Credit Karma Review 2026: Is This A Legit Credit Score Or A Scam?

Credit Karma is a free and user-friendly service for keeping up with your credit. You'll receive frequent updates on your Equifax and TransUnion credit reports and scores. There are lots of bonus features too, including money management and credit building tools. 

To provide these free services, Credit Karma's dashboard is filled with offers for credit cards and loans. This could be off-putting for some, but still worthwhile to keep up with your credit.

In this Credit Karma review, we'll detail all the features that come with this free credit monitoring service and why we think it's one of the best credit monitoring services available.

At a glance

4.8

AllAboutCookies writers and editors score products based on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence how we rate products.

Editorial Rating

Get Deal

On Aura Identity Theft's website

2026 Editors’ Choice

Best Overall Identity Theft Protection Service

Identity Protection

Aura Identity Theft

PROMOTION: Save Up to 68%

• #1 rated ID theft protection service with a full suite of monitoring tools
• Includes up to $1 million in ID theft insurance per person for up to five adults
• Protect your children with robust parental controls and gaming alerts

Our experience

Credit Karma is easy to set up and use. We tested the service using the web vault and mobile app on our iPhone. 

To sign up, you’ll need to provide the following personal information:

• Your full name
• Home address
• Last four digits of your Social Security number (SSN)
• Date of birth

The main Today dashboard shows your TransUnion and Equifax credit scores, along with offers for credit cards or other financial products. Especially on the mobile app, these offers take up a significant amount of space. 

Before you click on any links for a credit card or loan through Credit Karma, be aware that any notice of guaranteed approval or pre-approval for third-party credit products may not be accurate. Several customers noted that they wasted time applying for credit products that Credit Karma said they were pre-approved for, only to be rejected by the lender.

In fact, in January 2023, Credit Karma was ordered by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to pay a $3 million settlement fee and stop using deceptive pre-approved claims to entice consumers to apply for financial products.^[1]

We like Credit Karma's casual language and abundance of guidance to help you learn more about how your credit works. However, the excessive offers and the FTC settlement have discouraged us from recommending it without warning. 

Credit Karma prices and subscriptions

All of Credit Karma’s services are free, and the site makes money through the financial products it recommends from its partners.

If you accept one of the recommendations or sign up for an additional service like Credit Builder or Credit Karma Money Save through MVB Bank, the partner company may pay Credit Karma a commission.

Credit Karma features

Along with your credit score, Credit Karma offers several features like the Credit Builder program and Credit Karma Money Save accounts. It also has an auto insurance partnership with Progressive and Allstate, called Karma Drive, where you may save money on your premium based on your mileage, when and how you drive, and your average speed.

Although these features are helpful, Credit Karma’s strength is its credit report and credit score features.

Credit monitoring

Credit Karma’s credit monitoring features can help you spot errors and suspicious activity on your credit report before it can cause too much damage. 

You can turn monitoring on or off through the Settings tab on its website or the app. When credit monitoring notifications are turned on, you’ll receive email or push notifications on your phone when changes to your TransUnion or Equifax credit reports are found.

The credit monitoring alerts on Credit Karma can help you discover potential issues like:

• Changes to your credit report(s)
• Alerts for potential identity theft or data breaches
• Changes related to the accounts that appear on your credit report
• Alerts related to your transactions, cash flow, investments, and net worth

We didn't receive any credit monitoring notifications due to using a new account, but we toggled on all the alerts for future notifications. 

Credit reports and scores

Credit Karma tracks your VantageScore and offers credit reports from TransUnion and Equifax. If you need to check your FICO score or your Experian credit report, you need to contact Experian directly. You should check your credit reports regularly because that's one of the easiest ways to determine if you're a victim of identity theft.

We navigated to the Credit tab and selected score details. Although our account is new, Credit Karma presented a bar graph to record how our credit score will change over time. 

On Credit Karma, your TransUnion and Equifax scores are both updated daily. Your TransUnion credit report is checked for updates as often as daily, while your Equifax report is checked weekly. 

Credit analysis

Credit Karma provides more than just your credit scores; it also breaks down the factors that affect your score. These include your payment history, credit card use, credit age, and more. 

We liked that Credit Karma indicates how much each of these factors can impact your score. If you click through on a section, Credit Karma will provide specific details such as how many derogatory marks you have and how to address them.

Credit builder

If you navigate to the Money tab at the top, you'll find the Credit Builder feature. Credit Karma will help you raise your score by allowing you to connect a bank account and build a payment history. 

You'll also be killing two birds with one stone by setting aside money for saving. 

Money management tools

Another Credit Karma feature is its free-to-open checking account, known as Credit Karma Money Spend. It has no monthly fees, overdraft fees, or minimum balances. With this checking account, you can also receive paychecks and federal benefits early. 

If you're in need of a savings account, you can sign up for the Credit Karma Money Save. This is an online savings account that can earn interest and automate your savings. 

Finally, Credit Karma will help you develop a financial relief road map based on your financial situation. 

Bonus features

Although Credit Karma isn't an identity theft protection product, it does provide data breach monitoring. After selecting Identity Monitoring from the Credit menu, we found a summary of our data breach history along with a button to view the details.

Is Credit Karma safe to use?

Credit Karma uses 128-bit encryption to store and protect the data you provide. Data transmission uses AES-256, an industry standard. 

While two-factor authentication is available on Credit Karma, it's not automatically turned on for standard accounts. You can enable it in your Security & Privacy Settings either by visiting the website or the app.

Finally, the site will automatically log you off after a period of inactivity as another level of security.

According to Credit Karma's security practices page, Credit Karma does not "sell your personal information to or share it with unaffiliated third parties for their own advertising or marketing purposes." The privacy policy is more specific about the personal information from Credit Karma. Some of the data it collects includes:

• Personal information, including your name, address, email address, SSN, and phone number, which is used to verify your identity. 
• Device information, such as your IP address, log information, error messages, device type, and other unique identifiers associated with your device.
• Location information through GPS or Wi-Fi, but only after you grant consent.

Under the Your choices section, we also found the following: "If you reside in California, Connecticut, Colorado, Montana, Oregon, Texas, Utah or Virginia, please refer to the relevant sections below under Region and state-specific terms for more information about opting out of tracking for targeted advertising purposes, or opting-out of sales and/or sharing."

If you decide to use Credit Karma, we recommend reviewing its privacy policy and opting out of any and all data sharing to keep your personal information private. 

Credit Karma customer service

There isn’t a phone number to contact Credit Karma directly, but it has a customer service contact form and chat feature on its website. But it does have a Help Center that provides information to frequently asked questions and how-tos for accessing features like two-factor authentication and credit monitoring alerts. 

Top alternatives

Credit Karma is a free way to view and monitor your credit score, but what if you need protection from other identity theft threats? We've compiled some of our favorite identity theft alternatives that still provide credit monitoring services for your review:  

Service	Aura	Norton LifeLock	OmniWatch
Star rating	4.8 AllAboutCookies writers and editors score products based on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence how we rate products.	4.8 AllAboutCookies writers and editors score products based on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence how we rate products.	4.5 AllAboutCookies writers and editors score products based on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence how we rate products.
Price	Starts at $9.00/mo	Starts at $7.50/mo	Starts at $7.99/mo
# of people covered	1 - 5 adults, unlimited children	1 - 2 adults, up to 5 children	1 - 2 adults
Credit monitoring	* Alerts from all three bureaus * Monthly VantageScore update * Yearly credit report from all three bureaus	* Alerts from all three bureaus * Monthly score update from all three bureaus * Daily credit report from all three bureaus	* Alerts from all three bureaus * Monthly VantageScore update * Monthly VantageScore report update
Types of identity monitoring	Identity and SSN, account breach, home and auto title, criminal and court records	Identity and SSN, dark web, phone takeover, home title, social media	SSN, identity, dark web
ID theft insurance	Up to $1 million per adult	Up to $3 million	Up to $2 million
Details	Get Aura Read our Aura review	Get LifeLock Read our LifeLock review	Get OmniWatch Read our OmniWatch review

FAQs

Bottom line: Is Credit Karma good?

Credit Karma might help you save money or find a credit card, but its true strength is providing easy access to credit reports and scores. If you're looking for an app or platform with more financial features, like budgeting, you may need to look elsewhere. 

Additionally, while Credit Karma offers frequent credit updates, you’ll still need to access your Experian credit report and FICO credit score separately.

Protecting your identity from criminals who are looking for an easy target is one of many reasons to review your credit report and score regularly. Credit Karma is a good option for people who want to access their credit score and alerts frequently. 

For a more comprehensive identity protection solution, you can review our list of top alternatives. You can also see how Credit Karma compares to other credit monitoring services:

• Credit Karma vs. Credit Sesame
• Credit Karma vs. Experian
• Credit Karma vs. myFICO

4.9

AllAboutCookies writers and editors score products based on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence how we rate products.

Editorial Rating

Learn More

On Credit Karma's website

Credit Monitoring

Credit Karma

• Free access to credit scores and credit reports
• Financial education and tools are available through the Help and Resource Center
• Does not offer all three credit bureaus, only TransUnion and Equifax

Author Details

Kate Daugherty

About the Author

Kate Daugherty, a Denver-based professional writer with a B.A. from the University of Colorado, specializes in personal finance, digital security, and personal privacy. Inspired by her own credit theft experience, Kate is passionate about helping people stay safe online. Through her engaging articles in Finance Buzz, Success Magazine, and the Family Money Adventure blog, she shares easy-to-follow tips for boosting online security and financial well-being.