Frugal Babe

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Credit Karma

March 23, 2009 By Frugal Babe

Back in January, when I wrote about paying six bucks to get my credit score, I got a comment from Kacie about how I could try Credit Karma next time if I wanted to get a credit score for free.  Checking this out was on my to-do list ever since, but I never quite seem to get to the end of that list.  I finally sat down to check out Credit Karma a few days ago, and I’m so glad I did.

I read everything I could find on the site, and I am truly convinced that there are no strings attached.  I didn’t have to enroll in an sort of credit protection service, and I didn’t have to pay for my score.  It took about three minutes to create an account and get my credit score.  Instead of the weird VantageScore 501 – 990 system that Experian used when I paid for my score from them, the Credit Karma score used the traditional 300 – 850 scoring system.

My husband and I both created accounts.  My credit score was a 768, and his was a 780.  Anything over a 750 is considered excellent, so I’m quite happy with my 768.  Last month I had wondered if we should someday finance a car in order to raise my credit score, and now I’m no longer concerned about it.  Purchasing another house once we sell our current one should be a relatively smooth process if we have at least a 20% down payment and those credit scores.  So all is good.

I wish that I had known about Credit Karma a few months ago, before I paid for our credit scores.  But I’m glad that Kacie mentioned it in her comment, and glad that I finally got around to checking out the site.  Better late than never!

Filed Under: lessons learned 5 Comments

Comments

  1. Kacie says

    March 23, 2009 at 2:39 pm

    Glad it worked for you!

    Reply
  2. L@spillingbuckets says

    March 25, 2009 at 10:20 am

    We signed up a few months ago but were always wondering how accurate it really was. About a week ago we went to get a pre-qualification for a mortgage and they ran our official credit scores. Ry’s was really close, it was about 6 points higher (the Karma score) than his actual number. Mine was a little farther off but also pretty good: the Karma score was about 10 points lower.

    So it isn’t 100% accurate, but “pretty darn close” :)

    Reply
  3. mc says

    March 25, 2009 at 12:24 pm

    Thanks for posting this. I went to the site to find out my credit score — pretty pleased with 760! Not sure how to increase, I have no-balance credit cards, no debt, and probably won’t have any debt until we buy a house. Is there any way to continually build credit without acquiring debt?

    Reply
  4. Michelle says

    March 26, 2009 at 5:29 pm

    I’ve used it to keep tabs on my score. I don’t see any strings or added spam from signing up. I am glad wisebread.com posted about it.

    Reply
  5. Daizy says

    April 1, 2009 at 10:17 pm

    Thanks for the tip. I was looking for a way to find my score without paying, spam or applying for more credit. It is a boost for the ego even if it might not be 100% accurate.

    Reply

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