Intuit Credit Karma
Set up text and email alerts for your bank accounts and credit cards to help you keep tabs on your spending and avoid missing payment dates. "It's an easy way to stay in-the-know about your own finances," says Justine Rivero, credit adviser at CreditKarma.com. "Plus you can make sure you don't ruin your credit by missing a payment or maxing out your credit card."
Credit Karma, compiled data from the credit files of its 211,000 users, to create a picture of how much individuals owe, broken down by loan type and the state in which they live. MoneyWatch analyzed this data to determine which state’s residents are the most and least indebted — and where people are making the most progress in paying down their loans.
CreditKarma.com and Quizzle.com offer free scores using different formulas that, although less likely to be used by lenders, can help you ballpark your score at the outset and track it over time.
If you don't have a credit card that waives currency exchange fees, consider applying for one before you embark on an overseas trip, says Kenneth Lin, chief executive of Credit Karma, a consumer credit website.
Credit scores for Florida consumers declined slightly over the past year, according to San Francisco-based CreditKarma. The credit management service reported that Florida consumers had an average credit score of 658 in June, down from 660 a year earlier, but unchanged from January.
Credit scores for Florida consumers declined slightly over the past year, according to San Francisco-based CreditKarma. The credit management service reported that Florida consumers had an average credit score of 658 in June, down from 660 a year earlier, but unchanged from January.
According to Ken Lin, CEO of CreditKarma.com, Capital One’s Venture Rewards card stands out as the “best product” for travelers since Capital One (Stock Quote: COF) does not charge a foreign transaction fee and the rewards program associated with it is pretty substantial.
Most of those scores are not official or necessarily used by many lenders, but some of them are close enough to FICO scores to be useful as approximations for consumers who just want a rough idea of how they are doing. If that’s all you want, get scores from a site that is truly free, such as CreditKarma.
Have you had one or more financial misfortunes over the past several years and now have a less than ideal credit score? If so, you’re certainly not alone. Credit scores have been one of the biggest victims of the financial crisis and the recession.
"What we found is pretty interesting," said Ken Lin, CEO of CreditKarma.com, a San Francisco-based consumer credit company. "The more credit cards you have, the better your credit score.