> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.methodfi.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Credit Scores

> Credit score retrieval and monitoring for financial wellness products.

For financial wellness products, few data points are as universally understood and valued as the credit score. Method can retrieve credit scores for verified Entities, giving your product the ability to show users their score, track changes over time, and alert them to increases or decreases.

## How It Works

Credit Scores are available as a Product (on-demand) or Subscription (continuous updates via webhooks). Requests are asynchronous: you'll get an immediate response with `status: "pending"` and `scores: null`, then a webhook when the score is ready.

The response includes a `scores` array. Each score object contains:

* **score:** The numeric credit score
* **source:** The credit bureau (`equifax`, `experian`, or `transunion`)
* **model:** The scoring model (`vantage_3` for VantageScore 3.0 or `vantage_4` for VantageScore 4.0)
* **factors:** An array of factor objects (each with `code` and `description`) explaining what's influencing the score, e.g., "Total of all balances on bankcard or revolving accounts is too high"

## Quick Start

<CodeGroup>
  ```bash cURL theme={null}
  curl https://production.methodfi.com/entities/ent_au22b1fbFJbp8/credit_scores \
    -X POST \
    -H "Method-Version: 2026-03-30" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_WyZEWVfTcH7GqmPzUPk65Vjc"
  ```

  ```javascript Node.js theme={null}
  const creditScore = await method
    .entities('ent_au22b1fbFJbp8')
    .creditScores
    .create();
  ```

  ```python Python theme={null}
  credit_score = method
    .entities('ent_au22b1fbFJbp8')
    .credit_scores
    .create()
  ```
</CodeGroup>

## Subscriptions

Scores can be retrieved on-demand (pull the current score when the user opens your app) or monitored via subscriptions (get notified automatically when the score changes). Webhook events (`credit_score.create`, `credit_score.update`) tell you when a score becomes available or changes, enabling features like "Your credit score went up 12 points this month!" notifications that drive engagement and retention.

## Prerequisites

The Entity must be fully verified before you can request credit scores. Attempting to request scores for an unverified Entity returns an `ENTITY_VERIFICATION_MISSING` error.

## Error Handling

Request errors:

* `ENTITY_VERIFICATION_MISSING`: Entity must be fully verified first.
* `TEAM_CAPABILITY_RESTRICTED`: Your team doesn't have access to Credit Scores.

Resource errors (set on the Credit Score's `error` property):

* `CREDIT_SCORE_FAILED_TEMPORARILY_UNAVAILABLE`: Issue with the credit score provider, request could not be completed.

<Card title="Credit Scores API Reference" icon="chart-line" href="/reference/entities/credit-scores/overview">
  Full API documentation for Credit Scores.
</Card>