March 16th, 2010
Dear Credit Karma… More About Credit Karma!
Dear Credit Karma,
Is Credit Karma really a free service?
Absolutely.Credit Karma is free and is available at absolutely no cost to you. Credit Karma has no catch, gimmick, or secret subscription, and will never charge you now or later down the road. Become a Credit Karma member for free, and you can use the site as often as you want, play around with our financial tools, and pull your credit score daily without ever having to worry about getting hit with a subscription fee or any type of charge. We do promote money-saving offers featured by our advertisers that are specifically tailored to your credit profile, but you are never required to click on an ad or participate in an offer.
What’s in it for us? We’re supported by advertisers. The ads on our site enable us to make this service free for you, the consumer. Rest assured Credit Karma is truly a pro-consumer site interested in helping you manage healthy finances and healthy credit at NO COST to you.
March 12th, 2010
Credit Karma To Talk Money At SXSW Conference Panel
Anyone who is anyone on the cutting-edge of new technologies—whether they are fans of it or part of the industry—will be following the ultra-cool South By Southwest (SXSW) Music+Film+Interactive Conferences in Austin, Texas. Which is exactly why Credit Karma is on a panel for this year’s conference to talk about fresh innovations in money, banking, and personal finance.
Credit Karma is sharing the floor with fellow leaders and visionaries of the personal finance world such as Lending Club, SmartyPig, and Mint. This panel fits right into SXSW Interactive, which hosts presentations and products on the latest products, trends, and issues surrounding new technologies and innovations. It’s the ultimate cool geek event that showcases the convergence of intelligent design and exciting creativity.
March 12th, 2010
Friday Scoop on Credit Karma & Housing Market News
The Washington Post reports on a new round of foreclosures threatening the shaky housing market. A new wave of foreclosures, an all-too common occurrence since the start of the housing crisis, could hit the real estate market just as it is poised to stabilize this year. About 5 to 7 million properties are potentially eligible for foreclosure right now and continues to swell in numbers; as homeowners who are seriously delinquent fail to find mortgage relief, these pending properties may become foreclosures by the end of the year. This impending wave of foreclosed properties crowding the supply of homes for sale will undercut housing prices and risk the recovery of the housing market.
Follow today’s roundup full of ways to save money and find relief with your home and mortgage, plus our top five favorite Credit Karma mentions of the week.
March 9th, 2010
What Does Your Email Provider Say About You?
You may have kept your AOL account since receiving a free disc in the 90’s, signed up for Yahoo! in college, got a Gmail invite, or moved to Comcast when you finally installed broadband, but what does it say about you? When categorized by email provider, the credit score and debt averages of users begins to tell a story. Do Gmail users take on larger mortgages? Do Yahoo! users have lower credit card limits? Credit Karma takes a closer look at how users of the most popular email providers stack up.
Disclaimer: Our analysis is for informational purposes. The data shows correlations for a number of reasons and is based on averages. As anyone who has taken a statistics class knows, causality and correlation are very different.
March 9th, 2010
Dear Credit Karma — All About Credit Karma
Dear Credit Karma,
Will checking my credit score on Credit Karma lower my score?
Absolutely not! Credit Karma aims to help you earn and maintain healthy credit without hurting your credit. When you pull your credit score via Credit Karma, it is categorized as a soft inquiry because you are essentially pulling your own score as a type of background check, similar to inquiries done by employers, landlords, banks, and more.
The type of inquiry that will ding your credit score is a hard inquiry. Hard inquiries are done by credit card issuers, mortgage lenders, and other lenders that are pulling your credit report for the purpose of assessing whether or not they should extend credit to you.
March 5th, 2010
Friday Scoop on Credit Karma & Housing Market News
Do you know what defines a “binding contract”, that short sales are typically subject to lengthy delays, or what contract contingencies might be included that will buy you some time? Find out this and more helpful, last-minute homebuyer tax credit tips from Bankrate.com to make the most of the weeks before the April 30th deadline to find and purchase your dream home.
Want more home market updates? Today’s roundup has your home maintenance tips and home mortgage info, plus Credit Karma links of the week.
March 1st, 2010
Offer: $600 free from WTDirect — Sign Up Now!
If you were thinking about opening a high-yield savings account with a large deposit, you’ve hit the jackpot with this generous offer from WT Direct that earns you a substantial amount of money while you squirrel it away. Credit Karma teams up with WTDirect to bring Credit Karma members a very exclusive offer to open an 1.26% APY on high-yield online savings account that can earn up to $600 cash. That’s right, $600 cash!
February 26th, 2010
Friday Scoop On Credit Karma & Housing Market News
The Federal Reserve is preparing to take off the training wheels its had in place to help the housing recovery, reports CNN Money, by putting a stop to buying mortgage-backed securities that supported the battered market. For home buyers and lenders, this means higher mortgage rates soon, which could in turn hit housing prices and sales hard. With higher rates on its way , economic analysts are worried how this move will impact the stability of the housing market and the larger economy at large.
For your weekly dose of more housing market news and mentions of Credit Karma in the media, check out today’s roundup.
February 22nd, 2010
Monday Jumpstart to Personal Finance & Credit Report News
After months of banks’ preparation and consumer anticipation, the final reforms of the CARD Act take effect today to change the way credit card issuers interact with cardholders.
Hoping to protect consumers from unfair and deceptive industry practices, the provisions in place today include banning double-cycle billing, stricter regulation of under-21-year-old customers, fixed payment due dates, and a 45-day notice before changing terms such as interest rates. While issuers are forced to comply to these laws, it also has the effect of changing credit card terms towards imposed annual fees, increased interest rates, and tighter credit score requirements as issuers scramble to recoup losses caused by the CARD Act reforms.
Keep up with more personal finance news and credit score help with the following roundup.
February 19th, 2010
Friday Scoop on Credit Karma & Housing Market News
Is the mortgage market starting to heal? CNN Money reports that fewer mortgage borrowers fell behind on mortgage payments in the last three months of 2009. Less mortgages going delinquent means less homeowners are at risk of foreclosure; foreclosures have been churning people out of their homes in unprecedented waves since the subprime mortgage meltdown in 2007. We remain hopeful trends will continue and home prices will stabilize to support a housing recovery in 2010.
Check out the mortgage tips for homeowners and Credit Karma media coverage in this week’s roundup.
