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Hannah Locklear, BA

Hannah Locklear is SoloSuit’s Marketing and Impact Manager. With an educational background in Linguistics, Spanish, and International Development from Brigham Young University, Hannah has also worked as a legal support specialist for several years.

Summary: Credit Journey is Chase's credit score and reporting tool. Here is SoloSuit's guide on Credit Journey, how it works, how it can affect your credit score, and if it's worth using.

Chase Credit Journey may be an excellent option if you want to get an overview of your credit health. Chase Credit Journey is a free credit monitoring and credit score service offered to Chase customers and non-customers alike.

Today's consumers often use credit to finance major and minor purchases, and therefore, it's essential to maintain a high credit score. But maintaining an acceptable credit score isn't always easy. Chase Credit Journey lets you keep track of your credit scores from anywhere on your mobile device through the Chase Bank mobile app.

A single missed payment can negatively affect your credit score. Explaining why it's essential to both know what your credit score is and receive ongoing updates. It's essential to make informed decisions, and that's what Chase Credit Journey helps you do. Find out how below.

What is Chase Credit Journey?

The Chase Credit Journey tool lets you view and track credit scores and report information. Your Chase Credit Journey score is based on your VantageScore 3.0 from TransUnion. The VantageScore model mainly monitors your credit and is meant for educational purposes.

Although it differs from a Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO) score, it is equally valid. Currently, Credit Journey does not report your Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO) score, which is a credit score most lenders use to determine your eligibility for loans. That means you might have a score that differs from one reported by Equifax or Experian.

Besides your VantageScore Credit Score, Credit Journey provides you with information related to your credit report. However, if you want free credit reports, you can request them from AnnualCreditReport.com or by calling 877-322-8228, which comes from an allowed source under federal law. A free credit report is available from each of the three national credit reporting agencies each year.

Here are some of the most significant advantages and disadvantages of Chase Credit Journey:

Pros & Cons of Chase Credit Journey
Pros	Cons
Free service	Only displays your VantageScore 3.0, not FICO
Registering does not require a Chase account	Your credit report will only be from TransUnion
You'll receive regular credit score alerts, credit-building tips, and resources for free	Some have criticized the Chase Credit Journey score, saying it is not 100% accurate
Score simulator calculates how specific changes in your credit behavior can help or hurt your credit score	Score simulator can sometimes be problematic
You can access the Chase Credit Journey on your mobile phone

How the Chase Credit Journey works

Chase Credit Journey lets Chase access your credit information when you sign up for the free credit score. Then, Chase gets your credit report and VantageScore 3.0 credit score from TransUnion.

Six key factors go into your Chase Credit Journey score:

Late payments: Late payments will be reported if they are 30 days overdue, and they will appear on your credit report for 7-10 years.
Oldest account: An older account shows you've been responsible for credit for a long time, so you must have it on your credit history–closing your oldest account may harm your score.
Credit usage ratio: The percentage of your current credit limit usage. Your goal here is to have a low number—show creditors you don't max your credit limit. The ideal ratio is under 30%.
Hard inquiries: It shows how many inquiries have been made into your credit history during the previous two years. The "hard pull," as it's often called, occurs when you open a new credit card or apply for a loan. Having six or more inquiries is not significantly detrimental to your score but considered poor.
Total balance: The current amount owed on all credit lines, and this number should be kept low. But keep in mind that it also includes things like mortgages, so it can be high without lowering your credit score.
Available credit: Displays all of your current unused credit, and what matters is the utilization ratio, not the number. As long as you are not using all your available credit, it is okay if this number is significant.

All six factors determine your credit score, ranging between 300 and 850. They list these six factors under your credit score.

Can checking my credit report hurt my credit score?

Soft credit checks don't affect your score like a hard inquiry. Soft credit checks can also occur if a creditor or lender checks your credit for preapproval. A hard credit check occurs when a company checks your report when you apply for a line of credit.

Your request should be accessible quickly if you make it online. But if you order your credit report by mail or telephone, it should arrive in 15 days. Besides getting a current snapshot of your credit profile, you can also view a chart or table depicting your score history on the Credit Journey homepage. The visual representation can help you identify the specific actions that increased or decreased your score.

So, is Credit Journey Worth It?

Using the VantageScore from Credit Journey, you can predict your credit risk. It measures whether a person will pay off their debts on time. Various models with varying scores have been developed and are available in the marketplace. Credit Journey provides only informational scores and evaluations of the information that TransUnion consumer credit reports include.

If an account were not reported to TransUnion or subsequently deleted, it would not affect your credit score. You cannot change your credit report information via Credit Journey because Credit Journey does not maintain your credit report information. Using Chase's credit information, you can learn more about your credit score and the factors that affect it.

Note, however, that neither Chase nor TransUnion are credit repair organizations as defined by federal or state law, including the Credit Repair Organizations Act. Other than information reported by Chase, TransUnion and Chase cannot act on your behalf to dispute the accuracy of any information appearing in your credit report. Inaccurate results, including those caused by incorrect, incomplete, or outdated credit report information, are not the responsibility of Chase or TransUnion.

If you find inaccurate information while using Credit Journey, you should take action right away. If the information is not something you recognize or appears with errorsinaccuracies, you can send a dispute letter to the credit bureau (remember to check all three credit reports for the information).

If a debt in collections is showing up on your credit report, yYou can send a Debt Validation Letter to the collector orfrom SoloSuit to force the creditor, formally requesting that they to validate the debt within 30 days. If they don’t have the proper documentation to validate the debt, they must cease collection efforts.

SoloSuit can help you draft a Debt Validation Letter in minutes.

VantageScore's Credit Journey and Credit Score are available to you whenever you like, and checking them they will not affect your credit score.

What is SoloSuit?

SoloSuit makes it easy to fight debt collectors.

You can use SoloSuit to respond to a debt lawsuit, to send letters to collectors, and even to settle a debt.

SoloSuit's Answer service is a step-by-step web-app that asks you all the necessary questions to complete your Answer. Upon completion, we'll have an attorney review your document and we'll file it for you.

Respond with SoloSuit

"First time getting sued by a debt collector and I was searching all over YouTube and ran across SoloSuit, so I decided to buy their services with their attorney reviewed documentation which cost extra but it was well worth it! SoloSuit sent the documentation to the parties and to the court which saved me time from having to go to court and in a few weeks the case got dismissed!" – James

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>>Read the FastCompany article: Debt Lawsuits Are Complicated: This Website Makes Them Simpler To Navigate