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What to know about your costless credit scores on Credit Karma

Updated June 20, 2021

This date may not reverberate contempo changes in individual terms.

Written by: Eric Freeman

On Credit Karma, you lot tin can get your complimentary VantageScore 3.0 credit scores from Equifax and TransUnion.

Before you bank check your free credit scores, read up on how Credit Karma gets your scores, why your scores may differ, and how you lot tin utilize these scores to guide your credit journeying.

  • How does Credit Karma get your credit scores?
  • What kind of free credit scores does Credit Karma offer?
  • How often should you check your complimentary credit scores?
  • Why your free credit scores from Equifax and TransUnion may exist unlike
  • How to read and understand your gratuitous credit scores
  • What other free tools does Credit Karma offering?
  • Gratuitous credit score FAQ

How does Credit Karma get your credit scores?

Credit Karma works with Equifax and TransUnion, 2 of the three major consumer credit bureaus , to give you access to your costless credit scores and free credit reports . (Experian is the third major consumer credit bureau .)

Credit Karma can offering free credit scores and reports because we brand money in other ways. For example, we use the information in your credit contour to make product recommendations that can help you salve money. If you use these recommendations to apply for a product, Credit Karma may get paid by the bank or lender.

What kind of free credit scores does Credit Karma offering?

On Credit Karma, yous'll see credit scores and reports from Equifax and TransUnion, both using the VantageScore 3.0 scoring model . VantageScore was created in collaboration with all three major credit bureaus, and its 3.0 version is widely used in lending decisions today.

Does Credit Karma offer gratis FICO® credit scores?

Credit Karma doesn't offer FICO® credit scores, which are calculated differently from VantageScore credit scores. While the iii major credit bureaus collaborated to create the VantageScore model, FICO is a carve up organisation with its own scoring models.

The VantageScore and FICO models differ in several ways, only that doesn't hateful ane is better or more accurate than the other. Lenders may rely on different scoring models when evaluating an awarding, and other considerations can factor in, likewise.

Nosotros recommend looking at your credit scores as a guide to your credit health rather than as a definitive number that determines whether y'all'll exist approved or denied for credit.

How oftentimes should you cheque your free credit scores?

Checking your free credit scores on Credit Karma isn't a one-fourth dimension set-information technology-and-forget-information technology task. Your scores may be updated oftentimes every bit your credit history changes , so checking them regularly can help you go along rails of important changes in your credit contour.

Since you tin can check your free credit scores without hurting your credit, feel gratuitous to cheque as often as yous similar. If yous run into your credit scores steadily growing, it can assist motivate you on your credit-edifice journeying. And when y'all're ready to submit a credit application, getting a improve idea of your overall credit health beforehand can give you lot a meliorate sense of where you stand up.

Why your complimentary credit scores from Equifax and TransUnion may be different

You may think that your VantageScore 3.0 credit scores from Equifax and TransUnion should be the aforementioned, but that's not ever the case.

Remember, VantageScore 3.0 is ultimately just a scoring model. The 3-digit number it produces depends largely on the information that lenders written report to each credit bureau.

When credit scores that use the aforementioned model differ between credit reporting bureaus , it'southward typically because they don't have the same information. Here are a few of the reasons you might encounter different credit scores.

  • Your scores are from different dates. Different bureaus receive information from lenders at different times. If new information is deemed for in one credit score and not the other, the scores may differ.
  • Your scores are calculated using different credit reports. It'due south up to lenders to make up one's mind which credit bureaus they study your information two. Some report to all iii major credit bureaus, while others report to just i or 2. If your Equifax credit study has data that your TransUnion report doesn't (or vice versa), your scores may differ.
  • Your credit reports incorporate incorrect information. It's possible that 1 or several of your credit reports contain errors. That'southward why we recommend regularly checking your credit reports for errors that may impact your scores — and disputing those errors , if need exist.

It's totally normal for your different credit scores to not be the exact same number at whatsoever given time. Lenders typically understand why your credit scores can differ — and they may also business relationship for factors other than your credit scores when considering your application for credit .

How to read and understand your gratuitous credit scores

Your credit scores tin can be a useful reflection of your overall credit health. But to get the most out of your scores, you must first empathize how they work, what they stand for and what really constitutes a good credit score.

VantageScore iii.0 credit score ranges

Credit score ranges vary past scoring model, and lenders can view ranges in dissimilar ways. VantageScore 3.0 credit scores range from 300 to 850. Think of them in terms of four basic categorizations: Excellent , Practiced , Off-white and Poor . Here's how they break downward.

VantageScore 3.0 credit score factors

Different credit scores can take a lot in mutual under the hood, simply each private scoring model uses its own combination of factors to determine your score.

Here are the major factors that make up one's mind your VantageScore 3.0 credit scores.

Payment history (extremely influential)
The biggest factor in your scores is your history of paying bills on time. Late or missed payments in your credit history could touch on your scores significantly.

Age and type of credit (highly influential)
A longer credit history , peculiarly with the same accounts, shows lenders that y'all've been able to stick with your accounts over fourth dimension. Lenders may likewise consider it a plus if you have a mix of credit accounts (like a credit card and a personal loan) with positive employ.

Credit utilization (highly influential)
Your credit utilization rate measures the corporeality of credit yous use relative to the amount available to you. Most experts recommend shooting for a rate below 30%, meaning you use less than 30% of your available credit.

Balances (moderately influential)
Like to credit utilization, this cistron takes into account your total balances across your accounts — only in terms of the dollar amount and non the per centum. If yous already owe a off-white amount elsewhere, lenders may exist less inclined to extend more credit to you.

Recent credit (less influential)
Contempo credit activeness can be a predictor of future behavior, so lenders want to know what yous've done lately. If you've opened a number of new accounts in recent months, that could gene into your scores.

Available credit (least influential)
A big amount of available credit can indicate y'all're non going to utilize all your available credit if canonical.


If you're looking to amend your credit scores, consider which of these factors may be influencing your current situation most.

What other free tools does Credit Karma offer?

Credit Karma offers a number of tools that could assist y'all keep runway of your credit.

Free credit reports
On Credit Karma, you tin check your complimentary credit reports from Equifax and TransUnion. And as with your credit scores, you lot can check your free credit reports as frequently as you similar.

Free credit monitoring
Credit Karma'due south free credit-monitoring service tin can alert you lot to of import changes on your Equifax and TransUnion credit reports. Along with checking your credit scores regularly, this feature sends yous an alert so you lot can sniff out any suspicious activity.

Mobile app
The Credit Karma mobile app allows you to check your credit scores on the go. The app also features tools ranging from the new Relief Roadmap to opt-in push notifications that help alert you to potential changes on your Equifax or TransUnion credit reports.

Free credit score FAQs

Does checking my credit scores hurt my credit?

Checking your free credit scores on Credit Karma doesn't hurt your credit. These credit score checks are known as soft inquiries, which don't touch on your credit at all.

Hard inquiries (also known as "hard pulls") generally happen when a lender checks your credit while reviewing your application for a fiscal product. This kind of check tin can negatively affect your credit.

Read more than about the departure betwixt hard and soft credit inquiries .

Is it actually free to cheque my credit scores?

Like all the services on Credit Karma, checking your credit scores won't toll yous coin. You may have to pay for credit scores elsewhere, just on Credit Karma it's ever free to check your credit scores.

Is my free credit score on Credit Karma authentic?

The gratis credit scores you see on Credit Karma come up directly from Equifax or TransUnion . It'due south possible that more-recent activeness will affect your credit scores, but they're accurate in terms of the available data.

If you see errors on your credit reports that may be affecting your credit scores, you have options to dispute those errors .

What exercise I need to sign up for a Credit Karma account?

In improver to creating a username and countersign, Credit Karma may ask y'all for your Social Security number. This information allows u.s.a. to confirm your identity with the consumer credit bureaus to ensure that we prove you authentic data.

You lot must be at to the lowest degree xviii years old to sign upward for a Credit Karma account.

What's the best site to get a free credit report?

The best site for free credit reports depends on what you need.

If you want to take a look at your credit reports from Equifax and TransUnion, you can do so on Credit Karma.

The Off-white Credit Reporting Deed entitles you to 1 free re-create of your credit written report from each of the three major consumer credit bureaus every 12 months. You tin can social club them online at annualcreditreport.com.

Is it safety to bank check my credit score for free?

Checking your free credit scores on Credit Karma won't touch your credit, and whatever attempts to monitor your credit with Credit Karma will not appear on your credit reports.

If you want to acquire more well-nigh how Credit Karma collects and uses your data, take a look at our privacy policy .

Yous can also read Credit Karma's security practices to larn more most Credit Karma's commitment to securing your information and personal information as if information technology were our ain.