Intuit Credit Karma
A report released Wednesday by CreditKarma.com, a free credit management website, shows that credit card debt nationally fell by a whopping 18 percent from August 2010 to last month. “The relative uncertainty of the current job market has forced consumers to live within their means and focus on being financially responsible,” said Kenneth Lin, CEO of CreditKarma.com.
The average credit score nationwide is 666, according to CreditKarma.com. That's not only an ominous number, but can be a costly one. Based on CreditKarma.com's data, the trend amongst lenders shows that a 660 credit score is the threshold to be approved for a mortgage, auto loan and unsecured credit card. Digging deeper into consumers' credit health, nearly 40% of consumers have a credit score below 660.
“Your credit score would remain intact,” Ken Lin, CEO of CreditKarma.com, says, because the bad debt is attributed to the lien holder who was responsible for the delinquency whether they’re still around or not.
If your personal finance knowledge were a pie, credit scores would be one of the most difficult pieces to swallow. That three-digit number can be confusing, so gaining a good understanding of the credit basics is important. It will give you a context for your credit score, and you’ll know what you need to do to improve your credit health.
Student debt has jumped 6% over the last year as tuitions and fees rise and financial aid is harder to come by, according to data tracker Credit Karma in San Francisco. In the Los Angeles metropolitan statistical area, students who had borrowed money for their college education typically owed $31,233, compared with a national average of $29,932, Credit Karma said this week.
And, for the record, San Francisco’s Credit Karma, which reported this data, didn’t mention the apocalypse either. They probably didn’t want to spook the stock market.
The average consumer has an average of $6,355 in credit card debt, according to a CreditKarma.com report released today — 18% less than this time last year.
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.