Over a year ago I found Credit Karma while searching for how to get a free credit score. I already had pulled my annual credit report but I wanted to know what my credit score was too. I didn’t want to pay for this which is why I was delighted to find Credit Karma.
After using this service for many months I want to share a very honest review of what I like and dislike about Credit Karma.
Why Credit Karma Is Awesome
Here are a a few of the reasons why I love using Credit Karma:
- It’s a completely free service! You gotta love an useful service that is free to use.
- You get an easy-to-understand credit report card. The information that determines your credit score is laid out in a way that makes sense. It’s also visually appealing.
- You get your credit score from TransUnion, rather than an estimate or guess of what it *might* be.
- They have a credit score simulator that lets you input data about future events or actions on your part that might change your credit score. You can play around with paying off debts or closing accounts to see how your credit score will be affected. I found this really useful.
- They have a learning center where you can get info on credit and how to improve yours. They also give you tips throughout the site. If you know nothing about credit this is very useful.
- They have a ton of free tools like a home affordability calculator, debt repayment calculator, simple loan calculator and more.
- They have a recommended credit cards section where users can write reviews of different credit cards they own. This is pretty nifty to see what credit cards other people love. (Here are my favorite credit cards.)
Where Credit Karma Fails
And here are a few of the things I dislike about Credit Karma:
- You only get your credit score from TransUnion instead of all 3 that report credit scores. Since there is usually some discrepancies it’s nice to have your score from all 3.
- Though the site is secure there is always a risk with having more of your personal data online on another website.
As you can see, there are not many things I dislike about Credit Karma. I do like using Credit Karma and plan to continue. I’ve actually set up my whole family on there and they all love it as well. It was a huge eye opener to several family members who did not know their credit was so low (or that their debt was so high).
It’s a great service and an awesome way to keep an eye on your credit score.
Have you tried Credit Karma yet? Love it hate it? Check it out now!
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I just opened a Credit Karma account at your recommendation. I like it quite a bit for many of the reasons you listed above.
I noticed one negative: for one of my current loans, it advertised me an offer to refinance this loan and lists the “monthly payment savings over 1 year” as $1,735. Upon further inspection, the loan is for the same interest rate that I currently pay, but the term would be restarted, so the “savings” they are showing is actually lower minimum payments (which would mean more interest paid). Their language is technically not incorrect (it says “monthly payment savings”) but I feel that this could be misleading to to some, as it took me awhile to figure it out. I’m not a fan of those types of advertisements, but otherwise it seems like it could be a useful tool! Thanks for the heads up.
Interesting. To be honest I ignore all the offers for loans as I’m trying to get out of debt but I can see how that might be confusing or misleading. As with anything, it pays to look into things on your own and make informed decisions.
I got Credit Karma about 5 months ago after reading about it here! I totally love it and it actually saved my report from having fraudelent charges that I was alerted by CK about!. Awesome service.
That’s awesome! Glad I could help!
Glad you found Credit Karma! If you ever have any questions, feel free to shoot me an email!