Intuit Credit Karma
If you want to monitor your score, it's best to use a free service like Credit Karma. They give you your TransUnion credit score, which isn't technically your FICO score, but it's still a credit score and you don't have to pay.
But those with no credit are in an altogether different category. Typically it's either "young students or the 'under-banked' population people who don't have a long history with traditional banking services," said Kenneth Lin, CEO of CreditKarma.com, a San Francisco-based consumer Web site.
CreditKarma.com offers a credit score for free from information provided by a division of TransUnion... The Web site includes other useful tools, including a debt repayment calculator and a credit score simulator that shows how certain financial transactions, such as adding a credit card, will affect your overall score over time.
CreditKarma, a consumer education Web site, tabulates debt information based on data posted by consumers on its Web site. The company provides tools and resources to help consumers reduce debt and save money.
"After several months of paying down credit card balances, many consumers (nationally) were forced to turn to credit cards toward the end of the year," Ken Lin, chief executive of Credit Karma, said in a statement.
"2009 was a rough year for many consumers, especially with unemployment topping 10-percent and the holidays," says Ken Lin, CEO of Credit Karma. "After several months of paying down credit card balances, many consumers were forced to turn to credit cards towards the end of the year."
Since July, Hawaii credit card balances rose 19 percent, according to a new report by Credit Karma Inc., a San Francisco-based credit reporting firm.
Try applying at an institution where you have a checking account, mortgage or certificate of deposit, recommends Ken Lin, of CreditKarma.com.
In its just-released "Top 10 Consumer Credit Events of 2009," the website CreditKarma.com lists...
What does 2010 hold? Ken Lin, CEO of Credit Karma offers insights and predictions.