is score on Credit Karma reliable?

[trumpet-205]

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@LS2982 wrote:

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@trumpet-205 wrote:

I believe Chase do use Vantage score for credit card.

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They pulled EX for me in MD.

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Found my Chase approval letter. Credit score on it is 732 ranging from 501 to 990 on EQ. It is VantageScore.

[Anonymous]

About as accurate as a blind man trying to hit a bullseye with one arrow, outside in the middle of a hurricane.

[Anonymous]

I think it's pretty close from my experience, today's CK score is 695, and a fresh TU FICO from MyFICO is 705. I have no idea about the VantageScore, but I've never heard of anyone actually using a VantageScore (one possible exception is Chase, but I don't think so, as when I got their Freedom Card it gave me a score in the 710s, I think, of a scale of 100 to 990, not 500 to 990: it definitely says "100 to 990", but that could either be a typo for VantageScore, or a Chase in-house algorithm). Experian/CE FAKO is 720, Experian PLUS FAKO is 700, have no idea what Equifax is (it was 670 a month ago).

Regardless of what seems to be common sentiment on these forums, FAKO scores aren't useless. They're not what lenders use, but they can be powerful tools for consumers - especially  when they're free, and allow you to update daily (beware that I have heard daily pulling of one's credit score, at least for Equifax, can cause a credit report to split). As Quizzle (my first experience with credit scores, and a service I still use and love) says, apropos: "This is not a FICO score...however if something causes your score to go up using one model, good chances are it causes it to go up using any model".

I've found FAKOs to be a reliable guide for more frequent monitoring, when I don't want to squander $40+ a month on actual FICO scores. (Although, for Equifax, I think MyFICO is the only game in town either way; I've yet to locate a site offering free Equifax FAKOs.)

[bbrannan]

They pulled EX for me here in TX

[thom02099]

In agreement that the score presented is not very reliable as an indicator of your credit worthiness.  However, must respectfully disagree that it's worthless.  I use it to monitor CHANGES in my report, and for me at least, it's very accurate there.  When I have a balance change, it's reflected accurately.  I can also use their utilization tool to view my utilization on individual cards, as well as CL per card.  When I get a change at CK, it usually follows in a day or two that I get a SW notification that my FICO has changed as well.  Then I can choose to pull a FICO report, depending on the significance of the change. 

[Anonymous]

"Worthless" depends upon ones needs, LOL! There are times FAKO scores get pretty close to FICO but not with enough regularity to be predictive. That being said, FICO scores based upon a different version than a lendor pulls or late are equally worthless.

Services with FAKO scores are great for monitoring when things age/fall off, inquiries, balance changes, etc... I do use SW but it tends to lag behind everything else by at least 4 days.

I'm considering going off CMS cold turkey or cuting back to USAA. At this point, I'm basically monitoring changes in utilization on a file that will be 100% clean in Oct.

[llecs]

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@thom02099 wrote:

In agreement that the score presented is not very reliable as an indicator of your credit worthiness.  However, must respectfully disagree that it's worthless.  I use it to monitor CHANGES in my report, and for me at least, it's very accurate there.  When I have a balance change, it's reflected accurately.  I can also use their utilization tool to view my utilization on individual cards, as well as CL per card.  When I get a change at CK, it usually follows in a day or two that I get a SW notification that my FICO has changed as well.  Then I can choose to pull a FICO report, depending on the significance of the change. 

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IMO, CK is OK at tracking report info. I too can get a general idea of report changes to TU. I think the main debate is the usefulness of the scores. Just this week my FICO increased 9 points due to util improvements. My Vantage FAKO increased by 40. My TransRisk on CK dropped 8.

Don't rely on changes to CK to track SW alerts, only because CK follows TU and SW follows EQ. You can have a change on one report and not the other, or if there are changes, TU is usually lagging.

[Anonymous]

I went on a giant app spree, about 13 new inquiries on my report. Out of that, I received 9 new accts. Every lender provided score was closer to my TU FAKO scores than myFico scores. I just bought my Fico score from here two days ago, and it's listed as 642. However, every lender gave me a score of 696, 708, 680, and within the 680 to 710 range which is closer to my FAKO scores. So, I am disappointed in my FICO score!

[Anonymous]

Credit Karma, I shake my fist at thee!

I just finished my app spree. 5 new inquiries. My Transrisk dropped 20 points........and my Vantage went up 3. Apparently one of their models thinks I'm becoming risky, while the other wants to scratch behind my ears and play fetch. 

USAA seems to be much less finicky about how it reacted to my recent activity. Regardless, I can't wait to get my scores from everybody who pulled my reports (I can get one from every bureau after that) and see what the facts are. Also, when my Wally World kicks in. Yay for a new FICO in my near future!

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I've found FAKOs to be a reliable guide for more frequent monitoring, when I don't want to squander $40+ a month on actual FICO scores. (Although, for Equifax, I think MyFICO is the only game in town either way; I've yet to locate a site offering free Equifax FAKOs.)

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If you are a member of DCU, you have access ot free Equifax FICO Score.

PSECU only source of Experian FICO that I know of.

Walmart card holders can get free TU08 FICO score.  The TU98 FICO sold here is fairly worthless.  Not sure of a source of TU04 which is the one in common use today.