I try to keep up with my credit score and utilize the free credit check every year, but this year I ran across a new website. its called creditkarma.com. after reading all good reviews I decided to give it a try. it's got a lot of cool features. it kind of reminds me of mint.com a little bit but more focused on your credit score then savings. i was wondering if anyone else has tried out creditkarma.com and what they thought of it.

6/14/2011 8:59:14 AM

I use it. Though I check my accounts almost daily so it's more of to identify anything unexpected. I really should just pay to have access to my credit reports year round lol.

6/14/2011 9:05:15 AM

yeah i was thinking about that too. i almost paid the $20/month to equifax to have full access but then i found this and decided to give it a shot since its free. there seems to be a lot of conversation about how accurate the creditkarma score is. they say they use transunion but some have commented on their actual transunion score being different then the credit karma score.

6/14/2011 9:07:08 AM

speaking of checking credit scores...what website/service do you guys use to check your credit report frequently?

6/14/2011 9:12:15 AM

I may have to check this out, I was paying $5 a month through USAA to monitor my credit report but it's ending in a few days

My score is 30 points lower on Credit Karma compared to USAA's Experian service. For something free, it's not bad though.

[Edited on June 14, 2011 at 9:24 AM. Reason : .]

6/14/2011 9:13:11 AM

^ I just checked it out and got the same thing, about 30 points lower than my experian equifax score.

[Edited on June 14, 2011 at 9:40 AM. Reason : m]

6/14/2011 9:31:29 AM

Yeah I used CreditKarma for about a year and a couple months ago I signed up for the $12.95 package with USAA. Intended to cancel it after a month, but I've just let it go on. *shrug*

CK hasn't seemed to fluctuate this year, but the estimation from USAA's services have moved up or down each month based on my activity, however minute.

[Edited on June 14, 2011 at 10:12 AM. Reason : ]

6/14/2011 10:08:53 AM

Quote :

"Yeah I used CreditKarma for about a year and a couple months ago I signed up for the $12.95 package with USAA. Intended to cancel it after a month, but I've just let it go on. *shrug*"

this is what we call a "business model"

6/14/2011 10:11:23 AM

Oh I was well aware that there was only a 50/50 chance of me canceling it. =P

6/14/2011 10:13:16 AM

Quote :

"I try to keep up with my credit score and utilize the free credit check every year"

Just clarifying but you do realize you get 3 free credit checks every year right? Also, a lot of the non entry-level bank accounts offer low-level credit watch/protection. Check to see if your company has any corporate discounts with a bank you work with. For example, I got a top-tier checking account at SunTrust with all the fees and minimum balances waived through my work (and having my mortgage with them) and it includes free Equifax credit watch. No free scores which is completely fine since you do not need to know your scores on a regular basis and paying extra for that is not worth it.

Between that, the 3 free credit checks that you get, and just actively keeping up with my accounts I think I have more than enough areas for a red flag to appear if there was a problem.

Now, I don't know anything about this site so I'm not saying it is bad or anything remotely in that vein, just pointing out other ways to keep tabs on your credit for free.

[Edited on June 14, 2011 at 10:27 AM. Reason : .]

6/14/2011 10:21:48 AM

i use it and have no problems with it. i'm sure it's not 100% accurate, but i would imagine it's within a few points. definitely a good barometer.

6/14/2011 10:24:01 AM

^^ But this site is free

6/14/2011 10:44:57 AM

Yeah I was just offering some other things that people can consider since a lot of people don't realize different avenues that you can get free credit watching directly from the 3 main agencies. Believe it or not I still run across people that have no idea you can get 3 free credit checks a year.

[Edited on June 14, 2011 at 10:55 AM. Reason : .]

6/14/2011 10:54:43 AM

^ yeah that's cool. i was aware of the 3 free credit check a year but i was talking more about credit score check.

Quote :

"My score is 30 points lower on Credit Karma compared to USAA's Experian service. For something free, it's not bad though. "

that's good to know since the equifax is more realistic and 30 points is pretty significant

[Edited on June 14, 2011 at 11:20 AM. Reason : .]

6/14/2011 11:19:03 AM

CreditKarma uses Transunion so that would explain the difference. I used the 3-in-1 trial from equifax and the Transunion score there was about 1pt higher than what CreditKarma showed

6/14/2011 11:25:46 AM

so does TransUnion generally score lower then Equifax and Experian?

6/14/2011 11:50:33 AM

It depends. My Equifax and Experian scores are about 20pts lower than my Transunion score. Everthing I've applied for in the past 2 years including my truck hard pulled from either Equifax or Experian so I'm guessing that's the main difference with mine since everything else is the same.

6/14/2011 1:16:29 PM

interesting. the only time I have needed to have my credit score checked they averaged all 3 together so I kind of just assumed that was normally the case.

6/14/2011 1:19:58 PM

n00b question here, I've never had any problems with credit checks but I've also never applied for a mortgage or anything major like that...never seen my credit report. What is the most informative/reputable way to get a full report from the major neurons?

6/14/2011 9:25:50 PM

I've been using it for a few years now. The score is basically useless, but it's good for spotting trends on your report.

6/14/2011 10:10:51 PM

^^ go to http://www.annualcreditreport.com. You can get a free report from each of the three big services. To get actual scores you still have to pay though.

[Edited on June 14, 2011 at 11:52 PM. Reason : .]

6/14/2011 11:52:06 PM

Quote :

"so does TransUnion generally score lower then Equifax and Experian? "

It depends on who you do business with and which credit bureau they report too. For example, certain financial institutions will report only to Equifax. Lets say you get a credit card with that financial institution and you maintain a fantastic record on it for 2 years. If someone pulls an Experiean or TransUnion report, you're 2 years of credit history won't show. However, if they pull the Equifax, it will show. Situations like this can be the reason why your credit score fluctuates from one bureau to another.

6/15/2011 1:20:54 AM