Keeping an eye on your credit score is crucial for making sure you can get the credit you need. It can also be an early warning system in cases of identity theft. But the three main credit bureaus — Experian, Equifax and TransUnion — are only required to give you a free credit report once a year. Anything beyond that, you have to pay for.

There is a new website that offers to provide you with your credit score for free at any time, though. CreditKarma helps users track their credit score. If you sign up with their website, you will not need to pay a single cent to access your score. However, you will be asked to look at some advertising for companies that target your credit score. It is, I think, a reasonable trade off, especially since CreditKarma must pay the credit reporting agencies for your credit report.

The signup process is fairly simple. CreditKarma does ask you for a lot of personal information, including your Social Security number. However, after a careful look at their privacy policy (and their certifiers), I’d say that giving CreditKarma your Social Security number doesn’t put you in any more danger of identity theft than receiving a credit card application in the mail.

Once you’ve finished  putting in your contact details, CreditKarma immediately delivers your credit score. They also provide you some interesting information, like how you measure up to both the national average and other CreditKarma members. There’s also some specifics on just how a credit score works. In addition to your credit score, you’ll immediately see a number of offers, from credit cards with special deals for your range of credit score to free trials. Personally, I’m pretty happy with my current cards. I skipped over them. If you’re looking for something in particular — like a 0 percent introductory rate on a credit card — you might be able to find a good deal through Credit Karma.

I was especially interested in the Current Rates listing that Credit Karma also offers. Essentially the website lists out the rates you’d be offered on mortgages, HELOCs, etc. if you headed down to the bank right now. Of course, this number is just an estimate. It’s still worth keeping an eye on, though: watching estimated interest rates drop can be a great motivator to help you raise your overall credit score, especially if you’re working towards a new house or other goal.

Overall, CreditKarma is a good website to have in your personal finance toolbox. There is no limit on how often you can check your credit score — although it doesn’t change on a daily basis. I don’t intend to log in to CreditKarma every morning, but I am planning to make it part of my monthly financial routine, along with paying bills and thinking about my goals for the next month.