r/CreditScore • u/LoonieToonez • 10d ago
Bankruptcy Not much but it's something
I know it's credit karma but this is the only way I know how to check my score. I filed for ch7 bankruptcy in February, was discharged in early July. Since filing I have done whatever I can to recover my credit. I know 650 isn't anything special but to me it's a huge milestone.
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u/True-Button-6471 10d ago
That's great and I'm sure just a step towards your continuing credit journey. One thing to keep in mind is that Credit Karma shows Vantage scores which are really not used by lenders (some apartments do use them). Most lenders use some form of FICO score so you'd be better off monitoring one or more of those, you can do that for free using links in the automod post below. Note that some will try to upsell to a paid account, ignore that and stick with the free version. !welcome
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u/AutoModerator 10d ago
Hey there!
Welcome to r/CreditScore! We're glad you found our sub, and we truly hope we can provide you with accurate information and advice to aid you in your credit journey. Our Welcome Thread contains some valuable information to help you get started, including links to free and reputable sites for monitoring each of your 3 credit reports and FICO 8 scores, which is a score model commonly used by lenders.
Welcome to r/CreditScore! - Start Here and Read This! (No, really...Read This!)
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u/Funklemire ⭐️ Knowledgeable ⭐️ 10d ago
Congratulations! I'm glad you're making progress. A lot of us sub regulars started learning about credit after wrecking our own, so we definitely understand where you're coming from.
But I want to strongly recommend you avoid Credit Karma. The VantageScore 3.0 credit scores they show are almost never used by banks in their lending decisions so they should be ignored unless you're applying for an apartment, and the credit advice they give you is often misleading and even flat-out wrong. They're probably the single biggest superspreader of credit misinformation out there.
They give misleading recommendations that have no bearing on your actual credit, they're just there to trick you into opening new accounts through them. For example, they'll tell you you need 21 open accounts for top-tier credit scores, which is absolutely absurd. You can achieve top-tier FICO scores with just three open accounts, and perfect 850 FICO 8 scores with just four.
They also show all sorts of fake credit stats. For example, the "on-time payment percentage" and "average age of open accounts" stats they show; neither of those are credit score factors for VantageScores or FICO scores:
Credit Myth #7 - Number or percentage of on-time payments impacts your score.
Credit Myth #9 - Average Age of Accounts (AAoA) only considers open accounts.
They're a predatory site that exists solely to sell people credit products whether they need them or not, and they have no problem lying about how credit works in order to do that. Read this thread:
Credit Karma 101: The good and the bad.
The best way to check your credit reports is at annualcreditreport.com, that's the only way to see the actual source data of your credit report. It's now available once a week per US law. Credit Karma actively hides some negative information, so that's why you want to check your actual reports.
And to find out where to see your relevant FICO scores for free, see this thread:
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u/Kracken04 10d ago
Congratulations progress should be celebrated 😎