shows that you get what you pay for. CreditWise lacks features like social media monitoring and digital security tools offered by more comprehensive services. CreditWise will suffice for basic credit monitoring, but consider other options if you've been a victim of identity theft or have other cause for concern.
A shortcoming of CreditWise is that it only provides data from one of the three major credit bureaus (TransUnion). That's analogous to installing a security camera on your front door but not your backdoor or garage: you end up with useful but incomplete information. Again, that's fine if you don't need better coverage, but you should also keep an eye on your Experian and Equifax reports if you have pressing credit concerns.
CreditWise uses the VantageScore 3.0 model for credit scoring, instead of the more common FICO model. The two models are based on similar factors (such as payment history, credit utilization, and recent inquiries), but use different weighting that produces varied results. More importantly, FICO is more popular among financial institutions, so while the VantageScore you get from CreditWise is useful, you'll want to also check your FICO score before making large financial decisions.
On the plus side, CreditWise offers a superior user experience compared to other free credit monitoring services. The app is highly rated thanks not only to its functionality but also to its efficient user interface.
CreditWise Frequently Asked Questions
Is CreditWise a legit credit score?
CreditWise employs the VantageScore 3.0 model, which is widely used among lenders and other financial services, but remains less popular than the FICO model.
Is CreditWise only for Capital One customers?
You can use CreditWise regardless of whether you have any credit, banking or other accounts with Capital One.
Is CreditWise a free app?
All CreditWise features are available to members at no cost. You must be 18 or older with a valid Social Security number that can be linked to a TransUnion credit profile.