topic Re: Credit Karma...... in Understanding FICO® Scoring

Credit Karma......

Anonymous — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 02:18:53 GMT

Does anyone use this site called Credit Karma? And what do you know about them?

Re: Credit Karma......

Anonymous — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 02:38:20 GMT

I have use them for the last 4 months it's never even close to my real Fico but does show me if they are any new inquiries from transunion, other then that I really like them.

Re: Credit Karma......

Anonymous — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 02:41:18 GMT

So how big of a difference is there with your score from myfico and credit karma? So I'm guessing its a FAKE score!!!

Re: Credit Karma......

Anonymous — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 03:12:11 GMT

It was off by 27 points...I like them because it shows utilization of my cards and it has this cool credit card simulator.

Oh and it's free.

Re: Credit Karma......

RobertEG — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 07:03:59 GMT

kynurse, there is no such thing as a "fake" credit score. FAKO means nothing.

FICO scores are only considered "better" because they are the scores used by most lendors.

Credit scoring is totally unregulated.

FICO claims to be the best. Vantage makes the same claims.

The only way to know the importance of any credit score is to ask the prospective lendor what score they rely upon. Again, most use FICO, but many dont.

Re: Credit Karma......

haulingthescoreup — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 11:32:42 GMT

We call them FAKO's, because we like the pun.

But I don't agree that they're just as good as FICO's. The only reason consumers want to know their scores is to see how we look in lenders' eyes. If a cynical company wants to create a different scoring formula and sell the resulting scores to consumers, who don't understand that these scores are 99.9% unlikely to be used by a lender, then I call that score fake. Or semi-fraudulent.

Most lenders use FICO's or their own internally generated risk scores, as does American Express. I know that Kohl's uses the EX Vantage score, but I have yet to see convincing documentation of another major lender using one of the published non-FICO score systems. Oh, wait, that peer-to-peer lending group uses a tweaked Vantage score, I think, but even then, it's tweaked. It isn't the straight score we can get. I do believe that this info would be available if it was happening. The folks who created Vantage scores and PLUS scores are desperate to have them adopted.

As for scores like you get through TrueCredit, they are strictly consumer-info scores, not meant for lenders.

And obviously, scores are only part of it. Lenders look at your reports as a whole, and at any history that you might have with them.

FAKO's are a great way for their inventors to make a buck. I have yet to find any other advantage in them. They also don't track the movement of FICO's worth a d@mn, sometimes increasing when FICO's decrease and sometimes the opposite.

Again, if your purpose in learning your "credit score" is to try to understand how you look to creditors, then FICO scores are the only ones that will help you out. And no, I'm not paid to say this.

Re: Credit Karma......

Anonymous — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 11:47:40 GMT

@haulingthescoreup wrote:
We call them FAKO's, because we like the pun.

But I don't agree that they're just as good as FICO's. The only reason consumers want to know their scores is to see how we look in lenders' eyes. If a cynical company wants to create a different scoring formula and sell the resulting scores to consumers, who don't understand that these scores are 99.9% unlikely to be used by a lender, then I call that score fake. Or semi-fraudulent.

Most lenders use FICO's or their own internally generated risk scores, as does American Express. I know that Kohl's uses the EX Vantage score, but I have yet to see convincing documentation of another major lender using one of the published non-FICO score systems. Oh, wait, that peer-to-peer lending group uses a tweaked Vantage score, I think, but even then, it's tweaked. It isn't the straight score we can get. I do believe that this info would be available if it was happening. The folks who created Vantage scores and PLUS scores are desperate to have them adopted.

As for scores like you get through TrueCredit, they are strictly consumer-info scores, not meant for lenders.

And obviously, scores are only part of it. Lenders look at your reports as a whole, and at any history that you might have with them.

FAKO's are a great way for their inventors to make a buck. I have yet to find any other advantage in them. They also don't track the movement of FICO's worth a d@mn, sometimes increasing when FICO's decrease and sometimes the opposite.
y if your purpose in learning your "credit score" is to try to understand how you look to creditors, then FICO scores are the only ones that will help you out. And no, I'm not paid to say this.

Thanks for responding. I just have been researching ALL the different "credit score" models that are out there. Yes I have learned FICO is the only one that really matters.

Do you know why Experian takes forever to update anything on someones credit report? My cc info hasn't changed in over 2 months, but it has updated ontime with other CRA.

Re: Credit Karma......

haulingthescoreup — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 22:15:05 GMT

kynurse78 wrote:

Do you know why Experian takes forever to update anything on someones credit report? My cc info hasn't changed in over 2 months, but it has updated ontime with other CRA.

Wow, that's very unusual! Experian usually updates the same or next day that a lender provides the new info.

How are you checking your EX report? Because they don't automatically update. You have to pull a new one, either by paying or by back-dooring in, using the dispute option (something that should be used with great restraint, IMO.)

Re: Credit Karma......

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 10:55:46 GMT

I have the triple advantage monitoring. I can pull a new one everyday if I want. My cc, and an account I had updated hasn't updated. What should I do?

Re: Credit Karma......

haulingthescoreup — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 11:14:14 GMT

I'd first call each lender and ask how they have your name spelled on your account, your exact address, you social, etc., and confirm that they do report to EX and that they've done so recently. Then look at one of your full reports from EX (not just the monitoring version) and compare spellings and so forth. If everything matches perfectly, you'll have to call Experian, ouch. (I've had good luck with them, but others have gotten the run-around.)

Generally, when more than one account isn't reporting, it's because the demographics aren't matching up, and so the CRA can't/ won't post.

Re: Credit Karma......

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 12:29:04 GMT

I just checked my Credit Karma score and it is over 100 points below my Fico score. Should I be alarmed? What does this really mean? My Fico is 699, but CK was 584!

Re: Credit Karma......

haulingthescoreup — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:06:54 GMT

Melissa77 wrote:

I just checked my Credit Karma score and it is over 100 points below my Fico score. Should I be alarmed? What does this really mean? My Fico is 699, but CK was 584!

It means absolutely nothing at all!

This is what makes me so furious about FAKO's. They are generated from scoring formulas that are completely unrelated to FICO scoring, and since most lenders don't them (they definitely don't use CK), their only result is to confuse consumers.

Melissa, make sure that the credit report on which your CK score was based hasn't suddenly gained some new derogatory info --a new collection posting, etc.

FAKO scores are garbage, but the "score monitoring services" that let you see your reports as well can be worth it, just to make sure that no unpleasant surprises have hit your reports. Just learn not to look at the FAKO scores.

And for those who always post that there's no such thing as FAKO, and that all scores have some inherent value, let me just remind all that frequently non-FICO/ FAKO scores go down while FICO's go up, or they go up while FICO's go down, or they sit there while FICO's change, or they're all over the place while FICO's sit still.

If you want to know what your creditors and potential creditors are looking at in terms of scores, FAKO's aren't gonna tell you anything.

* ends rant *

Anyway, Melissa, like I said, check your report to make sure no new negative info has hit. If it hasn't, and if your util hasn't changed dramatically or something, you should be OK.

Re: Credit Karma......

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:21:48 GMT

The score isnt accurate at all, (its not a FICO) but it does show things like UTIL, Inquires, and AAoA. Its nice to have so you can keep an eye on on your TU report and if you are trying to "up" your FICO, and say you were doing this by lowering your UTIL, you can check this site to see where you stand on this. If a lender gives you CLI then you can check CK to see if its been reported yet. To me its just a way to keep an eye on everything without pulling my true FICO, but dont even look at the credit score, just the report card.