For more information on your credit score, or to dispute an incorrect credit report, contact the three credit bureaus. We also recommend the government-approved website for free credit report services, https://www.annualcreditreport.com.
We specifically report:
- Personal Identifying Information: Name, address, Date of Birth, and SSN
- Account Details: Your account number, date opened, and credit limit
- Balance Information: Your current balance at the time of reporting and highest historical balance
- Payment History: Your minimum scheduled payment, actual payment amount, date of last payment, and your month-to-month payment history (whether you paid on time or were past due)
- Account Status: Whether your account is current, past due, or closed
Believe and Your Credit Score
Varo Believe is designed to help establish or rebuild credit.1 We don’t even check your credit score when you apply!
To help build or repair credit, Varo reports your Believe payment activity to all three major credit bureaus (TransUnion®, Equifax, and Experian) each month.2 We typically report payment activity mid-month.
We only report your payment history to the bureaus, we do not report credit utilization or credit limit for Believe. Varo doesn’t report utilization to the major credit bureaus for Believe because it has no pre-set credit limit. Credit bureaus or credit models may use data we do report (such as balance, highest credit) in defining attributes relating to credit utilization that are used in scoring models. Varo does not control how credit scoring models use the information that Varo reports.
Opening a new credit card can temporarily reduce your credit score by:
- Impacting the average age of your accounts
- Adding a reporting line to your credit file after opening the card
- Increasing your total credit balance.
These factors may have a greater impact on a FICO score than the VantageScore 3.0 you see in the Varo app. You can view your VantageScore 3.0 credit score for free by scrolling to the Tools section on the Varo app homescreen after activating Believe. It won’t impact your credit score and refreshes in the app every 30 days.
You can also view your:
- Total number of open credit accounts
- Credit inquiries
- On-time payment percentage with Varo
- Total balances and available credit across accounts
VantageScore
Credit scores range from 300 to 850. VantageScore® was founded by the three major credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax and Transunion) in 2006 as a more inclusive alternative to the FICO Score. VantageScore® models score consumers who may not be scoreable by conventional models that require a minimum of six months of credit history or an update to the credit file at least once every six months.
The VantageScore 3.0 that Varo provides to Believe customers uses the following attributes in its score:
| Item | Description | Contribution to Score |
| Payment History |
Payment behavior shown as:
|
40% |
| Percentage of credit limit used | Credit amount used or owed on accounts | 20% |
| Balances | Total amount recently reported balances, current and delinquent | 11% |
| Age and type of credit | Credit types and history | 21% |
| Recent credit | Number of recently opened credit accounts and inquiries | 5% |
| Available credit | Amount of credit available | 3% |
FICO Score Differences
The score in your Varo app is based on the VantageScore® 3.0, a credit score alternative to the FICO® score. VantageScore® and FICO® use different models and weigh factors differently when determining a credit score.
If you do not have six months of credit history, you may not have a FICO® score.
You may see different credit scores on other apps or from other sources. This is because these sources may use other credit bureaus. Also, individual consumer reporting agencies, credit scoring companies, lenders, and creditors may use slightly different formulas to calculate your credit scores. They might weigh your information differently depending on the type of credit account for which you've applied.
1Varo Believe is a secured credit card designed to help you build credit; however, a variety of factors impact your credit and not all factors are equally weighted. You must add money before using, money added sets the spending limit. Funds spent are held in your Varo Believe Secured Account to pay off any balance in full monthly, when due. Quals apply.
2Varo provides monthly reporting on customers’ Varo Believe data to the credit bureaus using a standard reporting format (Metro 2®) that meets all requirements of the Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA), the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and all applicable state laws. Consistent with these requirements, Varo reports “Current Balance” to the bureaus. “Current Balance” is a report of the outstanding current balance on the account as of the report date, and does not indicate that any amount is past due. If there is any amount that is past due by 30 or more days, that is reported using the “Amount Past Due” field.