Oct. 1, 2020 — OAKLAND, CALIF. — Credit Karma, the consumer technology platform with more than 100 million members in the U.S., Canada and U.K. will launch a checking account to U.S. members as part of the new Credit Karma Money™, a single destination within Credit Karma to access their Checking and Savings. Credit Karma Money is built for the everyday consumer to organize finances, create better financial habits and get access to money faster. With this product line, the company continues to deliver on its vision to build a full-scale financial platform to help members improve credit, pay off debt and build wealth all within the app they already use and trust.
When Credit Karma Money Checking1 launches this year, it will be available only to those members who hold a Credit Karma Savings account2. Checking will launch more widely in early 2021 with offerings being added throughout the year.
WHY CREDIT KARMA MONEY MATTERS
Free of hidden fees, the goal of Credit Karma Money is to allow members to take small steps towards their financial progress goals by enabling them to better manage their day-to-day spending and develop good financial habits. Right now, with their Savings, members can put money aside for emergencies and other future expenses and have that money earn five times the national average.3 At wide scale launch of Checking, members who set up direct deposit will be able to further unlock up to 2-day early access to their money to smooth out their cash flow.
In the future, Credit Karma Money will include offerings, like automated bill payment and payment date optimization. In addition, its Instant Karma feature will help incentivize good financial behavior by giving members a chance to win cash prizes for taking actions like making an on-time payment on a credit card bill or automating a direct deposit.
“There is a large population of Americans who fall into the underserved or subprime category and have seemingly been left behind by the financial system. Credit Karma Money was made to help that very population take small steps towards financial progress goals by rewarding good sense financial behavior and building better financial habits from the start,” said Kenneth Lin, Credit Karma CEO and founder. “This is a tangible step towards our vision of Autonomous Finance, where we will ultimately enable our members to put their finances on autopilot–especially those who need technology’s help the most.”
OPENING A CHECKING ACCOUNT IS EASY
At wide scale launch, Credit Karma members will be able to open a Checking account within minutes in the app. There are no minimum balance or deposit requirements, and never any penalties or fees from Credit Karma. Members will be able to seamlessly load their Credit Karma Visa® Debit Card4 into their mobile wallet with just one click and will have access to the largest surcharge-free network of ATMs, with over 55,000 locations5.
“With Credit Karma Money, we’ve created a suite of products that will be touching our members’ lives every single day. The potential to help our members is on a much bigger scale,” said Poulomi Damany, general manager of Credit Karma Tax and Assets. “This is the first time our members will hold a physical product from Credit Karma in their hands, we’ve built something that stands up online and offline. It will create a different relationship with money for our members.”
The news comes on the heels of Credit Karma Savings, which rolled out last year to make savings accessible to its members and help them grow their savings. In just under a year’s time, Credit Karma already has helped its members open more than 2.5 million savings accounts.6
Credit Karma remains an independent third-party with no plans to become a bank. Instead, the Credit Karma platform facilitates the opening and managing of Checking and Savings accounts offered through our bank partner MVB Bank, Inc., Member FDIC. Credit Karma Money has been able to incorporate the technology from Haven Money, which Credit Karma acquired at the end of 2019.
1Banking services provided by MVB Bank, Inc., Member FDIC. Maximum balance and transfer limits apply.
2Maximum balance and transfer limits apply. Maximum 6 withdrawals per monthly statement cycle.
3 Source: FDIC’s national average savings rate as of 9/28/20.
4Credit Karma Visa® Debit Card issued by MVB Bank, Member FDIC, pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. Terms and conditions apply.
5The Credit Karma Visa® Debit Card can be used for surcharge-free withdrawals in the Allpoint network. Fees may apply for ATM transactions outside this network. Those ATM transactions’ fees are third party fee amounts assessed by the individual ATM operator only and are not assessed by us.
6Number of open Credit Karma Savings accounts as of 9/28/20.
About Credit Karma
Founded in 2007 by Ken Lin, Credit Karma is a consumer technology company with more than 100 million members in the United States, U.K. and Canada, including almost half of all U.S. millennials. While best known for pioneering free credit scores, the company’s members turn to Credit Karma for everything related to their financial goals, including identity monitoring, applying for credit cards, shopping for loans (car, home and personal), high-yield savings accounts and now checking accounts through our bank partner, MVB Bank, Inc., Member FDIC — all for free. Learn more about how Credit Karma members are making financial progress on Facebook and Twitter.