Intuit Credit Karma
Ken Lin, chief executive of the Web site CreditKarma.com, explains that while all of the credit bureaus (the main ones are Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax) use the same criteria to judge your "credit worthiness" and often come up with similar scores, they can vary because they have different information and may analyze it slightly differently.
Check your credit score for free at CreditKarma.com. Your credit score will directly affect the mortgage rate you can get and how much of a down-payment your lender might require.
VALUE: Credit Karma offers one credit score, a credit report card explaining factors that make up your score and access to its credit simulator -- all for free.
Credit Karma is a free site that works with TransUnion to let you access an updated score as often as you like and track it through the months. At no cost. Not only that, but with its "Credit Report Card" feature, you get enough info to deduce what's in your TransUnion credit report, even though you don't see the actual report. Again, you can update that as often as you like. For free.
CreditKarma.com is worth a mention for its sheer awesomeness. The site allows you to monitor your FICO credit score absolutely free!... CreditKarma.com is definitely worth checking out, especially in these days of increasing financial desperation.
For those with no credit, like the graduating college student, CreditKarma is teaching traditionally hard-to-reach people how to begin the process of building credit. They then offer tools that show them -- based on real data -- how they can save dollars on big-ticket items.
Credit Karma's credit card data is mentions in a news broadcast.
Credit Karma points out another pitfall: "... the lack of real accountability to pay back these virtual loans glosses over the pitfalls of the actual credit world."
To avoid having your account closed, use all of your credit cards occasionally, says Kenneth Lin, chief executive of Credit Karma, a website that provides free credit profiles. Even small purchases, such as a tank of gas once a month, will make you a more valued customer in the eyes of the card company, he says.
If your score is declining, you have many fewer options than a few years ago," said Credit Karma's CEO, Ken Lin. "You might not get financing and where you do it's much more expensive.