Complaint Review: Credit Karma

Do NOT trust these people's suggestions on credit cards or loans, though. I worked for months to get my credit up to snuff, obsessing day after day, doing the legwork, trying to make sure I covered all the bases. Because CK seemed to help me so much as far as information went, I started to generate a level of trust for them. This is when things went very bad indeed. 

I came to a point where I not only needed a loan and/or a line of credit, but I was ready to start building. I took their suggestions on 2 loans. They said I had a good chance on both loans. WRONG. DENIED on both. Boom, credit scores took a huge hit. I was then told by their "blog" and "credit education" forum that a credit card would be the way to go. Well, they suggested a Capitol One card and said I had a VERY GOOD chance of being approved. In their system, VERY GOOD is the highest slot they put anyone in. So.....I applied. Wrong again. Denied. This time my credit took a hit that was massive, taking me down to a very poor level, and sufficiently screwing up my recently restored credit for the next 2 years. I am virtually back to where I was to begin with when I had bad accounts, before I cleared them and raised my score. So I am now back to square one, but there's nothing more to do to immediately improve my score. I can try to dispute the inquiries, but the chances are low of having them removed. I think I'll be stuck with a secured card, which is better than nothing but not what I wanted.

I subsequently learned through forums other than CK's,  that CK's scores are, in fact, NOT true scores, but meant to be "educational". After downloading CreditWise, the Capitol One app (which I should have done beforehand), I learned that my scores were actually MUCH lower with them. Nearly 100 points! Of course, you won't find that on their website in any way that is guys have gotten me turned down for 2 loans and a credit card,  I suppose I should've been smarter and really, it's my fault. Just putting it out there for people to know that just because something says your odds are "very good"....(as it says in CK's disclaimer, and I will take a step further)....they most likely AREN"T. Do not pay attention to CK's suggestions based on algorithms.

The reason I write this report is I believe that CK, while operating within the law and still following the FCRA, artificially inflates credit scores in order to entice people to apply for the credit cards of their sponsors. While a free credit score and report is nice to have, it doesn't really matter at all if they aren't true. I wonder how many regular Joe consumers out there every day take the bait and make CK richer, and end up extremely sorry for it. This is a deceptive business practice, and in the end, the blame falls on me because I should have been more aware of these types of cons. Frankly, I feel duped and stupid. Live and learn. But I want to warn others.