Last week, I blogged about trying Credit Karma. Daniel, from Sweating the Big Stuff, recommended that I try Quizzle. Never one to shy away from a website described as cool, I was all over it.
First, the website is, as Daniel stated, cool. When I entered my information, the cute messages said things like 'initiating the flux capacitor' while an adorable cartoon old guy in glasses smiled at me. Points for Quizzle.
The website grades you in three areas. Home. Money. Credit. Then you get a Quizzle Score.
I failed Quizzle. I got a 67.
Home=40. Money=71. Credit=90. I decided to dig deeper to see what was at the root of these scores. (As if I needed to question the house score.)
Home
We've talked about this time and time again. We owe $373,000 on our house. Our house is worth, according to Quizzle (and Mint), $192,607. Therefore, I get an F. I have simply decided to accept this and be really freaking zen about the whole thing. This house is huge. There is absolutely no reason why we will need more than 2900 square feet at any point in the near future. Since I'll have my credit cards and Grandfather paid off pretty quickly, I intend to work on the mortgage after that. Sure, it will take some time, but we're not walking away from the house. This is just something that I'm going to deal with, like we've dealt with everything else. Sure, we thought we were buying at the bottom of the bubble. HA.
Money
I got a C. I'm living within my budget, but my rainy day fund is not very good. Well, I know this, Quizzle, but I'm more focused on paying down my debt right now, so that's why. I appreciate your concern and I appreciate you giving me an 8% in the rainy day fund. That is a lower score than my house. It will be better by the end of 2010. Don't you worry. But at least I got an 87% on my budget. That's not too shabby. I wonder what they would have thought of me in 2008. Let's not dwell on that.
Credit
First, Quizzle believes that 90% is an A. I'm sorry, but I'm an old-fashioned girl and I don't believe that it's an A until I have a 93. This is a B. According to Quizzle, I have a 724 FICO. I like 724 better than the 682 that I got from Credit Karma. It says that I can improve my credit 11 points. Let's see how.
Oh, that part costs money. No thank you. I honestly know how to increase my FICO. That's the beauty of my former life as a banker. So I'll keep paying off my balances and I'll watch my score get higher and higher.
I loved their list of 55 ways to save money. I don't agree with the warehouse stores, but other than that, I like the list. Obey the list.
Well, Daniel, I'm converted. I'm a Quizzle girl now. The website is very cute and user-friendly. Thanks for the recommendation!
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Maybe I liked it because it gave a high score? They definitely want you to have a huge rainy day fund, which is annoying because everyone is in a different situation and a giant emergency savings isn’t necessary for a lot of people.
That’s awesome that you credit score is so high and it will only continue to improve as you pay off more of your debt!
Hi there! I just wanted to thank you for taking a look at Quizzle and giving your readers a little insight into what we do. And thank you Daniel for recommending us!
If you or your readers ever have any questions or feedback, we’d love to hear from you! In fact, many of our new features and tools come from suggestions from the Quizzle Community. Give us a shout any time at feedback[at]quizzle[dot]com. Thanks again and happy Quizzling!