CK Recommendation

[Eyisila]

Let me preface this by saying I know these, as with any from any of the "free" score sites, are to be taken with a grain of salt. 

But mine have gone from the Capital One fodder (secured, sub prime plat, QS1 maybe), to now stating that it recommends Chase Cards.  I have been working on my scores/reports and they have gotten better, so it was very nice to see the Freedom and Slate as "recommended".

I was just wondering if anyone knew what factors sites like CK use to give these recommendations?  I know advertising dollars have something to do with it, but do they just see the FAKO score, do they take into account other factors like util, AAoA, baddies, etc?  Again, I know it's not to be taken seriously, but I am just wondering because my FAKO score according to CK changed but not seemingly enough to warrant recommending these cards. 

I hope you guys and gals understand what I am asking and I appreciate, in advance, any and all responses!!

[Revelate]

It's all dependent on what lenders are paying them to advertise their products as their recommendations.

In theory they do look at some file similarities and do some Oujia board comparison but frankly there are much better sources for underwriting data which you can compare to your own file than Credit Karma.

They really should be utterly ignored.

[Jerry45]

CK might get a fee for every application also. The best way is to just go to the main pre qual site for the card you want.

[Anonymous]

I have another question regarding ck. i have 46% util on TU and 26% on EQ, is this an error in ck or is it that the lender didn't report the last 2 payments to TU?

[takeshi74]

---

@Eyisila wrote:

I know advertising dollars have something to do with it, but do they just see the FAKO score, do they take into account other factors like util, AAoA, baddies, etc?

---

VantageScores and other FAKO's aren't just randomly generated.  They're all based on the data in your reports so, yes, they all consider utilization. AAoA, derogs, etc.  The reason why you can't rely on one scoring model to determine a score generated by a different scoring model is that different algorithms weigh these factors differently.  You have to expect different algorithms to produce different results.  It's not just that you need to take FAKO's with a grain of salt.  Even different FICO models (see the Understanding FICO Scoring subforum and its stickies) will produce different results with the same data.  You can't just assume that a FICO is FICO.  Some of the models don't even use the typical scoring range.

As you stated, CK gets referral fees so they're going to push cards that make them money.

You really have to learn to assess your own reports or find out what scoring model and CRA that the creditor/product you're considering uses and then see if you can get that specific score.

Even if you find a creditor that uses VantageScore 3.0, CK doesn't know the exact requirements used by a creditor/product.

[Jerry45]

It is normal for CK to be slow on reporting from TU. so do not fret.

[Anonymous]

so if a lender pulls my TU they will see the updated info?

[Revelate]

---

@Anonymous wrote:
so if a lender pulls my TU they will see the updated info?

---

They'll see the file as it exists at that point in time with the bureau.  All the monitoring solutions are delayed a bit when you compare alerts received with the actual report date on the report from the credit bureaus.  Had to clean up some murky addresses recently and compared, was a few days behind even with the paid services in some cases.

If you're applying for anything serious it's worth getting your report before applying; however, for the usual credit card app the monitoring solutions are close enough... a few days either way really won't matter much while the monitoring solutions catch up.

[HiLine]

I agree with Revelate. Credit monitoring usually lags behind report. Recently, I pulled a report from Score Watch and got a new score, but the alert didn't arrive until much later that day.