Credit Karma vs Quizzle vs Credit Sesame: Which One to Choose?
By Sun
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Summary:
Credit Karma, Credit Sesame, and Quizzle all let you check your credit score for free. Even though the score isn't FICO score that is widely used by creditors, they can help in monitoring credit score changes and detecting abnormal activities.
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about a new website Credit Sesame which lets customers get their credit score for free. That puts Credit Sesame in direct competition with other sites such as Credit Karma and Quizzle, both have been discussed here before, because the center piece of their offerings, from what I can see, is free credit score. But that’s not all what you will get from them, any of them. Each has their particular area of strength. For instance, Credit Karma, being the *oldest* among the three, has more tools and information for its customers than the other two. Credit Sesame, on the other hand, is pretty strong in home loans and mortgage refinance offerings.
I am currently using all three for different purposes: get monthly free credit score updates from all three of them and get free credit report from Quizzle every 6 months as a supplement to free credit reports from annualcreditreport.com. For other features and services, I have yet to explore all of them. Following is a quick summary of main features of Credit Karma, Quizzle and Credit Sesame. If you are considering which one of them to use, I hope this table can help you make your decision easier, based on what you are looking for. Of course, since there are lots of the functions that I don’t use, the table may not be as complete as I want it to be.
Credit Karma vs Quizzle vs Credit Sesame
Credit Karma, Quizzle and Credit Sesame Comparison Feature Credit Karma Quizzle Credit Sesame Free to join Yes Yes Yes SSN required Yes Yes Yes Free credit score Yes Yes Yes Credit score provider TransUnion Experian Experian Credit score update frequency Daily Monthly Monthly Credit score simulator Yes No No Other scores Yes, VantageScore and Auto Insurance Score No No Free credit report No, but has credit report card Yes No Credit report update frequency N/A 6 months N/A Budgeting No Yes No Debt analysis No Yes Yes Mortgage Yes Yes, but only Quicken Loan Yes Home value estimate No Yes, by FNC Yes, by Eppraisal.com Home sale info No Yes No Bank offers Yes, Ally Bank, FNBO Direct and Zions Bank Yes, SmartyPig No Credit card offers Yes No No Personal loan offers Yes, from Lending Club No Yes, from Lending Club Auto/Life insurance offers Yes No No Auto loan offers Yes No No Affect credit score No No No
As you can see from the table that, Credit Karma has a lot of offerings that could potentially save you money on loans, credit card debts, etc., and that’s where their revenue come from (so to support the free scores they give us). The same for the other two, but their products are relatively fewer. After going through all of them to make the table, my conclusion is that if you want to compare lots of credit cards, loans, or banks, go to Credit Karma; if you want to find a better rate for your mortgage, then try Credit Sesame; if you want a free credit score and report, then Quizzle may be your choice.
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Thanks for the write up. I did want to point out that the Credit Karma update frequency is daily not monthly. Users on our site can update their score up to once per day in real time for free.
Thanks! I have updated the post.
However, from my experience, I don’t think the score updates that often. For me, it doesn’t change for months. Besides, I always get email reminder one month after the last update. So I have the impression that it only updates on a monthly basis.
great post signed up for Q. and S. already was member of K and I think there is a lot of value to these web sites.
a thought has been answered. A friendly thanks. Please let me know if there are any more online companies with free credit score, etc. like credit karma, quizzle and credit sesame.
All 3 are interesting for differing reasons as the original poster pointed out. Great post by the way!!
I think Credit Sesame is WAY of on my credit score…..If Both CS and Quizzle both use experian…than why is it CS says my score is 657 and quizzle says it’s 585. I think 585 is closer to where it is. (CS updated my score yesterday, I tried Quizzle today)
I wish CS were correct, but reality…Pretty sure quizzle is…CS is on crack! LOL
Remember there is only 1 real credit score which is a FICO score, everything else is referred to as a FAKO score (fake fico) Fico score is used with majority of the lenders directly.
Creditsesame has a good reputation for being the closest to a real fico score which is almost impossible to get cause Experian score can no longer be purchased online.
There are a few ways you can sneak a real score though. Like there’s a credit union which will allow you to get a free experian report every 3 months. PSECU I believe dont’ quote me on that. Just open an account and put $100 in and let it rot and collect your free accurate report every 3months.
Also a walmart credit card if you go online allows you to get a FREE transunion fico score refreshable every day.
Nothing really found for Equifax in the lines of free, but you can buy it for $20 from myfico.com just use the regular free sites to keep track of your credit activity, and you should only check your true score prior to a big purchase to see where you are standing.