Consumer Car Buying Advice Blog

Credit challenged consumers can actually get a free credit score before they apply for poor credit car loans

The best things in life

Some applicants with bad credit might finish the above sentence with the words “are free” but this usually isn’t the case if they’re financing a vehicle with terrible credit auto loans.

We know this because at Auto Credit Express we’ve been involved with bad credit auto sales for 20 years.  We even developed a web site so applicants can look up topics including qualifying for approved auto loans and preventing repossession as well as today’s topic, how to get your free credit score.

Credit Karma

As far as free things are concerned, air, water and one credit report from each of the major bureaus fall into that category. But practically everything else, including your FICO scores, requires that you cough up a few bucks.

In the case of credit scores, that usually means signing up for one of the services, or a combination of services, offered by one of the three credit bureaus at a cost of $15 per month or more.

That is, until San Francisco-based CreditKarma.com came onto the scene. Here is how the company explained it in one of their initial press releases:

Credit Karma, a resource that helps empower consumers to actively manage their financial health, today (12/12/08) announced an agreement with TrueCredit.com, a leading provider of credit reports and consumer credit education, that will enable consumers to obtain their TransUnion credit scores at no cost. Both companies believe that it is more important than ever to provide consumers with the tools and information to better understand how lenders are evaluating them.

“Credit scores are being scrutinized more than ever before, so it is critical for consumers to know what their score is and how it’s likely to be viewed by a lender,” said Lucy Duni, vice president of Consumer Education at TrueCredit.com by TransUnion. “Since your credit score is derived from the data in your credit report, reviewing your report on a regular basis is also essential to gaining a truly holistic view of your overall finances.”

“We are proud to partner with TrueCredit.com to provide consumers with the chance to access their score for free,” said Kenneth Lin, founder and CEO of Credit Karma. “Credit scores are a window into one’s financial health, and Credit Karma remains committed to giving consumers free access to that score as well as educating them about the tools they can use to understand it.”

To obtain your free TransUnion score from Credit Karma, visit their web site at: http://www.creditkarma.com/.

One small catch

Although your free credit score comes from TransUnion, you need to remember that your credit score can vary from bureau to bureau, so the scores from both Equifax and Experian could be different from the one you receive through Credit Karma.

One other item you should be aware of is that in order to receive your score from Credit Karma you have to endure marketing offers from various companies based on your credit score in order to view the results.

As we see it

Even taking this into consideration, however, one free credit score is better than none at all and it does give you a real idea of where you stand with lenders. What that means is that, from our perspective, maybe at least some of the best things in life are free.

Another free service you should know about can be found at Auto Credit Express, where we specialize in assisting people with bad auto credit find a dealer for their best chance at getting approved auto loans.

So if you really want to get your car credit back on track, you can begin now by filling out our online auto loans credit application.

Tags: approved auto loans, Bad Credit, credit scores, free credit score

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