• Tweet ^[1]
• Email ^[2]

• Tweet ^[1]
• Email ^[2]

I logged into my Credit Karma ^[3] last week, part of my monthly do it yourself identity theft ^[4] regimen, when I saw that they had changed the name of the credit score you receive to the TransRisk Score. I’ve always known that Credit Karma gave you a TransUnion credit score based on your TransUnion report but this is the first time I saw that it was actually named the TransRisk Score.

In addition to this name change, they added two more tabs:

• Auto Insurance Score: “Your TransUnion Auto Insurance Risk Score represents whether you are more or less likely to file a claim that will result in losses for the insurance company. This score is calculated using information found in your TransUnion credit report and ranges from 150 (minimum) to 950 (maximum). The open model for calculating these risk scores were built according to standards set by the National Conference of Insurance Legislators Model Act and should thus help take the mystery out of how scores are calculated.”
• VantageScore: “VantageScore is a new credit scoring model created by America’s three major credit reporting agencies to support a truly consistent and accurate approach to credit scoring. This new score provides lenders with nearly identical risk assessment across all three credit reporting companies. Your VantageScore on Credit Karma was calculated based on information in your TransUnion credit report and follows a familiar academic scale for ease of understanding: A (901-990), B (801-900), C (701-800), D (601-700), F (501-600).”

I’d never heard of the Auto Insurance Score before and the list of “factors that affect your insurability” didn’t seem to give me much direction in how I could improve those score (and presumably lower my premiums). I learned about VantageScore ^[5] back in 2006 when the three bureaus tried to popularize it as an alternative to FICO but I don’t think it ever caught on.