Mint Credit Score VS Credit Karma | The Differences

Both credit karma and mint credit score are very popular personal finance service providers with similarities and dissimilarities. Credit karma provides credit score and report which come from TransUnion and Equifax, two of the three major credit bureaus. On the other hand, the credit score from mint is provided by TransUnion.

Key Takeaways

• Credit Karma is a popular American financial service provider while Mint credit score is a free online personal finance application
• Credit karma provides a credit score based on Equifax and TransUnion
• Credit karma uses a system named VantageScore 3.0.
• With the Mint mobile app, you will be able to create monthly budgets, managing bills, setting long-term financial goals, etc.     

If you are wondering what are the differences between mint credit score and credit karma then keep reading the article.

What Is Credit Karma?

Credit Karma is a popular American financial service provider founded in 2007. Credit karma allows its users to collect credit reports and scores from two major credit reporting agencies. Credit karma updates the score once a week and it also has other key features. In America you can check your credit report and score once a year for free. So, it means you can check your credit score three times a year for free from each of the three credit reporting bureaus. However, it is very important to check the credit score every now and then to identify if there is an error on your credit report. This is where credit karma is very handy as it allows you to check the credit report as often as once per week. Moreover, credit karma provides a credit score that you do not get for free from any other methods. 

Credit karma provides a credit score based on Equifax and TransUnion, and they use a system named VantageScore 3.0. The credit karma score is not the same as a FICO score but both of them use many similar data points and the same scale. A FICO score is more established and used by more lenders compared to credit karma.

What Is Mint Credit Score?

Mint credit score is also a popular financial service provider. It is a free online personal finance application that offers a variety of easy-to-use financial planning and tracking tools. One of the key features of Mint is how it offers visibility into all your financial accounts in one place. Mint provides you an overview of your credit report and the fine details. It gives you a single snapshot of your financial health of various accounts including credit cards, checking and savings accounts, investment accounts, retirement accounts, loans, etc. Moreover, in Mint you can see your net worth and total debts owed. Using the mint app you can review all your previous transactions which allow you to keep track of your spending.

With the Mint app, you can verify each of your transactions that you have authorized including late fees, pending charges, credits to your accounts, etc. Mint also has other key features that make it a one-stop-shop for all your daily personal finance needs. You can use the mint app to create monthly budgets, managing bills, setting long-term financial goals, and many more.

Difference Between Mint Credit Score And Credit Karma

Price And Availability

Both credit karma and mint are free to use and their apps are also free to download. Credit karma and mint credit score have apps for both iOS and Android which is very convenient. Moreover, when you are opening an account none of these financial service providers asks for a credit card number which ensures there is no hidden charge from either company. 

Security And Privacy           

Credit Karma and Mint have excellent security and privacy statements and both of them have clear terms of use. If you are concerned about your privacy then you should take some time and read the privacy and security statements before deciding whether to use these services or not. Both the credit karma and Mint take serious measures to keep your personal information secure so there is nothing to worry about.

Intuit a large software company is the owner of Mint. Intuit specializes in business and financial services and they have a solid reputation in the financial software sector. QuickBooks, TurboTax, and other reputed accounting and payroll software are manufactured by Intuit so there is nothing new to say about it. On the other hand, Credit karma doesn’t have such a powerful and deep profile in the financial services sector. Though credit karma has some form of credit monitoring service on the market since 2008. 

Personal Information Required    

When you are signing up for mint you have to provide a valid mail id, user name, and password. Apart from that how much personal information you provide is up to you because most of the features in Mint are optional. For example, you can connect your financial accounts on mint but you have no obligation to connect all your accounts. Moreover, you can choose to not add your secret investment account and skip the credit score feature also. The credit score feature requires additional personal information so if you don’t want to use the feature then you don’t have to provide the information.

In terms of personal information requirement, credit karma is different from mint credit score. The core service of credit karma is to give you your credit reports and scores and to generate these reports credit karma requires more of your personal information including date of birth, last four digits of your social security number, current address, and many more. Moreover, you have to answer some questions to verify your identity like “Which of these has never been your phone number?” There is nothing to worry about the privacy of your information because this type of question is very common for any credit report inquiry. Finally, without providing this information you won’t be able to open an account with Credit Karma.

Credit Score Monitoring

Its core service of credit karma to provide credit reports and credit score but mint provides less in this area. Usually, credit karma collects the credit report and credit score from two sources: Equifax and TransUnion. Moreover, credit karma updates the report and score once per week. On the other hand, mint only shows credit score it doesn’t show credit report. Mint collects the credit score from one source and that is Equifax. Unlike credit karma, mint updates the credit score once per month. Though mint doesn’t show the credit report it provides information of account usage, account status, account type, date opened, limit, balance, highest balance, etc.

Both credit karma and Mint don’t show the FICO score. The credit score showed by Mint and Credit karma is based on the VantageScore 3.0 system. So depending on the financial stats your FICO score and VantageScore won’t be the same. So there will be a difference between your FICO credit score and Mint and credit karma credit score. One of the key features of credit Karma is, it provides both credit and identity monitoring in addition to the credit score and report. Mint doesn’t offer credit monitoring for free. You have to purchase it as a separate feature for $16.99 per month.

Final Thought

There is a saying that using a credit scoring app can reduce your credit score. That’s not accurate. Because using credit karma and mint are considered soft inquiries and are soft inquiries don’t affect the credit score or report. So without any hesitation, you can use either credit karma or Mint per your requirement.

References:
1. https://mint.intuit.com/how-mint-works/credit
2. https://help.mint.com/Credit-Score/
3. https://www.pcmag.com/news/mintcom-vs-credit-karma-personal-finance-showdown

Last Updated on October 18, 2022 by Magalie D.