SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - October 20, 2008) - Credit Karma (
www.creditkarma.com), the
free and easy way to access, improve and leverage your credit, today
announced that its new Credit Score Simulator was awarded Best of Show
honors at last week's Finovate 2008 conference in New York.
The company's Credit Score Simulator allows consumers to estimate how any
one of 14 different behaviors can positively or negatively affect their
credit score. Given today's financial climate where loans and superior
interest rates are reserved for only the highest credit customers, this
simulator is a powerful tool for understanding how to improve the
availability of credit.
"Now more than ever, consumers understand that a credit score is the
defining indicator of their financial health," said Eric Mattson, CEO of
Finovate. "Unfortunately, they are also often in the dark as to their
actual score and what can be done to improve it. Credit Karma is offering
them a way to quickly and easily do both."
The Credit Score Simulator estimates how certain financial transactions or
behaviors will affect a credit score over time. Possible financial
behaviors range from the affects of opening a new line of credit to
extending the limit on an existing one. For each adjusted behavior, the
simulator calculates a new score customized for each individual. The
simulator also provides immediate feedback on a selected behavior to let
users know whether it will drive a credit score up or down.
Examples of basic behaviors that could affect a consumer with a beginning
credit score of 724 are included below. Each example will change depending
on individual credit scores and circumstances.
-- Adding a new credit card with a $25,000 limit decreases score to 710
-- Allowing one account to become 30-days past due decreases score to 678
-- Allowing all accounts to become 90-days past due decreases score to
660
-- Maintaining on-time account payment for 15-months increases score to
744
"It's obvious that simple financial behaviors can have a critical impact on
an individual's credit score," said Kenneth Lin, founder and CEO of Credit
Karma. "Some actions, such as opening a line of credit, might even have a
counterintuitive effect on one's score. Given the current credit crisis,
it's more important than ever that everyone have free access to their score
and these tools so that they can become better educated consumers and more
easily manage their financial lives."
To learn more about the Credit Karma Credit Score Simulator please visit
www.creditkarma.com/simulator.
About Credit Karma
Based in San Francisco, Credit Karma is a pro-consumer credit score company
dedicated to helping consumers better understand the power of their credit
by giving them completely free access to their credit score as often as
they wish, providing a host of tools and services to help them improve and
monetize that score, and helping them become better overall credit
consumers. At
www.creditkarma.com, consumers not only learn their score,
but they can identify what behaviors will positively impact their score and
then gain preferred product pricing based on their credit score range.
Contact Information: Press Contact:
Michael Azzano
Cosmo PR for Credit Karma
415.596.1978