Credit Karma has partnered with credit bureaus and advertisers to provide consumers with truly FREE credit scores. Your scores are retrieved securely with no hidden fees or obligation. Edit by Moderator: Clarified Title
Have you tried it? I'm curious what info is offered. Is it just a FAKO, or do they also provide any detail behind it (from full credit report content to +/- score factors). Others will be curious how often it can be refreshed and which agencies it pulls from.
Seeing some "targeted" ads seems like a fair tradeoff to me. But I've done free trials on a few other credit monitoring services, and some of them also offered ads. Just wildly inappropriate - "credit repair", secured cards, etc, even when my FICO was around 800.
afeld
Greedy Member
posted: Jan. 28, 2008 @ 8:57a
I think this is a great thing, thanks OP!
It is just a FAKO score (my Fico was 755 when I bought it last week, and my CreditKarma score is 814 today) It doesn't show you any details, just a number. Considering it's free, though, I'd rather do this for free and then go into spending money mode if the score drops.
It basically gives you a list of offers (7 free days on match.com, free Blackberry Pearl, 2.99% for life on Advanta card, etc) and you give a thumbs up or down whether you think it's a good deal or not and can participate if you want.
brushwood
Greedy Member
posted: Jan. 28, 2008 @ 9:05a
This looks interesting but I think the scores are very inflated. It says I have an 866, which I highly doubt.
brushwood said: This looks interesting but I think the scores are very inflated. It says I have an 866, which I highly doubt.I think it might be using a different model than the traditional 850-max model. Perhaps that new Vantage model that I think goes up to 950.
brushwood said: This looks interesting but I think the scores are very inflated. It says I have an 866, which I highly doubt. It looks like they take a range of 300-900, rather than the FICO 300-850...so your numbers will be skewed slightly higher. Though with that score it would seem that you have nearly perfect credit...like 820's so they most likely inflate and skew the number of the score.
sterlingfox
Tired Member
posted: Jan. 28, 2008 @ 9:25a
Senturon said: brushwood said: This looks interesting but I think the scores are very inflated. It says I have an 866, which I highly doubt. It looks like they take a range of 300-900, rather than the FICO 300-850...so your numbers will be skewed slightly higher. Though with that score it would seem that you have nearly perfect credit...like 820's so they most likely inflate and skew the number of the score.
"Now, a new site called CreditKarma is offering free daily credit scores. For comparison, FICO’s own Score Watch program costs $89.95 per year. So what’s the catch?
It’s not a real FICO score. This is another FICO-clone, with a score ranging from 300 to 900. (FICO is from 300 to 850.) It also doesn’t say from which bureau this score is based upon, as they say they can pull from any of the big three (Experian, Equifax, Transunion). My guess is that they’ll use whatever is available that is both cheaper than FICO and still reasonably accurate. That’s what I would do…
You only get the score. The service is pretty barebones. You don’t get information about who’s pulling your credit, how often they are doing it, or information about your existing credit lines. So the “alerts” feature is missing. Instead, the primary attraction is the ability to see trends - is your score increasing or decreasing over time?
They are advertiser-supported, so I guess they are counting on people to obsessively check their score every day. I’ve always been a bit mystified by such behavior, but I don’t check the stock market ticker all day long either. From their privacy policy it seems that they are using your personal information to target ads to you, but aren’t actually sharing your info with others unless you opt-in. I sure hope not!
Security and Privacy Concerns Okay, it’s free, so price isn’t a barrier to using this service. But it’s definitely wise to think twice before giving out personal information like my Social Security number to a start-up company. I read through their site, and didn’t see any glaring security holes. They use common third-party systems like ScanAlert Hacker Safe, TRUSTe, and Verisign. If you do notice something fishy, please share in the comments. The CEO will be reading, given that he’s the one that told me about this site.
Invitation Code It’s currently in Beta now like any good start-up, so you’ll need a special promo code to get in. Use CKFRND."
sterlingfox said: Mine shows 902, so it does go over 900... Hmmm...that's interesting...from their FAQ: What is a credit score? A credit score is a numerical expression between 300 and 900 derived from a statistical analysis of a person's credit files. There is something to be said about free stuff...but in this case it's my opinion that this number is just that...a number, and it's quite useless.
afeld
Greedy Member
posted: Jan. 28, 2008 @ 10:07a
Senturon said: There is something to be said about free stuff...but in this case it's my opinion that this number is just that...a number, and it's quite useless.
Sure, it's an arbitrary number. But, using the scenario I stated above, someone can use this to watch their credit score (literally watch, that's it). If it dips down for some reason, they can choose to spend money to see why. I like to know where I stand, but I found getting a complete credit report every day to be a bit too much. It was nice to know how day-to-day things affected my score, how long after a billing statement each credit issuer reported, etc, but it's not like the average person's report changes all that often.
WOW, time for an AOR for me!!!! Score above 875!!!!
blast7
New Member
posted: Jan. 28, 2008 @ 11:09a
Anin said: Did a search and did not find any.
www.creditkarma.com
Invitation code : CKFRND
Credit Karma has partnered with credit bureaus and advertisers to provide consumers with truly FREE credit scores. Your scores are retrieved securely with no hidden fees or obligation. Providian CC has free FICO scoring every month. There is also no fee for the CC.
So will this help toward bumpage? I assume it should.
gumkin
Member
posted: Jan. 28, 2008 @ 2:45p
MikeR397 said: So will this help toward bumpage? I assume it should.
For me it reported as a soft pull on TU only. It would be nice if it pulled EQ, but you can't beat the price. I will see tomorrow if it gives daily pulls; it sounds like it should.
From the site "Today's score was retrieved. Check again tomorrow!"
MikeR397
Senior Member - 3K
posted: Jan. 28, 2008 @ 4:59p
gumkin said: MikeR397 said: So will this help toward bumpage? I assume it should.
For me it reported as a soft pull on TU only. It would be nice if it pulled EQ, but you can't beat the price. I will see tomorrow if it gives daily pulls; it sounds like it should.
From the site "Today's score was retrieved. Check again tomorrow!"Thanks, please let us know if you can update daily. Even if it only bumps TU, it might come in handy for bumpage, in addittion to the other benefits of a free score.
SilverB18C1
Senior Member - 1K
posted: Jan. 28, 2008 @ 11:30p
www.creditkarma.com said: Your personal information could not be validated. Please verify that it is correct.
They don't like me
busterbaxter
Senior Member - 1K
posted: Jan. 28, 2008 @ 11:35p
SilverB18C1 said: www.creditkarma.com said: Your personal information could not be validated. Please verify that it is correct.
They don't like me
same here. I tried both my mailing and residential addresses and both failed.
Yeah, the score is a proprietary system unrelated to FICO.
But it's still a score based on your live credit data so its still useful for gauging the health of your credit. I don't currently subscribe to any credit reporting services like TrueCredit so something like this is good for confirming that the health of my credit is intact.
IrateConsumer
Senior Member - 1K
posted: Jan. 29, 2008 @ 1:45a
Did you have to give your current phone number for this offer.
Once I get on a list, I never get off.
IrateConsumer
neophyte
Addicted Member
posted: Jan. 29, 2008 @ 2:28a
Yep, this score has nothing to do with FICO.
For three family members I pulled it looks like FICO + 100
Tornadochaser
Senior Member
posted: Jan. 29, 2008 @ 4:01a
neophyte said: Yep, this score has nothing to do with FICO.
For three family members I pulled it looks like FICO + 100
I hope not! My score came out 60 points lower than Equifax and Trans Union lol
chatterweb
Thrifty Member
posted: Jan. 29, 2008 @ 4:46a
My score was 897 and spouse was 807...
TC is saying mine is 788 and spouse is 755
gumkin
Member
posted: Jan. 29, 2008 @ 5:49a
MikeR397 said: gumkin said: MikeR397 said: So will this help toward bumpage? I assume it should.
For me it reported as a soft pull on TU only. It would be nice if it pulled EQ, but you can't beat the price. I will see tomorrow if it gives daily pulls; it sounds like it should.
From the site "Today's score was retrieved. Check again tomorrow!"Thanks, please let us know if you can update daily. Even if it only bumps TU, it might come in handy for bumpage, in addittion to the other benefits of a free score.
I tried it again today; my score didn't change but TU showed another soft pull when I checked. I didn't wait a full 24hours +1 to pull either.
williamgunn
Ancient Member
posted: Jan. 29, 2008 @ 10:37a
I don't understand why FAKO uses a different scale than FICO. Why not make it the same?
variance75x
New Member
posted: Jan. 29, 2008 @ 10:58a
williamgunn said: I don't understand why FAKO uses a different scale than FICO. Why not make it the same?
FICO is a trademarked brand. It's like Kleenex. FICO normally will sued if you make your score like theirs. Fairly nice explanation on the site. Long but useful if you care.
Mine came out to 641. So based on the trend, would it mean that my FICO is as low as 540?
InflatableWallet
Thrifty Member
posted: Jan. 29, 2008 @ 4:03p
IrateConsumer said: Did you have to give your current phone number for this offer.
Once I get on a list, I never get off.
IrateConsumerI gave a K7 number.
Scored 783...need to check my TU score.
xCarsonx
Senior Member
posted: Jan. 29, 2008 @ 4:30p
neednowallet said: Mine came out to 641. So based on the trend, would it mean that my FICO is as low as 540?
Don't be too discouraged. Heres a post from MyMoneyBlog.com
CK Founder Says: January 28th, 2008 at 11:02 am
Thanks for the all the great feedback. We have every intention of publishing an equivalence table. Part of our beta objective was to observe how this score compares to other scoring methods.
Keep in mind that “scores” are somewhat arbitrary. Its the relative ranking and how your score changes over time that matters most. Also credit scores are non-linear meaning a simple .92 won’t work for everyone. I say this as a former statistician in the credit card industry.
We are working on an article that will address the other questions as well. Keep up the great discussion!
This has be worried. Last time I checked my FICO, it was at 738. When I checked Credit Karma's score today, it was 745. I hope that doesn't mean my real score has dropped to the 600s.
According to CKKen (the founder of Credit Karma) at http://www.creditkarma.com/article/differentscores: The technical specs we received for the score are 390-950. We haven't seen anything in the low 400s or anything near the 950.
So it's not the 300-900 everyone's been talking about. Also, this means that if the CK model and the FICO model are equivalent (which they obviously aren't), the CK score should be 92 points higher than FICO.
MikeR397
Senior Member - 3K
posted: Jan. 30, 2008 @ 8:50a
gumkin said: MikeR397 said: gumkin said: MikeR397 said: So will this help toward bumpage? I assume it should.
For me it reported as a soft pull on TU only. It would be nice if it pulled EQ, but you can't beat the price. I will see tomorrow if it gives daily pulls; it sounds like it should.
From the site "Today's score was retrieved. Check again tomorrow!"Thanks, please let us know if you can update daily. Even if it only bumps TU, it might come in handy for bumpage, in addittion to the other benefits of a free score.
I tried it again today; my score didn't change but TU showed another soft pull when I checked. I didn't wait a full 24hours +1 to pull either.Awesome, so this can at least be used for TU bumpage for free!
Skipping 265 Messages...
mttatkns
Thrifty Member
posted: Oct. 16, 2008 @ 8:28p
The credit simulator isn't perfect. If I add 12 months of on-time payment history, my score goes down 4 points If I allow all cards to become 90 days past-due, my score does not change However, if I declare bankruptcy my score actually does go down.
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