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Keeping a check on your credit and maintaining a high credit score is a must.
Credit Karma is able to help you achieve this and more, but if you’re still not convinced stick around for a detailed Credit Karma app review.
The truth is we sometimes get lazy about our credit score, which is why using an app to monitor our credit is important.
Let’s dive into how Credit Karma can help monitor and improve your credit score.
Credit Karma Overview
The credit Karma app offers free financial services to help its customers by providing credit scores and credit reports.
Yes, you heard it right; it’s free.
So what’s the catch?
Apart from the fact that it is free, Credit Karma guides you in managing your finances. For example, it will tell how you are doing with your taxes and which credit card company suits you best.
One of Credit Karma’s major selling points is that it’ll help you maintain a positive credit score and inform you of any credit breach on time.
With credit karma, you can always be stress-free about managing your credit score; it will find a way for you to stay on the healthy side.
Currently, around 100 million people have subscribed to this amazing app, which continuously improves and adds more resourceful features.
The main financial tools provided by Credit Karma are:
- Credit score simulator
- Debt repayment calculator
- Simple loan calculator
- Amortization calculator
Now let’s get into the specifics.
Does Credit Karma Hurt Your Credit?
Since the app is free and provides a credit score instantly, people are curious with questions like, “Will it hurt our credit?”
The simple answer is, No.
Credit Karma is a simple free tool used to inform you of your credit score and reports, and these things are considered “soft” inquiries.
Soft inquiries are not directed to credit bureaus and in no way hurt your overall credit and credit score.
Their only goal is to provide you with valuable insights into your financial health. In return, they direct some advertisements toward you, based on your personal information and financial habits.
The company has kept its transparency obvious to its clients and has no question marks on its safety.
Is Credit Karma Accurate?
We have received some pretty authentic answers from credit Karma itself.
Credit Karma displays scores from the two well-known credit bureaus, TransUnion and Equifax, so for an average consumer, these scores are reliable.
Credit Karma provides VantageScore credit scores from both Master bureaus.
Although many financial advisors rely on FICO score, which is inarguably the best, what people underestimate about VantageScore is the amount of information it collects.
It relies on a transparent scoring model, which was a collaboration between the three major credit bureaus.
One amazing thing about VantageScore is that it allows you to obtain a credit score even if your credit history is minimal.
FICO is an older and highly used software program that gives you a credit score after evaluating your payment history and spending. VantageScore does the same but is a slightly different model developed by the three credit agencies.
Since the models are different, your FICO score and VantageScore may look slightly different. However, the differences would be relatively negligible and can be ignored if they fall in the same range.
How to Download Credit Karma
Downloading Credit Karma is a matter of seconds.
The app is free for IOS and Android devices and is readily available on their respective app stores, but you will have to become a member to avail of its features.
Signing up as a member is free as well; therefore, there is no bump in your credit card for using this app.
Once you are a member, downloading the app is swift and smooth.
Once you have downloaded and signed up, you might have three options to log in, depending on your device.
You will either have a PIN, face ID or touch ID option to log in. You can choose the option you want by going into the settings.
Personalized Approval Odds
Let’s dig more into its features, especially one of the best, “Personalized approval odds”.
Approval odds define your likelihood of getting approved for a specific financial product.
This feature is highly personalized to your financial habits, behaviors, and preferences.
Every credit karma member will have a highly customized experience, and their odds or approval for a financial service may appear completely different from another member’s.
You can also view your recommendations’ logic and explanation and see how you are a good fit for a particular product.
Your approval odds will show whether you are “Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair, or Poor.”
For example, let’s say you’re looking to apply for a credit card and have no clue whether you’ll get approved, Credit Karma will show you your odds of getting approved for several credit cards. While this may not act as a sure thing, it will probably make your choice much easier.
It is also significant to note here that the companies affiliated with Credit Karma may also often appear in the recommendations.
Relief Road Map
This financial relief roadmap is most useful when you need financial services, programs, and resources to come to your aid. It will also help you understand and navigate through them.
What is required on your part is to provide some personal and financial information, like your employment status and income.
You will explore many options that you can easily qualify for, including:
- Unemployment benefits
- Government stimulus programs unemployment
- Debt relief opportunities
- Opportunities for loan
The relief road map shows you programs or finance tools available to make smarter and wiser choices.
It continuously updates and includes new resources, so it is advisable to regularly check your credit karma app for new and better recommendations.
It will ensure that you do not stay behind on the latest information and have all available options right in front of you.
How Does Credit Karma Help to Improve Credit Scores?
There are several tools Credit Karma offers to help improve your credit score.
These tools include:
Credit Score Simulator
If you want to see how your actions affect your credit score, you have a credit score simulator at your disposal.
It is one of the best and most used tools of Credit Karma.
This simulator provides various options for you to see how those actions will affect your credit score.
Home Affordability Calculator
The home affordability calculator will inform you of the maximum house price you can afford and what monthly payments you can comfortably make.
The information requires your monthly income, down payment, monthly debts, and mortgage interest rate.
Debt Repayment Calculator
The debt repayment calculator will tell you the time limit it will take you to pay off a specific debt. Alternatively, it can calculate the monthly payments you need to make for a specific time.
The information you need to provide includes your debt balance and interest rate.
Simple Loan Calculator
The loan calculator will work out the monthly loan payments for you after you feed it with information regarding the terms applied, the interest rate, and the amount settled.
Amortization Calculator
The amortization calculator makes things even simpler for you.
It provides a breakdown of all your payments into interest and principal to clearly understand your financial dealings.
All these calculators will ultimately have a positive impact on your overall credit score by informing you of every detail beforehand.
Credit Karma Tax
Credit Karma has earned an equally excellent reputation for Credit Karma Tax, and why I recommend using this to file your taxes.
The best thing of all is that it is entirely free, unlike the other three software standing above it, but it sometimes comes with minor drawbacks.
Let’s see it in the light of why or why you should not use the credit karma tax.
Pros:
- It has a free tax filing system.
- You can file your tax easily through a mobile phone.
- It is best for people who can easily navigate through the app and need little help.
Cons:
- It might not provide a delightful experience with complex tax returns.
Credit Karma offers more options for free tax filing software than its competitors; however, it is not currently available in all states.
Credit Karma deals with only a single DIY tax filing product for both state and federal returns, so if you are comfortable with DIY software and have a simple return, this option sits aptly with you.
For others, it will be wiser to evaluate its drawbacks beforehand.
Credit Karma Savings
While Credit Karma is mostly known as a facility to provide credit points, it also offers free high-yielding savings accounts that most are unaware of.
The credit karma savings account has a generous APY of 0.30%, which is quite competitive in its market.
You need not worry about safety issues since it has ensured to gain FDIC insurance.
Credit karma works as a partner with some banks, including MVB bank, to keep your deposits safe and help them grow.
Here comes the best thing; there is no minimum balance requirement, and no fee is charged to open the account, which is easily accessible through the company’s app.
Also, FDIC provides insurance for up to $5 million in Credit Karma savings accounts, which is huge!
Loans
Credit Karma outshines dealing with your loans.
If you have a loan for a vehicle, the credit karma will create a page individualized for it to display its present estimated value and the loan refinance options you have.
It will also give you several links to insurance.
For this to happen, you will need to provide the following information:
- Manufacturing year of your vehicle
- Purchasing year
- Vehicle Model
- Current mileage of your vehicle
The same process happens for home loans.
If there are better loan refinancing options available for you, Credit karma will ensure that all are accessible for you to choose from.
Helpful Resources
If you still find something ambiguous or have an unanswered query, you can find many helpful resources at Credit Karma.
Two of these include; Credit Karma community advice and a blog.
You can use any of these for help with any of your questions.
The Credit Karma community is an open public platform where you can place your questions regarding Credit Karma and other personal finance matters.
The community will help in the best regard.
You can become a part of ongoing conversations or start your own. You can also share your knowledge and experience with these platforms.
Similarly, you can get help from the Credit Karma blog, covering a wide range of topics and guides.
Determine Your Credit Card Scores for Free
Credit Karma has emerged as a promising name, providing a range of free financial services to millions of consumers.
Its goal is simple; to help you save, be aware of your financial health, and make better decisions.
Credit Karma’s services are wide, including credit scores and reports, managing loans and debts, high-yielding savings accounts, and much more.
It’s free to join and with a user-friendly interface that is available at your disposal at all times.
Millions of people are using Credit Karma to make informed decisions about their finances.
Join the bandwagon to enjoy the perks yourself so that you’re one step close to financial freedom.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Does Credit Karma Make Money?
Credit Karma makes money through personalized advertising.
Your preferences and choices show you certain ads that might intrigue you based on your financial and spending habits.
Credit Karma gets paid for showing you these ads from the respective companies.
However, this does not mean that Credit Karma will always base its recommendations on the companies that pay them.
They do strongly advocate these services, but Credit Karma’s recommendations to you are much more personalized.
