I have long been a fan of the new breed of credit and wealth monitoring services offered by firms like Mint.com, Personal Capital, Credit Karma and Credit Sesame.
The latter two would send alerts when I receive a new hard pull on my account, and other configurable alerts such as High Credit Utilization. I had always thought of Credit Karma and Credit Sesame as ‘much of a muchness’ and today dug a little deeper into what they offer. Honestly, I am not sure if it is a new thing or not, but I had always thought that both of these firms offered something called a ‘FAKO’ score – by which I mean they gave you clues about your real score but weren’t actually pulling upon the same data and frameworks as the leading credit reporting agencies. I was pleasantly surprised to be completely wrong about that!
The Big 3 Credit Bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and Transunion
These are the three companies that Loan providers pull from when examining your credit worthiness, be it for a new card, a home loan or anything else that requires what is called a Credit Pull. Different lenders will pull different Bureaus, sometimes they will pull a combination of more than one. And as a consumer it is always wise to know what your current score might be. However, thus far paying for the results has made it prohibitive. Currently, you are by law allowed to receive 1 Free Report from each of the Big 3, but googling Free Credit Report will pull all sorts of scam offers up, that trick you into paying.
If you want the real free report it is here: https://www.annualcreditreport.com/ I advise you to stay away from anything that uses the word ‘Free’ in its title or URL…
What the Scores Mean- A Higher Score = lower Risk and lower cost of Credit
All 3 firms use a slightly different scale, but the ranges are very similar.
- Equifax = 280-850
- Experian = 330- 830
- Transunion Transrisk 300-850
There are also some other scores, one being the Vantage Score that ranges from 500-990, so when you think of ‘your number’ remember that the range matters.
I find it very useful to have a free account with both Credit Sesame and Credit Karma because some cards will only report to Experian and some to Transunion, so this way I have more of my bases covered.
Free Link to Credit Sesame – Free Monthly Credit Reporting from Experian
Free Link to Credit Karma – Free Monthly Credit Reporting from TransUnion
Credit Sesame is an Affiliate link here, if you use it to sign up I may earn a small commission from them. Credit Karma is not an Affiliate link and is included because I recommend you sign up for both to cover both of Experian and TransUnion
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