Credit Karma Review: Real Free Credit Score or Scam?

• You get access to your credit scores and reports.
• They help you make sense of the reports and understand factors impacting your credit score.
• CK then crunches numbers and makes recommendations on where to save you money (maybe by getting credit cards with lower interest rates or better rates on loans).

In any event, you are not obligated to use their suggestions.

CK has 10 sections with credit card helps—for both personal and business uses

Even here, one click can lead to nearly 30 other credit card options based on issuers, your credit rating, and other categories.

And they offer 5 more helpful sections for loans of all kinds, especially auto loan assistance

Plus a range of various Resources, like:

• Over 300 articles with tips and news
• A tool to find unclaimed money
• Identify monitoring but not ID protection insurance

Is Credit Karma Tax filing really free and safe?

Yes, you can really do tax return, prepare and file taxes online with them.

They can even help you file your taxes for free! Over 122,000 reviewers give this service 4.7 out of 5 stars

There are no hidden fees whatsoever.

It is as legit as it can get. Even Forbes has reported on it.

Is CK right for you?

Credit Karma is not CPR if your finances need instant emergency care. Although one of their chat communities does discuss bankruptcy advice.

CK can help those who are in a pretty good space to figure out how to make things even better.

And if you’re in choppy seas right now, they may be able to help you stabilize a rocky boat, then sail on to smoother waters in the future.

Something like their Debt Repayment Calculator can help almost anyone see what’s ahead in paying off current debt(s).

It doesn’t hurt to browse what they have to offer and see if you think they are a good fit for you.

Is Credit Karma really free?

Here’s the answer…

For most of their major services, the answer is “yes.”

I almost just said “yes” without exception.

That’s because I did not find anything they charged for on their website.

But then I found this Credit Karma complaint at Consumer Affairs.

After explaining how her “overall experience was great” at Credit Karma, one customer went on to say:

“I dislike that sometimes I’d like to see who’s viewed my report, what some of my alerts are, and access details to other comparable scores, but the website requires you to purchase these features and I’m not willing to do so.”ດັ່ງ​ນັ້ນ, I haven’t been able to confirm her comment, but it looks like you may be charged if you want assistance with data deep diving.

We have found no surprise charges or fees for:

• Credit reports
• Credit monitoring
• Credit scores
• Credit card reviews
• Articles and blog
• And access to the CK community.

Credit Karma is certainly free in this sense:

They don’t offer you a so-called “free trial” to lure you in, then try to sell you a permanent subscription, membership, or annual dues.

Some places do exactly that.

The company generally makes its living by getting paid from banks and lenders when you act on a CK recommendation to use one of their services.

Does checking my credit score with Credit Karma hurt my credit?

The answer is, no, it does not.

When CK checks your credit score with one of the big credit reporting bureaus, it’s called a “soft” credit query.

Soft queries are when you check your own score or CK checks it for you.

Either way, you are the one who receives your report, not a third party.

A “hard” credit query happens when you apply for a loan or credit and that lender checks on your credit score.

When a car company or home mortgage firm—or even a cable or cell phone company!—checks on your credit, they are making a hard query.

Hard queries do lower your credit score a little—up to 5 points each time.

Is Credit Karma safe?

To answer a question like this, I like to find independent opinions I can trust.

Here, I think we can trust the official U.S. government’s Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

This past year, the CFPB showed their level of trust by working with the company in Project Catalyst.

This has been a project to improve understanding of financial well-being as defined by consumers ourselves!

Credit Karma has a number of key security features in place.

They use 128-bit encryption—or higher—to protect data while transmitted and while at rest.

You can also turn on two-factor authentication for superior protection. This helps make sure it’s really you when you contact them.

They also have an internal security team and use external third parties to protect against vulnerabilities.

And they don’t sell your personal info to unaffiliated third parties.

Show me what I’ll see when I join

Here’s a peak.

1. Free Credit Scores

These will show you a basic “speedometer” of scores from TransUnion and/or Equifax.

You can dig into these quick images for even more details.