Credit Karma

Credit Karma

 3.6/5 (719 reviews)

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Overall Rating3.6 out of 5
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About Credit Karma

Credit Karma is a finance website that offers free services to consumers and provides credit scores and credit reports. Credit Karma designed its financial education resources to help you better understand and manage your finances, from tax filing to finding the right credit card company.

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Financial tools available
  • Tax filing assistance
  • Offers free credit reports
  • Financial education resources

Cons

  • Doesn’t include Experian
  • May not be 100% accurate

Bottom Line

Credit Karma has much to offer for a free credit report service, including tax filing services. While it doesn’t include Experian credit reporting, its tools are still useful for people looking to improve their finances.

Top Credit Karma Reviews

Rated with 5 stars
Verified

Never knew Credit Karma had a tax service. It was so easy to use and free! I even did my taxes in a "pay for program" (to compare the totals) and got the same result so knew it wa...

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Rated with 5 stars
Verified

The Credit Karma helps keep track of your credit report. Also offers free tax service with help if you are audited. I would suggest everyone try this service as it's all at no cos...

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What is Credit Karma?

Credit Karma lets you check your credit score anytime and anywhere. The company also helps you simulate changes to your credit score by weighing your outstanding credit card balances, length of credit history, payment history, types of credit accounts and applications for new credit accounts. The company gives people access to their credit score and credit report from TransUnion and Equifax and provides weekly updates and product recommendations.

How does Credit Karma work?

Credit Karma members receive free credit monitoring and financial tools as well as access to thousands of customer reviews on products Credit Karma recommends, including credit cards and loans. Available financial tools include a credit score simulator, debt repayment calculator, simple loan calculator and amortization calculator.

Through Credit Karma, consumers can apply for any of the following credit card options:

  • Balance transfer cards
  • Reward cards
  • Travel cards
  • Cash back cards
  • 0% APR cards
  • Business cards
  • Cards for fair credit
  • Cards for bad credit

Credit Karma also helps members file their taxes and find personal, home and auto loans.

Is Credit Karma free?

Credit Karma’s services are free. The company will never ask for your credit card information. Credit reports, financial tools and tax filing services are free with Credit Karma.

There are financial products available from banks and lenders on its site, which is how Credit Karma makes its money. Credit Karma receives payment from its partners if you purchase one of the products the company recommends.

Credit Karma FAQ

Is it safe to use Credit Karma?

Credit Karma has a dedicated security system and bug bounty program to help protect the data on its site, and it uses 128-bit encryption to protect users. Additionally, the company promises to never share or sell your personal information to third parties without your consent.

Are the credit scores on Credit Karma accurate?

Credit Karma reports include credit scores and information from TransUnion and Equifax, two of the three major credit bureaus. It does not use Experian, the third major credit bureau, so the reported score may not be 100% accurate.

Has Credit Karma been hacked?

The company did experience a technical malfunction in August 2019, but there was no confirmation of a data breach.

How much is Credit Karma?

Credit Karma’s services are free to consumers. The site makes money when people purchase financial products from other banks or lenders on its website.

Is Credit Karma safe?

Because Credit Karma offers free extensive financial resources and helps people understand their credit reports and credit scores, we think it’s a good service — even though it doesn’t have reporting from one of the three major credit bureaus. We recommend Credit Karma for its free financial tools, resources and tax filing capabilities.

Credit Karma Reviews

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Page 1 Reviews 0 - 6
Rated with 5 stars
Verified Reviewer
Original review: April 26, 2023

Credit Karma was so wonderful. Customer service Gabriel ** was very helpful and helped me navigate the website. The process to sign up was painless. Now I can monitor my credit history every day. Thanks.

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Rated with 5 stars
Verified Reviewer
Original review: April 18, 2023

About two years ago, I came off a divorce and was looking for a way to reorganize my finances, increase a credit score that I had long ignored, and have a more structured financial life. I had heard of Credit Karma, seen their ads, and decided to look into their services via their app. I have had a wonderful experience so far. I had very little debt, but no open accounts and therefore no movement of my very mid 600s credit score. I was very adverse to starting new credit, but the app helped me understand that opening a few accounts, using them very judiciously and paying them off monthly would not only increase my credit score, but help me match accounts that offer bonuses to expenses I already had (ie Amazon.com).

I have opened 2 accounts suggested by Credit Karma. Both offered cash bonuses to me for signing up and are free of annual fees. Both offered a percentage for categories of spending I had previously been paying monthly with a debit card. Now I manage to save 1-3%, increase my credit score and have not increased my debt.

I next opened a debit and savings account through Credit Karma to be there for "out of sight, out of mind" savings and emergencies. My credit score has risen to that 750-800 range (depending on which agency). I have money saved in a few places so I don't see it and am not tempted to spend it. Over the weekend I applied for a loan to pay for some moving expenses and a used vehicle. By Tuesday, the money was funded in my account. I was amazed at how easy and fast that process was, and how I was able to select from dozens of loan options.

For myself, the combination of services offered by Credit Karma and the ease of use from their app matched perfectly with my needs. I think a sense of purpose and being intentional is required for any financial plan to work. Those personal traits are very well complimented by the suite of financial tools offered by Credit Karma.

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    Rated with 5 stars
    Verified Reviewer
    Original review: July 11, 2022

    Help me start over again and built my credit score from a 4 to a 655 in 3 months. It’s has many useful tools to help out, like loan power, what credit card is best for you and even to lower your car insurance.

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    Rated with 5 stars
    Verified Reviewer
    Original review: June 8, 2022

    Just want to thank Jack for everything he did for me. In less than 11 days of working with him, my credit score has raised high enough to be able to qualify for a mortgage loan that I was not able to get before. Besides that, he is so professional in his job, good listener and friendly that made the whole experience worth it and memorable. I strongly recommend the services of **. He can also help with recovering of Lost/Stolen Crypto (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Shiba etc.) on any Cryptocurrency App. WhatsApp no: **, he is understanding and trustworthy.

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    Rated with 1 star
    Verified Reviewer
    Original review: May 25, 2023

    Credit Karma has the most unnavigable and error prone website I’ve ever run into. The worst in the industry. I’m waiting for a response from Equifax. I believe if one of the agencies clears up a misreported claim, the others will delete it also and re-calculate my score. Right? I’ve been practicing UX/CX design, development and QA for 40 years, so I am highly qualified to judge. Lots of younger generation people are unqualified for their jobs. Check out my experience on LinkedIn please.

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    Rated with 1 star
    Verified Reviewer
    Original review: May 20, 2023

    I was never advised that I had an $8 outstanding balance. I could not get a hold of anyone from MVB Bank to clear my debt and prevent it from being sent to collections. Nor can I ever use Credit Karma again.

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    Rated with 1 star
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    Verified Reviewer
    Original review: April 27, 2023

    Credit Karma encourages me to refinance and gives a list of lenders and their terms for the loan. Credit Karma's calculation of my current APR is a lie. The amount I have paid to interest is a lie. I can only assume the details of the loans they recommend are also a lie. As you already know, Credit Karma helps credit companies sell their credit cards. Credit card companies spend more money on advertising than any other business worldwide. #math

    5 people found this review helpful
    Rated with 1 star
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    Verified Reviewer
    Original review: April 16, 2023

    They push and push to get a new CC or loan to help improve your credit, both which I did and my score dropped a lot and apparently it will stay dropped for a year or longer. This should be a crime. Misleading innocent consumers into getting their products because they receive kickbacks and not emphasizing that their loans or CC’s could and will drop your score seems criminal. In today's day and age to allow this form of misrepresentation is horrible and shameful! The fact this may ruin your credit should be in bold print prior to any and all of their pushy advertising for promises of better credit scores. How this is allowed is mind-blowing. Where are the Consumer's rights? Do NOT USE THIS COMPANY. Sometimes free services are free for a reason.

    8 people found this review helpful
    Rated with 1 star
    Verified Reviewer
    Original review: April 11, 2023

    I explained seven different times what I needed from them, and every single time, they responded by asking if I was inquiring about something completely different. The responses weren't even remotely close and contained grammatical and spelling errors. Incredibly frustrating experience.

    4 people found this review helpful
    Rated with 2 stars
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    Verified Reviewer
    Original review: April 10, 2023

    I used to love Credit Karma, recently monitored my score for a potential auto loan through a local dealer. Credit Karma score was close to 700 yet the score ran for the loan I needed was only around 605 at the dealership. No Lenders use the score model Credit Karma Uses .... (Vantage score 3.0) to approve loans, They USE FICO SCORES. I can understand a few points off.... but 100? I also applied for a small loan through them and Credit Karma said I had an outstanding chance for approval, well guess what ....not a chance.

    6 people found this review helpful
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    Credit Karma Company Information

    Company Name:
    Credit Karma
    Website:
    www.creditkarma.com