Credit Karma

[Anonymous]

How accurate is Credit Karma?

[Katheryne88]

Depends.. Very accurate for reports, not so much for scores

[Anonymous]

Thanks a bunch

[Anonymous]

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@Katheryne88 wrote:
Depends.. Very accurate for reports, not so much for scores

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Well there's a bit more to it then that.  CK is very accurate for the type of score they are giving; the Vantage 3.0 Score which is an alternative scoring system to Fico.   Vantage 3.0 is used by very few creditors so people get confused when they think they are looking at Fico scores on CK when they are not.

As for the accuracies of their reports that is debatable.  They often report erroneous information regarding inquiries, accounts closed etc so you should never rely solely on CK for complete credit information.

Also, please don't rely on the card recommendations that CK gives where it states your chances of approval.,  CK gets paid to promote credit cards and their recommendations are not a preapproval or anything close.

[takeshi74]

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@Anonymous wrote:

How accurate is Credit Karma?

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How accurate is what, specifically with Credit Karma?  The reports should be entirely accurate barring any data issues.  Age of accounts is incorrect as CK provides AVerage Age of Open Accounts.  FICO uses Average Age of Accounts which includes closed accounts on your report.  Recommendations are based on correlation, not causation, as CK doesn't really know if you will be approved or not for any given product.

As for the scores, any score is accurate but only for its own scoring model.  CK provides VantageScore 3.0.  If a creditor uses VantageScore 3.0 and TU or EQ then you can rely on these scores from CK.  If a creditor uses a different scoring model and/or EX then you cannot.  You cannot use a score generated by one model to determine a score generated by another model even if both models are FICO's.  You should epxect different algorithms to produce different results.

I don't recommend relying solely on numbers but if you are going to refer to them you need to make sure that you're considering the CRA and scoring model used to generate the score.  Both of those as well as the date that the data was pulled to generate the score can all have an imact on the number generated.  Even FICO has a number of different models used by creditors and these models will not generate the same scores even with the same data nor do they all even use the same point range.  See also the Understanding FICO Scoring subforum and its stickies.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

How accurate is Credit Karma?

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If you have cards that you don't use or haven't use for a while, or don't report a balance, you should use those CCs to pay and get your fico and credit reports then pay them off in two months or let them report the balance and pay them off.  I did that for a card QS I have t use for 5 months and my fico EQ went up 12 points, just on that card reporting a balance of $10.  

It's a win win if you do that:

1. Your scores will go up because the usage and balance reporting of the card/s

2. You will know your fico scores and you can dispute anything wrong you see on your credit reports 😀

i I know it can be pricey but once a year won't hurt and it's good to know where you truly stand anyways.

Have you used your free annual credit report? You get one for free once a year.

Also, some agencies let you pay a $1 for a week trial, you just have to call within those 7 days and cancel so you don't get charge the monthly fee. I did that for two of the credit bureaus.

hope that helps

[Anonymous]

Credit Karma is awesome

[Sobossy86]

My friend is a real estate agent in a new construction community. She told me that the scores in Credit Karma are usually around the same as the scores her Preferred Lender pulls. She stated that she recommends everyone to check their scores through Credit Karma and all the customers have stated the scores were spot on with what the lender pulled. I'm sure it all depends on the lender.

[Revelate]

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@Sobossy86 wrote:
My friend is a real estate agent in a new construction community. She told me that the scores in Credit Karma are usually around the same as the scores her Preferred Lender pulls. She stated that she recommends everyone to check their scores through Credit Karma and all the customers have stated the scores were spot on with what the lender pulled. I'm sure it all depends on the lender.

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In the mortgage world?

Nobody uses Vantage except maybe a portfolio lender and those are kinda rare.  I'm profoundly skeptical of your friend's statement TBH.

[Anonymous]

Credit Karma is good place to, if you don't want to pay.