Credit Karma Inc., a San Francisco marketing start-up backed by current and former executives of E-Loan Inc., has begun offering free daily credit scores online.
Other sites offer free rough estimates of credit scores, but CreditKarma.com provides an exact score.
However, it is not a FICO score; it is produced by the Chicago credit bureau TransUnion LLC's proprietary model.
FICO scores, produced by Fair Isaac Corp. of Minneapolis, are on a scale of 300 to 850; the Credit Karma scores range from 300 to 900.
A spokeswoman for Credit Karma said consumers who check their scores on its site receive targeted advertising from companies that pay to promote their products and services there.
However, consumers' personal information is never provided for the companies to make additional pitches, she said.
Advertisers currently include cell phone and cable companies, but could soon include big box retailers, Credit Karma said.
The site, which is in beta testing, was launched last month.
Credit Karma is funded in part by Chris Larson, the cofounder and chief executive of Prosper Marketplace Inc. of San Francisco and the cofounder and former chairman and CEO of E-Loan, and by Mark Lefanowicz, the current president of E-Loan. (Popular Inc. of San Juan, Puerto Rico, bought the Pleasanton, Calif., online lender in 2005.)
