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Once a user’s liabilities are connected, the next step is turning that raw data into a useful dashboard. This guide covers pulling real-time account data, enriching cards with brand art, monitoring balances over time, and surfacing credit health insights. All examples use Sarah Chen’s accounts from the Getting Started guide.

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Debt Dashboard & Real-Time Monitoring

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Requesting an Account Update

Updates pull real-time data — balance, credit limit, APR, due dates, payment history — directly from the financial institution. This is the core data feed for any debt dashboard. Request an update for Sarah’s Chase Sapphire Reserve card: 
curl https://production.methodfi.com/accounts/acc_eKKmrXDpJBKgw/updates \
  -X POST \
  -H "Method-Version: 2025-12-01" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_WyZEWVfTcH7GqmPzUPk65Vjc"
Sarah’s Chase card has an $800.00 balance on a $20,000.00 limit (4% utilization), with a minimum payment of $25.00 due on October 1st. Her last payment of $150.00 was made on August 28th, and her usage_pattern is transactor — she pays in full each month.

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Subscribing to Continuous Updates

Rather than polling for updates, subscribe to receive them automatically. When the financial institution reports new data, Method delivers it via webhook. 
curl https://production.methodfi.com/accounts/acc_eKKmrXDpJBKgw/subscriptions \
  -X POST \
  -H "Method-Version: 2025-12-01" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_WyZEWVfTcH7GqmPzUPk65Vjc" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "enroll": "update"
  }'
With the subscription active, Method will fire update.create and update.update webhook events whenever new data is available. Your app can refresh the dashboard in real time without the user taking any action.

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Card Brand Art

For credit card accounts, Card Brand retrieves the card’s product name, issuer, network, and card art image. This lets your wallet UI display the actual card visual instead of a generic placeholder. 
curl https://production.methodfi.com/accounts/acc_eKKmrXDpJBKgw/card_brands \
  -X POST \
  -H "Method-Version: 2025-12-01" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_WyZEWVfTcH7GqmPzUPk65Vjc"
The url field provides a direct link to the card’s art image, which you can render in your wallet or dashboard UI.

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Entity-Level Attributes

Attributes provide entity-level financial health metrics aggregated across all of a user’s accounts. These power features like credit health dashboards, utilization alerts, and financial wellness scores. 
curl https://production.methodfi.com/entities/ent_au22b1fbFJbp8/attributes \
  -X POST \
  -H "Method-Version: 2025-12-01" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_WyZEWVfTcH7GqmPzUPk65Vjc" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "attributes": [
      "credit_health_credit_card_usage",
      "credit_health_payment_history",
      "credit_health_total_accounts",
      "credit_health_credit_age",
      "credit_health_derogatory_marks",
      "credit_health_hard_inquiries",
      "credit_health_open_accounts"
    ]
  }'
Sarah’s attributes show 22% credit card utilization (rated “good”), 100% on-time payment history (“excellent”), zero derogatory marks (“excellent”), and a credit age of 48 months (“fair”). These data points map directly to the factors that credit scoring models weigh most heavily.

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Credit Building & Score Insights

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Retrieving Credit Scores

Credit Scores retrieve the user’s credit score sourced from Equifax using the VantageScore 4.0 model. The response includes contributing factors that explain what’s helping or hurting the score. 
curl https://production.methodfi.com/entities/ent_au22b1fbFJbp8/credit_scores \
  -X POST \
  -H "Method-Version: 2025-12-01" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_WyZEWVfTcH7GqmPzUPk65Vjc"
Credit score requests are asynchronous. The initial response will have status: "pending" and scores: null. You’ll receive a webhook when the score is ready.
Sarah’s VantageScore 4.0 is 734 (“Good” tier). The factors array explains what’s influencing her score — you can surface these directly in your app to help users understand what actions would improve their score.

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Credit Score Subscriptions

To monitor Sarah’s credit score over time, enroll her in a credit score subscription. Method will automatically check for score changes and send webhook events when her score increases or decreases. 
curl https://production.methodfi.com/entities/ent_au22b1fbFJbp8/subscriptions \
  -X POST \
  -H "Method-Version: 2025-12-01" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_WyZEWVfTcH7GqmPzUPk65Vjc" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "enroll": "credit_score"
  }'
With the subscription active, your app can power features like monthly score reports, trend charts, and push notifications (“Your credit score went up 12 points this month!”) that drive engagement and retention.

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Combining Scores and Attributes

The most effective credit building experiences combine credit scores with attributes. The score tells users where they stand, while attributes tell them why and what to do about it:
AttributeSarah’s ValueRatingWhat to Surface
Credit card usage22%Good”Your utilization is healthy — keep it under 30%“
Payment history100%Excellent”Perfect payment record — keep it up!”
Credit age48 monthsFair”Your accounts are relatively new — time helps here”
Derogatory marks0Excellent”No negative marks on your report”
Hard inquiries2Good”2 recent inquiries — avoid applying for new credit”

Attributes API Reference

Full documentation for all available attribute types and their ratings.

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What’s Next

Transactions & Payments

Stream credit card transactions for spend management and initiate bill payments.

Update Subscriptions Guide

Deep dive into update subscription types, frequencies, and webhook payloads.