The world of finances has significantly changed in the past two decades, creating a direct effect on the community. Nowadays, personal finances are a critical aspect of everyone’s daily life, and companies are progressing to make money with this. One such organization is the Credit Karma. It offers services to help people manage their finances. Credit Karma has gained immense popularity over the time through free credit reports and free credit score services. The company has a user base of over 100 million and it continues to grow. There are no charges for any service, which raises a question: how does Credit Karma generate its revenue?
There are several ways that the company utilizes to make money, including interchange fees, interest on cash, and referral fees. In this article, we will delve into credit karma’s different revenue streams, how it works, its history, future, and its competitors. By the end of this post, you will get an insight into the financial industry and how companies like Credit Karma generate their revenue.
What is Credit Karma and How does it Work?
Credit Karma is a personal finance company that gained popularity by providing free credit scores to its consumers. Customers can access their credit data at any time, without registering to any credit card. As its credit bureau partners, Credit Karma uses TransUnion and Equifax. The credit information is based on the Vanguard 3.0 model and not on the FICO model. It is a leading fintech company that mainly focuses on making credit data transparent for its clients. Users can sign up for its services by visiting its official website or through its official mobile app on their phones.
After the account setup is complete, users can access their credit scores at any time without any cost. An individual’s credit score indicates if he or she is eligible to access other products and services such as credit cards and loans. Apart from providing credit scores, Credit Karma also displays free credit reports and credit monitoring.
The credit reports include information such as accounts standing on good terms and what percentage of payments are made on time. The report can also notify when an identity theft or fraud is being committed. On the other hand, credit monitoring helps users to stay on top of their scores and monitor any changes that occur in their credit scores.
History of Credit Karma
The company was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in San Francisco. Kenneth Lin founded the company as its CEO along with his partners, Nichole Mustard (CRO) and Ryan Graciano (CTO). Lin got a degree in economics and was always coming up with different business ideas. In 2007, he introduced the idea of developing a personal finance company. Although there were plenty of companies offering the same services as Credit Karma, they had a poor reputation.
In March 2008, Credit Karma was officially launched and gained popularity as it is a platform that provides credit scores for free. Credit Karma continued to expand by assisting in other ways, such as tax calculators, credit monitoring, and personalized financial advice. Today, the company employs more than 2000 people across the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. Almost half of the United States uses this platform including over 100 million users.
How Does Credit Karma Make Money?
The company operates on an affiliate business model. Credit Karma makes money through various revenue-generating streams such as referral fees, interchange fees, and interest on cash. Each of these revenue streams is explained in detail below:
Referral Fees
The primary source of the company’s revenue is the referral fees. Although it provides free services, Credit Karma is partnered with an advertising partner that offers financial services such as credit cards and loans. The advertising partner provides credit karma with a referral fee each time the user takes action on any offer. Credit Karma kept working with the same model even though people complained about not liking the in-app advertising feature. Credit Karma keeps its customers satisfied by offering them a collection of free services, including a handy tax calculator and a dispute response. These features enable the users to file complaints in case they feel that the credit bureau devalues their credit score.
Interchange Fees
Credit Karma introduces a brand-new feature of checking accounts for its users in September 2020. This feature is also called ”credit karma money.” This feature issues a debit card to the account holder. This debit card is issued by Visa. Whenever the cardholder pays for something using that debit card an interchange fee is earned by Credit Karma. Visa’s interchange fees usually range between 1.4 to 2.5%. This revenue is shared between Credit Karma and Visa.
Interest On Cash
Like other financial firms and banks, Credit Karma also operates a similar interest-on-cash model. The company uses the cash of its users and lends it to other larger financial institutions such as banks. In return for facilitating the loan, Credit Karma collects a net interest from these financial institutions. In 2019, the company earned approximately $3 billion by using this financial model. It protects its users’ accounts for up to $5 million with FDIC insurance.
Credit Karma’s Future
The company hopes to lead the market with the financial services that it provides. The company processes millions of data points of its users which they can use to improve their market position in the financial industry. Credit Karma aims to introduce new innovative features and financial tools for their users to help them effectively manage their finances.
Who are the Competitors of Credit Karma?
As being the leading fintech company, exclusively known for providing financial services to its customers, Credit Karma has some competitors too. Here are the top companies mentioned that are considered the competitors of Credit Karma:
- Bankrate: This finance company offers financial services similar to Credit Karma.
- Credit Sesame: This company provides loans and savings on credit applications for its users. In addition to that, it also offers its users to utilize free personal finance tools.
- NerdWallet: This is an online platform through which users can get information about their financial status.
- Mint: Users can manage their bills and budget through this personal finance app.
Conclusion
Credit Karma has become a famous personal finance company with over 100 million users. It provides financial services that are free of cost but has other ways to make money, including receiving referral fees from advertising partners, interchange fees by using debit cards, and receiving interest on the cash lent to larger financial institutions. Credit Karma’s ability to collect and analyze financial data has become a valuable asset in the financial industry. Despite having major competitors such as NerdWallet, Mint, Bankrate, and Credit Sesame, Credit Karma hopes to remain the leading personal finance setup in the future.
Matthew is a Co-Founder at BusinessFinanceArticles.org. Matthew was a floor manager at a local restaurant in Wales. He lost his job after the pandemic and took initiative to make a team and start the project.
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