Is Credit Karma a reliable place to check my credit score?

[Hemispheres]

Long story short I fell mentally ill and as a result of my mania I charged up my credit card accounts that I had managed rather flawlessly for years prior. I was considering filing for bankruptcy but a blessing in the form of a 94 year old senile driver struck me while I was crossing the street last September. As soon as I got my settlement a couple of months ago I got my power of attorney to start calling up debt collectors and began paying them off.

 

I settled with Synchrony Financial in August and just recently settled last week with a debt buyer that has a judgement against me. However I have yet to see my credit score increase or decrease from the debt settlement with Synchrony Financial. I'm wondering if this is due to Credit Karma not being reliable or due to Synchrony Financial being shady. When we agreed on a settlement amount they refused to send us anything in writing about the settlement offer and said they would report the payment to the credit agencies within 3 weeks of the payment but it's been 5 or 6 weeks with no report of any payment made on Credit Karma. 

 

I read online that Synchrony is shady and will sell off the difference in debt to another debt collector and attempt to screw the person who made the debt settlement over. For this reason I actually called them back and recorded the conversation while the debt collector told me the debt had been settled and I would receive a 1099-c form in the mail in Feb 2022. 

 

Anywho, should this lack of update on Credit Karma be of concern or is it due to them not being an actual credit reporting bureau?

Edited September 28, 2021 by Hemispheres

[MarvBear]

Credit Karma is worth as much as heavily used toilet paper.

[centex]

Following on what Marv so eloquently advised, if the score is not a Fair Isaac model, it is not even worth the entertainment value the shiny bauble brings some people.  The advertising people have snookered many...

[cv91915]

If you want to know what's on your credit reports, you need to get your credit reports from the companies that produce them.  

 

Kredit Carma exists to sell you credit and financial products you don't need in exchange for commission payments from the companies who offer them.

[Hemispheres]

Well I didn't use the 3 main credit companies, but I did pay off all my debt and according to Equifax and Transunion my score jumped by 100 points. Next step is to get a secured credit card and jump it by another 100 so I can get a decent apartment. 

[centex]

1 hour ago, Hemispheres said:

Well I didn't use the 3 main credit companies, but I did pay off all my debt and according to Equifax and Transunion my score jumped by 100 points. Next step is to get a secured credit card and jump it by another 100 so I can get a decent apartment. 

Good for getting things paid off.  However, you don't say WHAT model was used to produce the scores you say jumped by 100 points.  Again, we will reiterate that non-Fair Isaac models are SOLELY for entertainment purposes. 

 

Since you have actual goals you are looking for which are score-based, you REALLY need to focus ONLY on models from Fair Isaac.  Skip the Vantage Skores or any other non-FICO score for ANY sort of decision making...

[cv91915]

On 11/22/2021 at 10:28 AM, Hemispheres said:

Well I didn't use the 3 main credit companies, but I did pay off all my debt and according to Equifax and Transunion my score jumped by 100 points. Next step is to get a secured credit card and jump it by another 100 so I can get a decent apartment. 

 

What score model does the apartment manager use, and what is the minimum score requirement for an apartment?

[hdporter]

I'll reserve any comment on this thread until such time as the OP returns to CB (possibly in another 2 or 3 months, based upon history to date?).

[Hemispheres]

Sorry I haven't replied in a while. Decided to open an free Experian account and it turned out I didn't have enough info reported to then for a FICO 8 Score. 

 

Then out of the blue my old Bank reported the Debt settlement agreement to Experian. Dropped my score to 611. 

 

This is where I'm starting to get concerned. The same bank reported a "Charge Off" to Transunion despite the fact that I have a letter stating that the debt is satisfied or otherwise paid. As far as I know with a Charge Off the bank can sell the debt to a debt collection agency. However I settled with the Bank's collections department.

 

I'm hoping someone can tell me I'm worried for no reason, and if not what steps I need to take to resolve this issue. 

 

[centex]

16 hours ago, Hemispheres said:

Sorry I haven't replied in a while. Decided to open an free Experian account and it turned out I didn't have enough info reported to then for a FICO 8 Score. 

 

Then out of the blue my old Bank reported the Debt settlement agreement to Experian. Dropped my score to 611. 

 

This is where I'm starting to get concerned. The same bank reported a "Charge Off" to Transunion despite the fact that I have a letter stating that the debt is satisfied or otherwise paid. As far as I know with a Charge Off the bank can sell the debt to a debt collection agency. However I settled with the Bank's collections department.

 

I'm hoping someone can tell me I'm worried for no reason, and if not what steps I need to take to resolve this issue. 

 

Are you getting your information about the reporting from paper reports?  If not, then get paper reports. 

 

A paid or settled charge-off is STILL an account that was charged off though.  It does not suddenly become a paid as agreed sort of thing. 

 

Where is the 611 score coming from?  If you didn't have enough to generate a score previously, then you cannot be certain the score actually dropped. 

[hdporter]

18 hours ago, Hemispheres said:

Sorry I haven't replied in a while. Decided to open an free Experian account and it turned out I didn't have enough info reported to then for a FICO 8 Score. 

 

Then out of the blue my old Bank reported the Debt settlement agreement to Experian. Dropped my score to 611. 

 

This is where I'm starting to get concerned. The same bank reported a "Charge Off" to Transunion despite the fact that I have a letter stating that the debt is satisfied or otherwise paid. As far as I know with a Charge Off the bank can sell the debt to a debt collection agency. However I settled with the Bank's collections department.

 

I'm hoping someone can tell me I'm worried for no reason, and if not what steps I need to take to resolve this issue. 

 

 

A "charge off" notation indicates that at some point the debt became sufficiently delinquent that the bank was no longer permitted by accounting standards to report it as an asset.  The debt must be written down to a "0" value, with a resultant charge to their P&L (i.e. a "charge off").  It does not, however, provide an indication of the current disposition of that debt (merely that the debt was charged off at some point in the past).

 

If you still have a liability outstanding to the bank (which you shouldn't, if it has been resolved through a settlement agreement), then the debt will still report on your credit report with a $ value as outstanding balance.  If it has been properly settled, the tradeline will instead show a $0 balance (no current debt balance outstanding with the bank).

 

 

[Hemispheres]

4 hours ago, centex said:

Are you getting your information about the reporting from paper reports?  If not, then get paper reports. 

 

A paid or settled charge-off is STILL an account that was charged off though.  It does not suddenly become a paid as agreed sort of thing. 

 

Where is the 611 score coming from?  If you didn't have enough to generate a score previously, then you cannot be certain the score actually dropped. 

The 611 Score is coming from Experian's FICO 8 interpretation of my credit score. 

 

And the only reason I was alarmed about the change off is because I settled with at least 3 other debt collectors and they all closed the accounts and removed them from my reports or so I've been told. 

[hegemony]

17 minutes ago, Hemispheres said:

or so I've been told. 

please order paper reports from the big four

https://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?/topic/590506-ordering-paper-credit-reports-information-inside/&tab=comments#comment-5623246

 

IDS: https://www.innovis.com/personal/creditReport

[centex]

13 minutes ago, Hemispheres said:

The 611 Score is coming from Experian's FICO 8 interpretation of my credit score. 

 

And the only reason I was alarmed about the change off is because I settled with at least 3 other debt collectors and they all closed the accounts and removed them from my reports or so I've been told. 

There is no 'or so I have been told.' They either did or they did not, and the BEST way to know for sure is getting paper reports. 

 

You don't know if the 611 is an increase or a decrease since you claimed they couldn't previously produce a score FOR you.  With what you have posted thus far, it is simply a baseline.  Period.  When you have an anorexic file or, worse, one with derogatory items, scores will move wildly and should be disregarded.

 

 

[insolent1]

26 minutes ago, Hemispheres said:

And the only reason I was alarmed about the change off is because I settled with at least 3 other debt collectors and they all closed the accounts and removed them from my reports or so I've been told. 

Never go by what collectors/collection agencies or third parties tell you [attorneys are exempt]. See for yourself what is on your credit reports by examining what is entered into it on the paper copies. Until you do this. you are simply 'guessing into the wind'. For all anyone knows, they are still there.

hdporter is correct. Accounting by GAAP principles requires an asset [a one-time performing loan] to be converted to zero value at a defined point. Thus, it is "written off" [to them, not to the debtor] for business/corporate tax reporting purposes. When this is done, the debt [whole or some fraction thereof] often remains tied to your credit reports as a "charge off" and is considered a derogatory entry.  

[Hemispheres]

25 minutes ago, centex said:

There is no 'or so I have been told.' They either did or they did not, and the BEST way to know for sure is getting paper reports. 

 

You don't know if the 611 is an increase or a decrease since you claimed they couldn't previously produce a score FOR you.  With what you have posted thus far, it is simply a baseline.  Period.  When you have an anorexic file or, worse, one with derogatory items, scores will move wildly and should be disregarded.

 

 

On Experian's Site the 611 score came with an alert of score decreased. 

 

And the reason I say or so I have been told Is because Credit Karma's report claims I don't have any derogatory remarks on my credit history. It showed them all taken off after I began paying/settling with the debt collectors. But after joining this site I'm doubting the accuracy of that website. 

 

I just know I get texts when my experian and transunion reports are updated. Not sure why with Transunion as I decided against their app because it was pay to play only. 

Edited December 30, 2021 by Hemispheres

[centex]

3 minutes ago, Hemispheres said:

On Experian's Site the 611 score came with an alert of score decreased. 

You had no prior score by your own post in this thread.  Thus there is no prior score to have derived meaningful movement on, and it really wouldn't matter at that level anyhow...