Is Credit Karma Score Reliable? Here is Everything You Should Know
Credit Karma is a leading financial platform that offers Vantage 3.0 credit scores for free. But is Credit Karma score reliable?
There are three major national credit bureaus in the USA- TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. You are eligible for a free credit report from these bureaus once a year. But what if you were able to access your report for free throughout the year? Your Credit Karma score makes this a possibility.
What is Credit Karma?
Founded in 2007, Credit Karma is an online financial platform. In 2020, Intuit purchased the platform for a whopping $7.1 billion. The platform works with TransUnion and Equifax to help its members access their credit reports and credit score for free.
By accessing credit information from these bureaus, it calculates your Vantage 3.0 score. Additionally, Credit Karma also offers helpful educational and financial tools to help their members boost their credit scores.
However, note that Credit Karma is NOT a credit bureau like TransUnion, Equifax, or Experian. It is only an online financial platform that accesses your credit information from TransUnion and Equifax. Based on the information, it then calculates your Credit Karma score. Credit card providers and lenders do not use the Credit Karma score for determining your eligibility.
There can be considerable differences between your Vantage score and your FICO score that creditors mostly use. But it is still an excellent platform for monitoring your credit score and gaining valuable financial knowledge.
How Does Credit Karma Earn Money?
When you visit Credit Karma, you can register for its membership for free by providing some basic details. By creating the account, you allow Credit Karma to access your credit report from TransUnion and Equifax. Based on your credit information, it calculates your Credit Karma score.
Moreover, it will also recommend products such as credit cards that match your expenses and spending habits. If you apply for the recommended credit card, Credit Karma receives a commission for the application. These recommendations are very different from what you regularly receive in your mailbox.
The platform is able to recommend products that are a good fit for you based on your credit profile. As a result, the chances of you applying for the product are significantly higher. For instance, if you are repaying a car loan at 15%, it can recommend a cheaper loan.
Also, thousands of Credit Karma members leave their reviews on loans, credit cards, and other financial tools and services. You can go through these reviews to make an informed decision. This unique business model helps you, the platform, and even its partners like banks, card providers, and lenders.
How Does Credit Karma Earn Money?
When you visit Credit Karma, you can register for its membership for free by providing some basic details. By creating the account, you allow Credit Karma to access your credit report from TransUnion and Equifax. Based on your credit information, it calculates your Credit Karma score.
Moreover, it will also recommend products such as credit cards that match your expenses and spending habits. If you apply for the recommended credit card, Credit Karma receives a commission for the application. These recommendations are very different from what you regularly receive in your mailbox.
The platform is able to recommend products that are a good fit for you based on your credit profile. As a result, the chances of you applying for the product are significantly higher. For instance, if you are repaying a car loan at 15%, it can recommend a cheaper loan.
Also, thousands of Credit Karma members leave their reviews on loans, credit cards, and other financial tools and services. You can go through these reviews to make an informed decision. This unique business model helps you, the platform, and even its partners like banks, card providers, and lenders.
How Does Credit Karma Earn Money?
When you visit Credit Karma, you can register for its membership for free by providing some basic details. By creating the account, you allow Credit Karma to access your credit report from TransUnion and Equifax. Based on your credit information, it calculates your Credit Karma score.
Moreover, it will also recommend products such as credit cards that match your expenses and spending habits. If you apply for the recommended credit card, Credit Karma receives a commission for the application. These recommendations are very different from what you regularly receive in your mailbox.
The platform is able to recommend products that are a good fit for you based on your credit profile. As a result, the chances of you applying for the product are significantly higher. For instance, if you are repaying a car loan at 15%, it can recommend a cheaper loan.
Also, thousands of Credit Karma members leave their reviews on loans, credit cards, and other financial tools and services. You can go through these reviews to make an informed decision. This unique business model helps you, the platform, and even its partners like banks, card providers, and lenders.
What are the Other Services Offered by Them?
Apart from the Credit Karma score, the platform also offers a host of other services like-
- Personalized product recommendations
- Personalized tips for improving your credit score
- Credit check alerts
- Financial calculators
- Filing Federal tax and some state returns
- Tax preparation assistance
- Access to a variety of products, including high-yield savings account
You can access all of this and much more for free. Unlike most other credit tracking platforms, you are not even required to provide your credit card details to use Credit Karma. From checking your Credit Karma score as many times as you like to using personalized recommendations, everything is completely free.
Is the Credit Karma Score Accurate?
Now to the main question, is the Credit Karma score accurate?
There is no denying that Credit Karma is a great platform to monitor your credit score and credit reports. However, you cannot rely only on its Vantage 3.0 score if you want to apply for credit. The Credit Karma score might not provide a clear picture of your progress. This can mislead you to apply for credit or loans with the incorrect information.
Creditors rely on the FICO score based on the credit reports generated by the three national credit bureaus. So, it’d be wise only to trust your credit reports from TransUnion, Experian, or Equifax when making credit related decisions.
Note that when you remove negative information from your credit report, you will not see the changes right away. The Credit Karma score and report updates every 7 days for your TransUnion and Equifax reports. Also, do not forget the fact that Credit Karma calculates your score using its own model separate from FICO. There usually are considerable differences between your FICO score and the Vantage 3.0 score, so always be mindful of this.
Recently in March 2021, many Twitter users mentioned that their Credit Karma score was considerably higher than their FICO score. Unfortunately, they could only know about this discrepancy after applying for a credit card or loan.
Credit Karma is a great platform to get a credit score overview and learn more about financial tools and products. However, the credit scores from national bureaus are more reliable as creditors use this version instead.
How Can 007 Credit Agent Help?
How can a 007 Credit Agent help you improve your Fico or Credit Karma score? Our credit repair experts have helped thousands boost their scores.
It is very common for your credit report to have errors that might be negatively impacting your score. In some cases, these errors might be making you ineligible for a particular credit card or loan. We work with our customers to help remove such mistakes from their credit reports.
Good financial habits are critical for improving and maintaining your credit score. Harmful errors in your report can have severe long-term consequences on your financial life. We can locate these errors on your TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian reports and dispute them to boost your credit score.
Over the years, we have fixed many credit reports. Our customers have improved their credit scores by removing such errors in as little as 30-45 days. If you are looking for a simple and effective way to repair your credit score, 007 Credit Agent can help.
Get in touch with us today to know more about our services.
