Credit Karma announced Thursday it is offering consumers two additional credit scores for free through its Web site, CreditKarma.com.
VantageScore and TransUnion Auto Insurance Risk Score join several other scores offered through the site - including TransRisk Credit Score, ScoreSavings, Credit Report Card and Credit Score Simulator.
VantageScore updated its credit-scoring model this month to provide lenders an "unprecedented number" of consumer credit files to more accurately judge borrower risk, VantageScore Solutions LLC recently announced.
The Stamford, Conn.-based company is a joint offering by credit bureaus Equifax Inc., Experian PLC and TransUnion LLC, and was launched in 2006 to compete with Fair Isaac Co.’s FICO score. The nation’s top 10 credit card issuers use both scores often to measure current and prospective credit card borrowers’ risk profiles.
VantageScore’s new model harnesses data from 45 million anonymous consumer credit files gathered from mid-2006 to mid-2009, capturing financial activity both from before the economy crashed and from several months into the recession. That compares with an estimated 21 million consumer files on which VantageScore historically has based its credit-scoring model, according to the company.
The TransUnion Auto Insurance Risk Score is used by insurers to determine a consumer's auto insurance premium. It is created from a consumer's credit report rather than driving history and was built according to standards set by the National Conference of Insurance Legislators Model Act. The new tool enables consumers to better understand how their auto insurance premiums are calculated, according to Credit Karma.
"CreditKarma.com strives to offer our more than 2 million members a broad set of free educational tools for one of the most important aspects of their financial wellbeing," says Ken Lin, CEO at CreditKarma.com. "The addition of the VantageScore and TransUnion Auto Insurance Risk Score provide further access and transparency to a traditionally confusing industry."
The additions to the tool suite offered on CreditKarma.com's provide consumers with "precise, reliable data to successfully understand and manage all aspects of their finances and realize the everyday cost savings by having a good credit score," according to the company.
Consumers' credit history impacts more than being approved for a new credit card account. Insurance premiums, access to homeowner and car insurance, employment and renting a home or apartment can all be affected by bad credit.
To access CreditKarma.com's new scores, current members can log in and click "Update Score" on the new Score Center page. New members can register at Creditkarma.com.
