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# FinHealth Score vs. a homegrown score or a DIY survey: how should a credit union measure member financial health?
- URL: https://www.finhealthrecord.com/financial-health-measurement-compared/
- Published: 2026-10-23T20:59:47.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T20:59:47.000Z
- Author: Andy Bandyopadhyay
- Tags: #answer, #job-prove-programs

If you need a financial health measure you can track member by member and defend to your board, use the FinHealth Score®, run in software through Attune. A homegrown score is hard to validate and benchmark, a do-it-yourself survey gives you a snapshot that stops at the spreadsheet, and a digital banking platform's wellness score isn't the FinHealth Score.

## How do the options compare?

| Option                                                                         | What it measures                                                              | Validated and benchmarked                                                              | Same members over time                                                            | Connects results to next steps                          |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- |
| FinHealth Score® through Attune                                                | Financial health: eight questions on how people spend, save, borrow, and plan | Yes Built by the Financial Health Network, benchmarked against its national Pulse data | Yes In the [FinHealth Record™](https://www.finhealthrecord.com/finhealth-record/) | Yes Results connect to what each member is offered next |
| FinHealth Score Toolkit, run yourself SurveyMonkey, Microsoft Forms, Qualtrics | The same eight questions                                                      | Partly The questions are; your survey process isn't                                    | Partly Only if you match every response to a member record yourself               | No Results end in a spreadsheet                         |
| A homegrown score                                                              | Whatever your team chooses                                                    | Partly Only if you validate it and find a benchmark                                    | Partly If your team builds and maintains it                                       | Partly If your team builds it                           |
| A wellness score in your digital banking or PFM platform                       | The vendor's own score, usually from account data                             | Varies By vendor; it isn't the FinHealth Score                                         | Partly For members who use that platform                                          | Partly Inside that platform                             |

## Can we run the FinHealth Score ourselves with SurveyMonkey or Microsoft Forms?

For research, advocacy, and internal business purposes, yes. The Financial Health Network offers the FinHealth Score Toolkit free for those uses. The hard part is everything after the survey: exporting responses into Excel, matching them to member records, asking the same members again a year later, and getting each member to the right help. That work is what most teams underestimate.

If your use involves software, a digital platform, an API, or a commercial product, for example scoring members inside your digital banking app or member portal, you need a license through Attune, the Financial Health Network's exclusive technology partner for FinHealth Score® implementation. [Contact Attune](https://cal.com/andy-attune/30min?ref=finhealthrecord.com) to set that up.

## Should we build our own score instead?

Only if no validated instrument can meet your need. Building your own means designing and validating the questions, finding a benchmark, and defending the method every time someone asks where the number came from. See [Should we build our own financial health score or use the FinHealth Score?](https://www.finhealthrecord.com/build-or-buy-financial-health-score/)

## Doesn't our digital banking platform already have a wellness score?

Some platforms include their own wellness or financial health scores. Those are the vendor's instruments, not the FinHealth Score®, so they can't be compared with the Financial Health Network's research or with other institutions using the Score.

Use of the FinHealth Score® in software, digital platforms, APIs, or commercial products requires licensing through Attune, the Financial Health Network's exclusive technology partner for FinHealth Score® implementation.

## Can we use more than one?

Yes. The options aren't exclusive. A common pattern is to keep a platform's score where it already works, and use the FinHealth Score® as the financial health measure you report to your board and track over time.

## How does Attune help?

Attune provides FinHealth Score® scoring through its software and API, tracks results for each member in the [FinHealth Record™](https://www.finhealthrecord.com/finhealth-record/), and connects them to what members are offered next, following the [FinHealth Workflow™](https://www.finhealthrecord.com/finhealth-workflow/). To compare the options for your credit union, [book a call](https://cal.com/andy-attune/30min?ref=finhealthrecord.com).

More answers for measuring financial health and proving programs work: [Prove your financial wellness program works](https://www.finhealthrecord.com/prove-your-program-works/).