CreditKarma.com Offers Free Credit Score Plus Tips to Improve your Rating

Do you want to check your credit score free? A new website, creditkarma.com, can give you the answer — and it’s quick, too.

Sign up to the secure site and in a few moments, your score is at the tip of your fingers. It appears the site, which is in beta testing, is working with one of the three credit scoring companies to provide the number. While you won’t get access to all the information in your credit history, you’ll get the highlights — like why you scored the way you scored, late payments or too much credit in your name.

In addition, you can find out how that score compares to scores of people like you. It compares age groups across the United States. It compares your rate based on residents in your state. And it can help you find ways to improve your overall rate through a credit score simulator.

The simulator tells you how certain actions will affect your score. For instance, are you planning on getting another credit card? If so, you can plug in the amount of credit you’ll get and find how much of a negative effect it will have on your score. Want to buy a home? The simulator can calculate what will happen to your score. Planning to pay off your credit cards? The simulator can calculate how much your score will improve.

Beyond that, there are some other cool features to the site. You can find out what financial offers are out there and users will rate them for you. An offer for a free Quicken money management tool had a 70 percent approval rating by users.

The site is easy to use and easy to understand for credit score newbies and veterans alike. Try it when you have a minute. It can help you better understand how credit scores work — and the best part is that it’s free!