Intuit Credit Karma
In recent months, though, several services, such as Quizzle, Credit Karma and Credit.com have launched programs that provide free credit profiles. These websites can provide a useful snapshot of your credit standing and provide tips on how to improve it.
Ken Lin, CEO of CreditKarma.com, a credit-score service, says card issuers these days often toughen up "on a batch basis" without paying much attention to the particular cardholder's history.
If you don't want to pay, the scores on free sites such as Credit Karma and Quizzle are a good general guide of where you stand...
The belief of Credit Karma is simple: "Consumers have a right to know this information with no charge or without the bait and switch of 30 days free followed by enrollment products with confusing opt out." For this I say a strong amen.
San Francisco-based Credit Karma Inc., which tracks such things, said credit card debt rose 4 percent across the country from October to November, and 14 percent since June.
Credit Karma is truly free and a very valuable resource to help you improve and maintain your credit score.
Here's how high that mountain is, courtesy of Credit Karma, which looked at 1,150 consumer credit reports from TransUnion, one of the three major credit bureaus.
You can track your score for free using a site like CreditKarma.com, which can help you figure out how their debt is affecting their credit score. This can help a consumer determine what debts or credit cards need to be paid off first.
The Credit Karma score serves the purpose of analyzing your credit to point out areas of concern and to show you places where you can improve your credit.
"The seasonal aspect can be pretty strong," Ken Lin, the founder of Credit Karma, told MarketWatch. "Consumer spending is so much higher in the fourth quarter than any other quarter of the year."