VantageScore vs. SoFi Coach: Credit Score Comparison Guide

What Is SoFi Coach?

SoFi Coach is an AI-powered money tracker and financial assistant that offers insights and guidance about nearly every aspect of your finances. Trained on the same toolkit used by SoFi’s own financial planners, SoFi Coach can analyze your accounts and answer your financial questions.

You can connect your SoFi accounts and external accounts from over 12,000 financial institutions to SoFi Coach, enabling the app to have a comprehensive view of your finances. From there, the tool can help you better understand your spending, budget, debt, and investments.

Credit score monitoring is another important feature of SoFi Coach. You’ll see your VantageScore based on TransUnion data and can chat with SoFi Coach for advice on cultivating your credit or reaching other financial goals. You might ask about how to lower credit card utilization, for example, or what is the starting credit score?

You can access SoFi Coach 24/7 in the SoFi app and on the website. Checking your credit with SoFi Coach won’t impact your credit score, and the tool uses bank-grade security and protects user data from being used for commercial or AI training purposes.

Benefits of SoFi Coach

SoFi Coach is essentially an AI financial assistant you carry around in your pocket. It offers several benefits, including:

•   Free credit score updates

•   Budget planning and tracking tools and advice

•   Investment portfolio and property tracking

•   Debt tracking and repayment strategies

•   Help managing subscriptions

You can see all your assets, debts, and financial accounts in one place so you have a bird’s-eye view of your finances. SoFi Coach can analyze your spending, savings, and other patterns and offer customized guidance for meeting your goals.

Since it’s an AI-powered tool, you won’t ever have to feel judged about your spending habits or priorities. You can get advice and answers anytime you want via SoFi Coach Chat.

What Is a VantageScore?

VantageScore is a credit scoring model developed by the three major credit bureaus, TransUnion, Experian®, and Equifax®. It uses information from your credit report to give you a score between 300 and 850.

Factors that affect your VantageScore include your payment history, amounts owed, length of credit history, new credit, and credit mix. Many lenders look at your VantageScore to assess your risk as a borrower when you apply for a loan, though others prefer to look at FICO® scores, another popular credit scoring model.

Either way, a low score suggests you’ve mismanaged credit in the past, while a high score indicates you’re more likely to pay back your debts. If you’re preparing to apply for a loan, like a mortgage or student loan, consider taking steps to nudge your credit score upward. A higher credit score can help you get approved and access more favorable interest rates.

Benefits of VantageScore

VantageScore is a widely used credit scoring model among lenders. It helps them assess your credit risk so they can make lending decisions and determine what interest rate to offer you.

VantageScore can also provide scores for consumers who may not qualify for a score under some other models. The company says its models have generated scores for up to 35 million consumers who were previously “unscorable.” Some versions can generate a credit score with just one month of credit activity and may incorporate alternative data, like rent and utility bills.

You can access your VantageScore for free through many financial platforms, including SoFi Coach. Monitoring your score can help you spot issues as you work to strengthen your credit over time.

Recommended: How Much Will My Credit Score Go Up Calculator

SoFi Coach vs VantageScore for Credit Scores

Comparing SoFi Coach and VantageScore isn’t really an apples-to-apples comparison. SoFi Coach is a financial guidance tool that helps you view and monitor your TransUnion VantageScore 3.0, but also helps you do lots of other things, including moving money between accounts at SoFi. After you connect your accounts, SoFi Coach can also gather information on your spending, savings, debt, investments, and property all at once. It can analyze your entire financial picture and offer personalized guidance for your goals.

VantageScore is the credit scoring model that puts together your credit score based on information in your credit report. Along with FICO, it’s one of the most common credit scores that lenders consider when you apply for a loan. VantageScore 3.0 isn’t the only version. There are VantageScore 4.0 and 5.0 as well.

SoFi Coach Advantages

SoFi Coach doesn’t just show you your credit score; it can also tell you how to have better credit habits. It can take a while to build credit. If you see a change in your score or are looking for ways to boost it, you can chat with SoFi Coach for strategies and guidance. For example, SoFi Coach might explain why your credit score dropped after a dispute. It can provide advice for cultivating good credit and managing your finances. “Once good credit has been established, using it wisely and responsibly can offer flexibility and freedom. Installment loans like mortgages, car loans, and student loans might make it easier to reach major life goals, while credit cards for smaller purchases can help you build credit and possibly qualify for lower interest rates on those big purchases,” says Brian Walsh, CFP^® and Head of Advice & Planning at SoFi.

Recommended: FICO Score vs. Credit Score

Tips to Maximize SoFi Coach Benefits

Here are some ways to make the most of SoFi Coach:

•   Connect your financial accounts: Connect your SoFi accounts and any external accounts, such as investment and retirement accounts, credit cards, mortgages, and student loans. This will give SoFi Coach the complete picture of your financial life so it can give you personalized advice.

•   Set up SoFi Vaults: If you have a SoFi high-yield savings account, consider setting up Vaults to organize your savings. Then you can use SoFi Coach to funnel savings into specific Vaults.

•   Chat with SoFi Coach: You can chat anytime to get financial advice and answers to your questions.

•   Review SoFi Coach insights: You can gain insights into your various accounts and habits, including what you’re spending money on and how your investments are performing.

•   Create a budget: You can use SoFi Coach’s budget planner features to make or adjust your budget.

•   Move money around: You can transfer money between accounts and set up new SoFi accounts through SoFi Coach.

•   Explore investing options: While SoFi Coach doesn’t recommend specific stocks, it can give you advice on the performance of your accounts or how to diversify your portfolio.

•   Monitor your credit score: Take advantage of your free credit score check regularly to see where you stand.

The Takeaway

Knowing your VantageScore can help you understand and monitor your credit, and SoFi Coach allows users to check their VantageScore 3.0 for free. SoFi Coach has the added benefit of providing many other money tracking features and AI-based financial guidance.

SoFi Coach helps you better understand your credit and see how it fits into your broader financial life.

Take control of your finances with SoFi Coach. You can easily view all of your accounts in one convenient dashboard: bank and investment balances, current debts, spending breakdowns, and credit score. Easily set up budgets and spot upcoming bills. And get personalized insights on everyday money questions and take action with Coach chat, the AI guide that’s powered by the playbooks of SoFi Financial Planners, so its guidance comes from expert knowledge.

Meet SoFi Coach, your smart personal guide to getting your money right.

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