Credit Karma
a review
Credit Karma a truly free credit score service!! This is something everyone should use in their credit repair strategy.
This next set of statements are taken directly from their website.
Credit Karma offers a new way to track your credit score and a unique way to benefit from it. For the first time you can get a truly free credit score with no hidden costs or obligations. Based on your score, you gain access to exclusive offers from companies that value your creditworthiness.
That right there is worth the time at this site. It tailors what you can qualify for in terms of credit and other money saving offers.
The premise of consumer Credit Scoring is that people with good credit pay their bills on time, are less likely to go into collections, and tend to waste fewer company resources overall. These factors translate to higher profitability for that company and make that customer more desirable.
Yeah... that was the original purpose but it got distorted for a time by some of the banks and lenders till it all crashed in on them. Now I believe it may be back to this approach. I like this next statement.
The principle of Karma is common to many beliefs. The general idea is that any action a person takes either positive or negative, will have an inevitable equal effect in the future. Your credit score is kind of an expression of this concept; an index of your credit history: your credit karma. Credit Karma embodies the best parts of these two disparate yet similar concepts to help people stay aware of their Credit Score and gain access to exclusive deals at the same time.
While this service isn't an actual credit monitoring service (you can't expect that from free) you can do a type of self monitoring with this service and this website certainly is a good tool to help you maintain and improve your credit score.
As soon as I wrote this page Credit Karma went right ahead and did indeed offer free credit monitoring!! As soon as my new credit card became public knowledge I got an alert about the new account opening. They have all you need here when you're on a tight budget.
Features of Credit Karma
Once you give them permission to access your information, you will find your credit score on the my credit page. This is the page that you will start your journey on their website.
In small print it will label your score as either poor, fair, good or excellent. This is actually a link to a scale where they rate the credit score numbers with your score on that scale.
There are letter grades above the scale. It appears, though is not absolute, that the score needed to achieve good would be around 720.
They list the good things that are going on with your credit.
Only problem I found here is that they listed accounts open that I know are not . So the formula may be tainted, but correctable.
The problem being that Transunion is supplying the information. While I have high regards for this site I do not have those same feelings for Transunion. Sorry guys you need to get your act together.
Of the three major credit bureaus this one is the slacker. Almost all my dealings with them are problematic.
With these accounts listed as current and open it makes my overall credit limit available amount look like I have several $1,000.00's more than I actually have. So the credit picture and possibly the score are not accurate.
I would not rely on this site solely for my credit information because of this one problem.
As hurtful as it sounds the correct course of action will be to make Transunion fix this.
It's almost credit repair in reverse!!
This is the one place that could be considered a credit monitoring area.
Any messages about accounts especially new account openings are listed first.
You will also find your vantage score and auto insurance score here. Something I haven't found elsewhere yet!!
The information used to determine the auto insurance score is obviously much different than what is used for a credit score, yet I always believed that your credit score was part of the decision making process, but maybe not. My auto insurance score was much higher.
Under report card in this same section is where you will also find that sliding scale mentioned above.
Then lastly in the my credit section there is a credit compare tab where you are compared with other consumers nationally and to other credit karma members.
Money savings at Credit Karma
There is a my savings tab next to the "my credit" tab that lists financial offers that they believe could save you money. There are tabs here for all sorts of items that they will help you find deals on such as home loans, auto loans, auto insurance, ect.
The my account tab lists accounts they found open and using. Then suggests new possibilities in these areas. There are separate areas for credit cards, home loans and auto loans here. Using this will either help you find institutions that will offer you lower rates or help you shop for any new loans or lines of credit.
Another tab is credit cards this lists cards you can apply for with the credit score range you are in and the details of that card.
A feature that I liked in this section is it lists the chances of being approved for the cards that are listed.
There are several categories you can refine your search to such as best cards, balance transfers, low interest, cash back ect.
The review tab is a review area. The credit card review lists over 300 different credit cards.There are reviews for those that supply mortgages, home equity loans, auto loans, auto ins. banking reviews, credit union reviews and life insurance.
Making this possibly your one stop shop and compare site for these items!
There is finally an advise and learning tab that contain a forum where you can ask questions and the Credit Karma Blog. There are also many informative news articles and a host of calculators for your use. One of these being a home affordability calculator.
Something that should have been used by the major banks before they gave out their predatory loans that led to the housing crash!!!
I did apply for a suggested credit card which was a rewards card that I have been quite pleased with!!
Overall, aside from the outdated information from Transunion I enjoy my time at credit karma and hope you find it enjoyable also.
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