Lonnie Knows Everything

Let me start by stating for the record that I have no affiliation with Credit Karma ( www.creditkarma.com ) at all .. I found them using a google search while looking for an alternative to freecreditreport.com since I got stuck with them before and had a hard time cancelling. I was looking for something that was TRULY free..

I found Credit Karma when someone suggested it as an alternative via a yahoo question someone asked, so I decided to do my own research and read a few positive reviews before deciding to try it out for myself.. so without further delay..

Truly Free

During the signup process they don’t ask for any banking information or for a credit card, they do require you to give over your social security number, which is expected since that information is required in order to do a credit inquiry. They also asked a couple of questions to verify that I am who I claimed I was, some multiple choice questions based on information the gleaned from my credit history.

Intuitive Interface

It’s very simple to navigate the site, everything is pretty well self explanatory and the information is easy to find! While the site is indeed ad supported, the ads are not intrusive and there are no popups.

Useful Tools

The site provides a few useful tools such as the ability to compare credit cards, Auto Insurance, Banks.. etc .. But one of the most useful tools I found was the Credit Simulator that lets you see the results of certain actions on your credit score. I was able to see for example, what adding a new credit card would do to my credit … This was very useful to me in deciding what actions I would take to improve my score.

Unlimited Credit Queries

That’s right, you can go back every day and check your credit score if you like and it won’t hurt you because they are doing a soft check as opposed to a hard check. Basically they are just getting the basic information which is free.  When you go in for a loan or apply for a new credit card, the issuer will typically do a hard check and too many of those will damage your credit score.  Worth mentioning here is that one of the bits of information that Credit Karma provides, is the ability to show you how many hard checks have been made against you.

The Bad

There’s not much negative I can say about Credit Karma except that you don’t get specifics about what is knocking your score down, it showed that I have an auto loan but it doesn’t tell you who the loan is with.. so if there were some bad stuff on there I wouldn’t know where to go to correct it. With that said, Credit Karma is still immensely useful as an indicator that something is wrong..  When you sign up, you have the option to have a monthly e-mail go to you that will tell you your score..  If you notice a signifigant drop, you can take further action by going to www.myfico.com directly and pulling your credit information up for a fee.  www.myfico.com is as good as it gets for getting your credit score in detail because these are the people who created the algorythm that your score is based on.

Con or not?

I can’t say for sure, I can only say that nothing has happened to me.. they don’t ask for payment and I’ve not receieved any junk mail! the community seems helpful and the information / tools are useful .. I would recommend it to any of my friends!

Bottom Line: I strongly recommend Credit Karma ( www.creditkarma.com ) .. as with anything like this, always do your own research before handing over your personal information. I’m not responsible for you, only you are =)

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My computer at work is in need of a memory upgrade and there’s just some general sluggishness going on, so when I was browsing lifehacker.com I came across a useful piece of software called Tweak Me! This software is similar to many other windows tweaking tools out there except that it’s portable and can be carried around on your flash drive.

If you have a windows based machine and you’re looking for a small, clean, portable tweaking tool then this is your lucky day :) here is some additional information from the author’s web site.

Key Features:

• Supports Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7
• Creates System Restore Points for maximum security
• 172 tweaks which greatly improve your system’s performance and stability
• Easy to use, different colors show the tweaks’ recommendations
• Cleaner module which helps you to keep your system clean
• Portable, clean application! (for more information see requirements)

Example Tweaks:

• Disable User Account Control (UAC)
• Disable Windows Defender
• Disable Error Reporting
• Disable Search Indexing
• Tweak Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, Windows Update, Security Center
• Enable Aero (also on Home Basic Editions but without transparency)

Overall I’d say on a scale of 1-10 this gets a 9 for me!  Way to go guys

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