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- Dec 30, 2006
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How does Credit Karma work? Is it really free? Anyone here have it,and what do you think about it?
Credit Karma
- Thread starter aquariuscsm
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I have it and like it. Yes it's really free. Helped me catch some fraud on an account I had left open but stopped using.
Yes it is free, although they send very few advertisements, probably because my score is too low! I have an account and it did notify me when a payment was past due, made an inquiry & opened a new account. It does show your score as it is reported by Transunion & equifax. My missed payment turned out to be a false interest charge from an inactive account and was deleted within 2 weeks- It did lower my score and my score remains low... apparently even after expunging the issue they still screw you!
Its free and a reasonable thing to use.
Two things, they cover 2 of the 3 credit reporting bureaus. They do not cover Experian.
They use a Vantage score not a FICO. FICO is what most banks use. However if you see your Vantage score going up your FICO score would probably also go up.
But if someone told you you need a 725 credit score to buy a new car (example only) you cannot go for a 725 Vantage score and assume you can buy the new car. And there are several FICO credit scoring models. A home mortgage is a slightly different FICO score model than a auto loan.
Two things, they cover 2 of the 3 credit reporting bureaus. They do not cover Experian.
They use a Vantage score not a FICO. FICO is what most banks use. However if you see your Vantage score going up your FICO score would probably also go up.
But if someone told you you need a 725 credit score to buy a new car (example only) you cannot go for a 725 Vantage score and assume you can buy the new car. And there are several FICO credit scoring models. A home mortgage is a slightly different FICO score model than a auto loan.
Great site. Doesn't trigger spam, only display ads. Free tax software wasn't up to my rather complex return when I looked at it two years ago. Free Tax USA was
Originally Posted by Capt
Yes it is free, although they send very few advertisements, probably because my score is too low! I have an account and it did notify me when a payment was past due, made an inquiry & opened a new account. It does show your score as it is reported by Transunion & equifax. My missed payment turned out to be a false interest charge from an inactive account and was deleted within 2 weeks- It did lower my score and my score remains low... apparently even after expunging the issue they still screw you!
I've found a slightly lower score isn't a big deal anyways. Mine isn't as high as it could be because I don't have but only one card.
Yes it is free, although they send very few advertisements, probably because my score is too low! I have an account and it did notify me when a payment was past due, made an inquiry & opened a new account. It does show your score as it is reported by Transunion & equifax. My missed payment turned out to be a false interest charge from an inactive account and was deleted within 2 weeks- It did lower my score and my score remains low... apparently even after expunging the issue they still screw you!
I've found a slightly lower score isn't a big deal anyways. Mine isn't as high as it could be because I don't have but only one card.
Originally Posted by Silverado12
Originally Posted by Capt
Yes it is free, although they send very few advertisements, probably because my score is too low! I have an account and it did notify me when a payment was past due, made an inquiry & opened a new account. It does show your score as it is reported by Transunion & equifax. My missed payment turned out to be a false interest charge from an inactive account and was deleted within 2 weeks- It did lower my score and my score remains low... apparently even after expunging the issue they still screw you!
I've found a slightly lower score isn't a big deal anyways. Mine isn't as high as it could be because I don't have but only one card.
I concur, I'm not the least bit worried about it. I worked in boat sales for a little while and remember a customer getting approved for a $45k boat loan and he had something like $20k past due medical bills....
Originally Posted by Capt
Yes it is free, although they send very few advertisements, probably because my score is too low! I have an account and it did notify me when a payment was past due, made an inquiry & opened a new account. It does show your score as it is reported by Transunion & equifax. My missed payment turned out to be a false interest charge from an inactive account and was deleted within 2 weeks- It did lower my score and my score remains low... apparently even after expunging the issue they still screw you!
I've found a slightly lower score isn't a big deal anyways. Mine isn't as high as it could be because I don't have but only one card.
I concur, I'm not the least bit worried about it. I worked in boat sales for a little while and remember a customer getting approved for a $45k boat loan and he had something like $20k past due medical bills....
Originally Posted by Capt
Originally Posted by Silverado12
Originally Posted by Capt
Yes it is free, although they send very few advertisements, probably because my score is too low! I have an account and it did notify me when a payment was past due, made an inquiry & opened a new account. It does show your score as it is reported by Transunion & equifax. My missed payment turned out to be a false interest charge from an inactive account and was deleted within 2 weeks- It did lower my score and my score remains low... apparently even after expunging the issue they still screw you!
I've found a slightly lower score isn't a big deal anyways. Mine isn't as high as it could be because I don't have but only one card.
I concur, I'm not the least bit worried about it. I worked in boat sales for a little while and remember a customer getting approved for a $45k boat loan and he had something like $20k past due medical bills....
Everything is possible for a price.
Originally Posted by Silverado12
Originally Posted by Capt
Yes it is free, although they send very few advertisements, probably because my score is too low! I have an account and it did notify me when a payment was past due, made an inquiry & opened a new account. It does show your score as it is reported by Transunion & equifax. My missed payment turned out to be a false interest charge from an inactive account and was deleted within 2 weeks- It did lower my score and my score remains low... apparently even after expunging the issue they still screw you!
I've found a slightly lower score isn't a big deal anyways. Mine isn't as high as it could be because I don't have but only one card.
I concur, I'm not the least bit worried about it. I worked in boat sales for a little while and remember a customer getting approved for a $45k boat loan and he had something like $20k past due medical bills....
Everything is possible for a price.
lot of credit cards now will give you your score for free. my costco citi does.
Originally Posted by Silverado12
Originally Posted by Capt
Yes it is free, although they send very few advertisements, probably because my score is too low! I have an account and it did notify me when a payment was past due, made an inquiry & opened a new account. It does show your score as it is reported by Transunion & equifax. My missed payment turned out to be a false interest charge from an inactive account and was deleted within 2 weeks- It did lower my score and my score remains low... apparently even after expunging the issue they still screw you!
I've found a slightly lower score isn't a big deal anyways. Mine isn't as high as it could be because I don't have but only one card.
I believe having more revolving credit accounts with little to no balance (a ratio to limits) and good payment history has more impact on your score than carrying just one card with little to no balance. It demonstrates you can manage your borrowing capacity responsibly. Creditors could view the latter situation as more riskier. This i believe is where the term "building credit" comes from.
Originally Posted by Capt
Yes it is free, although they send very few advertisements, probably because my score is too low! I have an account and it did notify me when a payment was past due, made an inquiry & opened a new account. It does show your score as it is reported by Transunion & equifax. My missed payment turned out to be a false interest charge from an inactive account and was deleted within 2 weeks- It did lower my score and my score remains low... apparently even after expunging the issue they still screw you!
I've found a slightly lower score isn't a big deal anyways. Mine isn't as high as it could be because I don't have but only one card.
I believe having more revolving credit accounts with little to no balance (a ratio to limits) and good payment history has more impact on your score than carrying just one card with little to no balance. It demonstrates you can manage your borrowing capacity responsibly. Creditors could view the latter situation as more riskier. This i believe is where the term "building credit" comes from.
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I have a feeling that a lack of loans (car, etc.) seems to affect your score somewhat. I have paid off 2 houses, no debt, pay off multiple credit cards every month, have money in the bank-but I still seem to be stuck in the low 700s for some reason.
Originally Posted by bullwinkle
I have a feeling that a lack of loans (car, etc.) seems to affect your score somewhat. I have paid off 2 houses, no debt, pay off multiple credit cards every month, have money in the bank-but I still seem to be stuck in the low 700s for some reason.
When we sold our house our scores dropped a little. It's just a big game.
I have a feeling that a lack of loans (car, etc.) seems to affect your score somewhat. I have paid off 2 houses, no debt, pay off multiple credit cards every month, have money in the bank-but I still seem to be stuck in the low 700s for some reason.
When we sold our house our scores dropped a little. It's just a big game.
Originally Posted by bullwinkle
I have a feeling that a lack of loans (car, etc.) seems to affect your score somewhat. I have paid off 2 houses, no debt, pay off multiple credit cards every month, have money in the bank-but I still seem to be stuck in the low 700s for some reason.
The score is nothing more than an incentive/gamification for consumer to have you borrow more money and take on debt to increase it. My parents have no credit score! They have never borrowed money for cars, home and use debit card/cash.
I have a feeling that a lack of loans (car, etc.) seems to affect your score somewhat. I have paid off 2 houses, no debt, pay off multiple credit cards every month, have money in the bank-but I still seem to be stuck in the low 700s for some reason.
The score is nothing more than an incentive/gamification for consumer to have you borrow more money and take on debt to increase it. My parents have no credit score! They have never borrowed money for cars, home and use debit card/cash.
Wells Fargo bank provides your FICO free of charge. Mine is 843. But who cares.. I'm not moving anytime soon and I hope I'll never see the inside of a car dealership for the rest of my life. It's the classic hollow victory.
CK also picks up activity on your accounts and can serve as a free quasi credit monitor. If someone opens on your name you'll find out pretty quickly. I also get free FICO through Discover and Visa.
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- Dec 30, 2006
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Originally Posted by WhyMe
lot of credit cards now will give you your score for free. my costco citi does.
Yeah my Discover Card does for me that every time I log on.
lot of credit cards now will give you your score for free. my costco citi does.
Yeah my Discover Card does for me that every time I log on.
Originally Posted by Capt
It does show your score as it is reported by Transunion & equifax.
Originally Posted by WhyMe
lot of credit cards now will give you your score for free. my costco citi does.
The scores CK shows you are guesstimates based on the scoring system(s) that Equifax and Transunion use. They can be close or way off but they're not 100% accurate. The important thing is the scores they show should trend fairly close so just use them as a guideline.
It does show your score as it is reported by Transunion & equifax.
Originally Posted by WhyMe
lot of credit cards now will give you your score for free. my costco citi does.
The scores CK shows you are guesstimates based on the scoring system(s) that Equifax and Transunion use. They can be close or way off but they're not 100% accurate. The important thing is the scores they show should trend fairly close so just use them as a guideline.
I have had a CK account for several years. It is not a complete look at your credit, as has been noted above. In my case,, it is always lower than my true FICO score.
CK's scam is to get you to attempt to open up more accounts (CC), to potentially boost your score. Somewhat underhanded, for those that can't think things through.
CK's scam is to get you to attempt to open up more accounts (CC), to potentially boost your score. Somewhat underhanded, for those that can't think things through.
Great article in the WSJ last Monday about credit scoring.
Mine hovers around 800 but the mortgage is paid off and we have no consumer debt so it doesn't matter much.
It seems like a report card for adults.
'Pay the bank back first then when you want to borrow more money they'll loan it to you.'
Mine hovers around 800 but the mortgage is paid off and we have no consumer debt so it doesn't matter much.
It seems like a report card for adults.
'Pay the bank back first then when you want to borrow more money they'll loan it to you.'
They usually have my score lower than what it actually is.
Like somebody else said, CK can be a great free tool to help monitor activity on your credit. Any time I've taken out a loan or paid one off...I get an alert highlighting that my credit had a change. I then get to see what financial institution the change was at.
My Discover card account does the same. No such thing as too much credit monitoring these days as identity theft is the worst it's ever been.
Like somebody else said, CK can be a great free tool to help monitor activity on your credit. Any time I've taken out a loan or paid one off...I get an alert highlighting that my credit had a change. I then get to see what financial institution the change was at.
My Discover card account does the same. No such thing as too much credit monitoring these days as identity theft is the worst it's ever been.
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