A Review: Credit Karma

A friend recently referred me to Credit Karma. Don't worry-I did not hear of them either before this. I thought to myself "Self, great, another credit score company." But he caught my eye when he said

"...wanted to recommend Credit Karma, the website gives you free credit scores. Check it out..."

I admit, I still had some trepidation as I thought to myself "Self, great, another "FREE" credit score company."

But my friend is legit (meaning he's been in banking/finance all of his adult life, holds a Masters in Accounting, CPA, currently pursuing his CFA and he reads good books).

So I check it out. And surprisingly it is FREE!!!

One thing that impressed me with Credit Karma is that the signup was painless and it was relatively easy to use once logged in. Everything was pretty self-explanatory and I received my credit score (along with a nifty graph as soon as my homepage appeared). It kind of reminded me of Mint.

So after I received my credit score I immediately went to myFico and paid for my "actual" credit score and to no surprise, I found a slight variance between the two companies. But in the world of credit scores, a slight variance can cost you many dollars in higher interest rates. Another draw back is that it does not provide credit reports (which is absolutely pivotal to understand your past and present credit history).

I would recommend Credit Karma to anyone who are first-timers when reviewing their own personal credit information. But I would immediately follow that if they want to know ALL of their information, to just go with myFico.

All in all, I rate Credit Karma a 'B'. They showed up for class, did some homework and studied for a couple of tests.