Help: Credit Karma Question

[SportGuy]

Doing researching on Credit Karma, makes it sound like a pretty nice and helpful site that isn't trying to scam as so many other credit sites are. But I have don't further research to indicate that checking your credit too frequently can harm a credit score.
Is there something different that Credit Karma offers so that a score can be checked every month rather than every year without causing harm to a credit rating?

And then when I get my score or rating or report or information, what do I do with it? Is it only to review going forward? As long as I don't have any reports in the past that I wrong, is this something just to check to make sure no one opens a bank account in my name who isn't me?!

I am excited to join this forum and learn from all you smart people. Thank you for reading my question and for helping me with your reply

[hamchan]

Checking your own credit will not impact your score. In addition to making sure no one is using your info, credit karma gives you some suggestions for improving your score.

[SportGuy]

Checking your own credit will not impact your score. In addition to making sure no one is using your info, credit karma gives you some suggestions for improving your score.

to be clear, can I check my own credit as often as I want, without any problems? and am I checking credit score only or report too?

[hamchan]

Either one creates a soft inquiry, which does not affect your score at all, no matter how many times it's done.

[creditcardfree]

You are NOT checking your credit report on Credit Karma...at least not in full. You can see recent inquiries, your score, and new credit added to your report. You won't really be able to see loans you have had in the past, like you can when you see your credit report.

It is a legit site, free and will be soft inquiries only. Might as well try it out.

[John213]

I used Credit Karma and Credit Sesame since they are both free, won't ask for a credit card, and it's only a soft inquiry so it won't affect your credit score. I believe Credit Karma is for TransUnion and Credit Sesame is Experian. Both are legit site. Nothing to worry about. Cheers!

[btctony]

And don't take the actual score too seriously, if you're looking at them in order to compare to what a mortgage or auto lender might pull. They are NOT FICO scores.

However, I love using the free service as a monitoring tool. In my opinion, you really don't need to see a full report more than once a year for free, if you are actively monitoring new accounts and inquires with Credit Karma or something similar.

[hamchan]

True. When I have gotten actual FICO scores they are usually 30-40 pre higher than what CK says.

[doctorofcredit]

Credit Karma provides you with v3 of VantageScore and a few other industry specific credit scores based on your TransUnion data.

Quizzle = Equifax data
Credit Sesame = Experian data

All three are free and checking your own credit score/report is always a soft inquiry and doesn't affect your credit.