Free Credit Score from WSJ article

[Sarah in SC]

Today's WSJ has a piece from Shelly Banjo that includes a link to a site that offers free credit scores for those willing to sign up.
The Best Online Tools for Personal Finance - WSJ.com

The website is called creditkarma.com and I checked it out. Interesting and accurate for my score (at least from the last time I checked). I check my credit report several times a year, but don't pay for the score feature.

 

[Notmuchlonger]

Yeah I just did it. Pretty much right on. Thanks for the link!

 

[freebird5825]

from the article...
You don’t have to give the site your credit-card information, as you do with a traditional credit bureau. But CreditKarma, from San Francisco-based Credit Karma Inc., will ask you for your address, phone number and Social Security number. (The site says it doesn’t store the number.)

Um...um...please be careful, folks.
My phishing siren just went off.
I tend to be ultra careful with stuff like this.

 

[ziggy29]

Um...um...please be careful, folks.
My phishing siren just went off.
I tend to be ultra careful with stuff like this.

Your caution is noted and very wise, but this one is legitimate. It's been featured in several prominent financial publications and partners with TransUnion, which is one of the three major credit bureaus.

Having said that, yes -- people should be extremely cautious about this sort of thing until they've done all the due diligence required to convince them of its legitimacy. And I'm pretty sure the Wall Street Journal, of all places, isn't going to be printing an article promoting a service that's a scam and a hideout for "identity thieves."

 

[freebird5825]

Your caution is noted and very wise, but this one is legitimate. It's been featured in several prominent financial publications and partners with TransUnion, which is one of the three major credit bureaus.

Having said that, yes -- people should be extremely cautious about this sort of thing until they've done all the due diligence required to convince them of its legitimacy. And I'm pretty sure the Wall Street Journal, of all places, isn't going to be printing an article promoting a service that's a scam and a hideout for "identity thieves."

Good deal. Now I know this is a green light.
I did go to the web site, and looked under partners. I didn't see any listed, which surprised me.
WSJ is very reputable, agreed.

 

[Bikerdude]

Good deal. Now I know this is a green light.
I did go to the web site, and looked under partners. I didn't see any listed, which surprised me.
WSJ is very reputable, agreed.

I agree they seem to be legit although the 2nd link indicates the score may not be 100% accurate.

Credit Karma Launches U.S. Consumer Credit Score Climate Report | Reuters

Credit Scores from Credit Karma are Deflated | Personal Finance Start-Up Blog

 

[ziggy29]

I agree they seem to be legit although the 2nd link indicates the score may not be 100% accurate.

They don't use FICO. They use a proprietary scoring system developed by TransUnion.

Other than when your application for credit is denied, I don't know of any place where you can get a truly free FICO score. And yet it's usually the FICO that people want.

 

[target2019]

I ran my score this weekend through Amex offer (Experian), and my score was 790. Just now my score came through CreditKarma/Transunion as 786. Close enough for me.

 

[ziggy29]

I ran my score this weekend through Amex offer (Experian), and my score was 790. Just now my score came through CreditKarma/Transunion as 786. Close enough for me.

Mine is somewhere in that same neighborhood and it seemed pretty close to me, too.

 

[calmloki]

Wadda pither! 770 and 762 here - we have 2 cards that get exercised, one that gets modest use, and one or two that don't get used at all. Pay in full each month, rare to use 1/8 of our available credit. Haven't done any credit checks or acquired any new cards this year at least. Wonder if our score is impacted by reducing our savings accounts to make loans? Would have thought our score would be very good, not just upper good. sigh.

 

[target2019]

Wadda pither! 770 and 762 here - we have 2 cards that get exercised, one that gets modest use, and one or two that don't get used at all. Pay in full each month, rare to use 1/8 of our available credit. Haven't done any credit checks or acquired any new cards this year at least. Wonder if our score is impacted by reducing our savings accounts to make loans? Would have thought our score would be very good, not just upper good. sigh.

I played with the Credit Score Simulator, to see what makes it go up or down. Makes no sense, or maybe the simulator is broken.

When you look at the financial markets, which are broken, then it makes sense.

My score is probably 790 due to mortgage paid off, same with cars. We have no long term debt either.

For laughs I changed one variable to declare bankruptcy. My score only went to 704.

 

[ziggy29]

Yeah -- I learned not long ago that having no mortgage hurts the score. It's high enough that I'm not concerned, but it's pretty funny. I could pick up 10-20 points with a mortgage that wasn't delinquent. Whatever.

 

[Hershey102]

They can't provide a credit score if you have a credit freeze in place, so I'm out of luck. We use the 'nuclear option' of freezing to prevent identity theft. Since we rarely ever apply for credit, it works for us, but has the downside of not being able to take a peek at our credit score.

 

[Sarah in SC]

from the article...
You don’t have to give the site your credit-card information, as you do with a traditional credit bureau. But CreditKarma, from San Francisco-based Credit Karma Inc., will ask you for your address, phone number and Social Security number. (The site says it doesn’t store the number.)

Um...um...please be careful, folks.
My phishing siren just went off.
I tend to be ultra careful with stuff like this.

Sorry about that--shouldn't have abbreviated Wall Street Journal to WSJ. That is how we refer to it around the office. My bad.

My score was 790, no mortgage. No need to build it up, but the competitive streak in me sometimes wants to, just for the heck of it.

 

[LOL!]

My score appears to be 70 points below where it was when we refinanced a few years ago. The simulator says I can gain that all back if I pay off my 0% credit card balances which is something I am in absolutely no hurry to do.

 

[crazy connie]

Down to a paltry 780. I knew I should have returned the overdue library books!

 

[Alan]

Thanks for posting - very useful. No mortgage, my score was 794.

But our son, who is 26, and does not have a mortgage or ever had a credit card (debit card only) has a score of 764 which is good to know as he is about to go looking to change apartments and was wondering what his credit score was.

 

[Notmuchlonger]

Thanks for posting - very useful. No mortgage, my score was 794.

But our son, who is 26, and does not have a mortgage or ever had a credit card (debit card only) has a score of 764 which is good to know as he is about to go looking to change apartments and was wondering what his credit score was.

The only thing he might get told is the dreaded. "Well you dont have enough established credit". Might want to get him a card just to do a few minor purchases and pay them off monthly .

 

[Alan]

The only thing he might get told is the dreaded. "Well you dont have enough established credit". Might want to get him a card just to do a few minor purchases and pay them off monthly .

We are expecting him to be okay as he has rented 2 places in the past so that past record should hopefully stand him in good stead. If need be I'll stand guarantor. However, you are correct that he does not have established credit, and that could count against him.

 

[Notmuchlonger]

We are expecting him to be okay as he has rented 2 places in the past so that past record should hopefully stand him in good stead. If need be I'll stand guarantor. However, you are correct that he does not have established credit, and that could count against him.

Sounds like you are on the ball Alan. He has a good dad

 

[Bimmerbill]

I should check it out. Just refinanced 3 or 4 months ago and got my official numbers as part of the process. I'd like to see how they may have changed since I've paid off a couple car loans and got a new mortgage.

 

[freebird5825]

Sorry about that--shouldn't have abbreviated Wall Street Journal to WSJ. That is how we refer to it around the office. My bad.

No problem. I actually knew what WSJ was.
My former empl*yment has caused me to be very very careful about stuff like this. We were a favorite target for hackers and phishing and spam and...
So when I saw "Free" and "Enter your SS number online" in the same sentence...ding ding ding.

Onward and upward we go.

 

[SarahW]

They can't provide a credit score if you have a credit freeze in place, so I'm out of luck. We use the 'nuclear option' of freezing to prevent identity theft. Since we rarely ever apply for credit, it works for us, but has the downside of not being able to take a peek at our credit score.

Hershey--how do you initiate a credit freeze? I'm very interested in this, as it seems the perfect solution to identity theft. Currently I have a "fraud alert" on my credit because some dumbass at the medical clinic lost a laptop with a few thousand patient records on it. Anyhow, I'd appreciate any info.

 

[JOHNNIE36]

Did my "free annual credit report" end of April. Also paid for their "Vantage Score" which was 880 on a scale of 501-990. My score in 2007 was 945. All of this was through Experian. Wrote them a letter 5-1-09 asking what did I do to deserve this reduction. Haven't heard from them. Don't expect to either. Talked to them on the phone later and they had a hard time explaining-in fact they couldn't. Their famous response is that "your credit score is just a snapshot in time". They told me I could get a different number in a couple days. Why? Because a credit card might have received a payment in the interim. Note, all credit cards are paid in full every month by the due date. Four things they noted in my credit report:

1. "Your report does not show usable/valid real estate loans such as a mortgage".
I have not had a mortgage for eight years. Asked them why they don't have past records and they couldn't explain. They did say it's mortgage companies responsibility to forward the info.

2. "The balance amount paid down acress open installments such as auto loans is too low. Paying down the balance would help the credit score." Ours is a lease and it would be foolish to pay this down.

3. "Report shows available credit across open revolving accounts is too low. Having low available credit amounts has a negative impact on credit score." I have since closed cards with low credit limits and got the three main cards jacked up to $15k minimum.

4. "Your report shows the ratio of balances-to-credit-limits is too high". That was hurt by some cards with low limits. As I said, I cancelled those cards and got the limits raised on the three major cards.

That was all done 5-1-09. On 7-1-09 I'm going to request a report from TransUnion and then about November request one from Equifax. I'm looking for FICO scores next time also. All this is really important because I get the best rates from insurance companies. You have to stay on top of it.

Sorry for the long post, but couldn't do it in less words.

 

[Sarah in SC]

Johnnie, did you try the creditkarma free one listed in the article?
I guess the thing to remember is that credit reports and scores are a commodity and every one of the companies offering them wants to offer you something just a little bit different to make it seem like their score is the "best" one for your needs.

As long as your credit report is clear, you'll get the good rates on insurance and the like. Beyond that, the scores are just more about, ahem, size.