Financial Planning Tool: Credit Karma

Good Credit Score

Your credit score plays a larger factor in your life than you might realize. For example, your credit score is a factor in:

  • The rate you pay for loans
  • The deposit you pay for utilities and your cell phone
  • Your auto insurance
  • Getting the job you want
  • Getting into the apartment you want

In addition to all of these benefits of having a good score, monitoring your score regularly can also alert you to potential problems. If an account was opened in your name that you are not aware of, you could be a victim of identity theft.

There are several ways to monitor your score, but one method stands out due to its ease of use, how comprehensive it is, and the price (it’s free). That tool is Credit Karma.

Here is how Credit Karma describes their services:

Our goal is to help you understand your credit and get more out of it. Along with providing free credit scores, reports and monitoring, we offer insight into what it all means and show you product recommendations, like credit cards and loans, based on your credit profile.

Basically they pull a copy of your credit report and scores from TransUnion and Equifax, and you can check it as often as you want (the website recommends weekly). You can then go in to detail about the six factors that determine your score (credit card utilization, payment history, derogatory remarks, age of credit history, total accounts and credit inquiries), along with recommendations for how to improve in that area.

For example, if the website shows that you have a poor ranking in credit card utilization you can click on that area and it will show how utilization is calculated, how much of a balance you are carrying on each card and several tips for improving in that area.

You can also run simulations to see how different scenarios would affect your score. For example, you can simulate what will happen to your score if you close a particular card, or pay your balances down or make a late payment.

Questions about Credit Karma

Is it secure?

Yes, it is secure. You do have to enter your social security number for them to be able to pull your report, but they take your data security very seriously. You can read about their security practices here: https://www.creditkarma.com/about/security.

Doesn’t pulling my credit hurt my score?

Yes and no. A hard inquiry (such as applying for a loan) does affect your score (only to a small degree, though). However, a soft inquiry does not. A soft inquiry is when you pull your own report, or your employer does, or a company like Credit Karma does. Reviewing your report and score on Credit Karma will have no effect on your score.

Will Credit Karma sell my information?

No. Their privacy policy restricts them from selling your information.

How is it free?

Credit card and loan companies pay for targeted advertising on the site. You will see recommendations specific to your situation and score. For example, when I logged in today it showed my four recommendations for credit cards, based on my credit score. I find their advertising very unobtrusive.

Check out Credit Karma today at https://www.creditkarma.com/.

Credit Karma logo

If you are looking for a post about how your credit score is calculated you can find it here:

NOTE: This will be the first in a series of articles about financial planning tools. I will review the tools that I have researched and use for my personal finances. If you have other tools you use to manage your money, please share them in the comments or in an e-mail.

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Safe Holiday Shopping Online

Black Friday and Cyber Monday have come and gone and according to the stats, it appears it was (another) record-breaking weekend:

  • The National Retail Federation reports that we spend about $52 billion on Black Friday. [i]
  • IBM, who tracks online transaction sales, reported that we spend between $1.5 and $2 billion on Cyber Monday.[ii]

I personally am not a big fan of Black Friday, especially now that it is creeping onto Thanksgiving. It seems more and more companies put their sub-par products on sale for the weekend. I am also not a fan of standing in line for hours in the cold or being trampled or assaulted by people fighting over a phone or yoga pants, but that’s beside the point.

Today’s Tip is about the remaining shopping that you will be doing. A lot of people will shop online for gifts, and I want to make sure you do so safely.

Here are five tips for sale holiday online shopping:

  1. Be sure the website’s purchase page is secure. It doesn’t matter if the rest of the site is secure or not, but be sure the page where you enter your credit card is secure. Here’s how you can tell – the browser should say https instead of http, and you should see a lock icon somewhere on the page. Here is what the Amazon.com sales page looks like:amazonScreen
    You can see both the https and the lock icon, which means it is a secure page.
  2. Don’t purchase items from e-mails unless you can verify where they came from. I get deals in my inbox from Walmart, Target, Amazon and many other reputable companies. E-mail marketing is cheap and effective. However, I also get deals like this one:“Get the New 32GB iPad Sold for $31.08!”This is from an e-mail send by “Adison Greg” from some website that no one has ever heard of. When you get those emails don’t click any links in them, including the “unsubscribe” link. Delete them immediately! They are Spam and many have some kind of virus. If you don’t click on them you will be safe.
  3. Use your credit card to purchase online. Never trust a website that doesn’t accept credit cards, or that encourages you to pay using Western Union or something like that. Your credit card has protection built in, as do websites like PayPal. If you never receive the item, you can file a dispute and your credit card company won’t charge you for the item.
  4. This is a tip I almost learned the hard way – I got an email saying that my purchase of 2 Nexus 7 tablets being sent to California from Walmart had been cancelled because they couldn’t verify the shipping address.  Concerned, I logged into my Walmart account and sure enough, there was an order for two Nexus 7 tablets that were scheduled to be sent to some random address in California. After doing some research I found that this isn’t uncommon – hackers get into the databases of these websites and can try to order things using your account. This only works if your credit card is stored on the website. Walmart.com, for example, stores your card without asking if you want it stored – they do it automatically. I immediately changed my password and deleted my credit card from their system. I no longer store credit cards on any websites – it only takes a minute to enter the card number and I feel more secure that way. Each time I purchase on Walmart.com now I immediately go to my account and delete the credit card number.
  5. Consider purchasing pre-paid shopping cards to purchase online. I know some people don’t like to use their personal credit card online, so they purchase pre-paid shopping cards and use that for all their Holiday shopping. A bonus is that you can set your limit and not spend any more than that.

Like many of you I do quite a bit of online shopping and will continue to do so. If you will follow today’s tips (especially tips 1-4) you can shop online with confidence.

 

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