Capital One Introduces Credit Tool That's Available to Everyone

March 09, 2016

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3 min read

Capital One Introduces Credit Tool That's Available to Everyone

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Your credit score is one of the most important numbers associated with your name. And with credit cards being one of the easiest and quickest ways to earn points and miles, it's extremely important that you monitor your credit score and keep it in good standing. Actually obtaining your credit score has been somewhat difficult in the past, but in recent years different credit cards have been adding perks like the ability to check your credit score for free. But the whole process just got much easier with Capital One.

Capital One launched its program CreditWise, which is an expansion of its previous credit-tracking tool, Credit Tracker. The tool was initially launched in 2014 to help credit card customers access and learn more about their credit score. The new tool CreditWise is free to everyone — not just Capital One customers. The tool will allow users to not only access their credit score for free, but also to track their profile and learn how to strengthen their score.

To use the tool, create a profile on CreditWise with your personal information. After logging in, you'll have access to your credit score, as well as tools to help you monitor it. As you can see above, you'll see how your score has changed in a given amount of time. It's very interactive and makes it easy for you to visualize and understand a concept that can be hard to grasp.

You'll have access to your VantageScore 3.0 for Transunion credit score, which is updated on a weekly basis. In addition, your credit score will not take a hit from each inquiry when you use the tool. It breaks down your credit score into six categories (as you'll see above), some of which are used in determining your credit score.

The factors that determine your credit score.

By breaking down each category, you can more easily track your credit, monitor your spending and generally better understand your score. It's extremely helpful to have tools like this available, and Capital One is the only bank that allows everyone, regardless of if they're a Capital One customer, to check their score. And with the average American's credit score being pretty terrible, it's a great idea to use a tool like CreditWise to keep track of it.