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The three major credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — offer access to your credit report once a year. If you’re looking for more visibility into your credit, services like Credit Karma offer free access to your score and credit monitoring.
Credit Karma is a credit score service founded in 2006 with headquarters in San Francisco, California. It offers its customers free access to their credit scores and reports from TransUnion and Equifax. It also offers credit monitoring, money management calculators and recommendations for loans and credit cards to fit your situation.
Besides the ability to access your free credit score, Credit Karma offers other services that include:
Creating an account with Credit Karma gets you access to your TransUnion and Equifax credit reports. You’ll also get weekly credit score updates complete with alerts notifying you of any changes to your TransUnion credit report.
Credit Karma breaks down your credit reports and highlights areas you may need to review, like missing payments or incorrect information.
Reviewing your credit information with Credit Karma won’t harm your credit, as Credit Karma performs a soft pull of your credit history that doesn’t impact your score.
You’ll get access to both your Equifax and TransUnion credit scores through Credit Karma’s service.
Credit Karma’s service is entirely free, and makes its money through advertising and lending partners. This means when you sign up, you’ll be asked to sign up for other services from Credit Karma’s lenders, but you aren’t obligated to accept any offers.
A number of credit cards provide free access to your credit score, including Capital One, Discover, First National Bank and USAA.
Consider the benefits and fallbacks of signing up for a free credit monitoring service like Credit Karma.
1. To sign up with Credit Karma, go to its site and click See My Scores.
2. Enter your email address to create an account.
3. Enter your personal details and Social Security number, and agree to the terms and conditions.
4. To finish registration, answer several questions to verify your identity.
Your credit score is a sensitive piece of personal information, and the service you select should treat your information with integrity and care. As of October 2020, here’s what we found out about Credit Karma’s reputation:
Unfortunately, Credit Karma’s customer service is limited to email and requires you to submit a help request through its site. Include your full name, email address, date of birth and a description of your problem or inquiry.
Credit Karma doesn’t guarantee how soon you’ll receive a response, but several online reviews complain that after submitting help requests, they received automated email replies instead of personalized support.
If you’re preparing to apply for a loan or a credit card, knowing your credit score ahead of time could help. Every time there’s a hard pull on your credit, it temporarily lowers your score, so knowing your credit score can help you determine if you’ll qualify for the rates and terms you want before you apply.
Credit Karma not only offers free access to your credit score, but includes credit monitoring and ID theft protection. If you’re looking for a free alternative to help managing your credit, this service could help.
When you’re applying for a loan or credit card, your credit score makes a big difference in the rates and terms you’re offered. Knowing your credit score before you apply can help you better navigate loans and credit card applications.
Credit Karma offers free access to credit monitoring and your credit reports, but be aware that its customer service is limited, and online reports indicate that the score you see on its site could be inflated.
Explore your options with other providers before you make a decision to choose the right service to fit your needs.