Credit Karma's Credit Score Simulator

A personalized simulator that tells you how certain actions will affect your credit score. Thinking about applying for a new credit card? Credit Karma will tell you how an additional inquiry will affect your credit score. Paying off a credit card balance? See how much your credit score will increase.

The simulator will let you choose among the most popular actions with credit limits, payments, and public records to see if your credit score will go up or down. A credit score comparison that lets you compare your credit score to other consumers in a similar demographic. Discover provides a free Credit Scorecard that includes your FICO score based on your Experian credit report information. The Scorecard updates every month and you don't have to be a Discover customer to enroll.
LendingTree.com provides you with a free copy of your VantageScore 3 and updates your score monthly. You'll also be able to see the factors that affect your credit score.Quizzle.com lets you view your Experian credit score and credit report for free, no credit card required. While you can access your free credit score and report through Quizzle at any time, the two can only be updated every six months.

Credit Report Card

The Credit Report Card gives you a letter grade A-F in the following areas: Overall, Utilization, On-Time Payments, Average Age of Open Accounts, Total Accounts, Hard Inquiries, and Derogatory Marks. These grades can help you evaluate the areas, if any, that are hurting your credit score. If you're working to improve your credit score, you know exactly which area to focus on.

Other Credit Information

In addition to credit score information, you can also find details about your debt accounts, including the amount your balances increased or decreased since your last update. Credit Karma can also recommend the credit cards you're most likely to be approved for based on your credit standing. Other Credit Karma users who've applied for those credit cards list their credit scores and whether they were approved. That information gives you

Bottom Line

In the ten years since Credit Karma's launch in 2008, it has evolved from a website to check your credit score to a tool to help you improve your credit—and help you assess your debt. It's free and the information is invaluable. When you visit the site, just make sure you've typed the URL correctly. Look for a lock next to the URL at the top of your browser and check to see that the URL begins with "https://". The "s" is your sign that you're visiting a secure website.