What is Credit Karma?
Credit Karma is a free app and website that shows people where they stand financially and suggests products that might help. Members see credit scores and credit reports from TransUnion and Equifax, get alerts when important changes appear on their reports and can dispute errors they find. The service also tracks net worth and cash flow across linked bank, card, loan and investment accounts, features that took on a larger role when Intuit closed its Mint budgeting app in 2024 and moved Mint users to Credit Karma.
Credit Karma does not charge members. It earns money from banks, card issuers, lenders and insurers by matching members with credit cards, personal loans, auto loans, mortgages and insurance, and it uses their credit data to show how likely they are to be approved. A system called Lightbox lets participating lenders apply their own underwriting models to thousands of de-identified data points about members, which Intuit says gives members more certainty about approval. Credit Karma says it has more than 140 million members.
Under Intuit, Credit Karma operates alongside TurboTax as part of one consumer platform. Members can use TurboTax from inside Credit Karma, and Credit Karma Money checking and savings accounts are offered through an FDIC-member partner bank. Credit Karma’s revenue grew 20 percent to about $2.6 billion in Intuit’s 2026 fiscal year, and in May 2026 Intuit said the integration of TurboTax and Credit Karma was largely complete as it cut overlapping roles between the two businesses.
Key features of Credit Karma
- 01
Free credit scores and reports
Members see VantageScore 3.0 credit scores and credit reports from TransUnion and Equifax, along with the factors, such as payment history and credit card utilization, that shape those scores.
- 02
Credit monitoring and disputes
Credit Karma alerts members to important changes on their credit reports, such as new accounts or hard inquiries, and provides a tool for disputing errors on a TransUnion report.
- 03
Recommendations and approval odds
Credit card, loan and insurance offers are personalized for each member with estimates of approval odds, and Lightbox lets some lenders run their own models on de-identified member data.
- 04
Net worth and cash flow tracking
Members link bank, credit card, loan and investment accounts to follow net worth, cash flow and spending over time, tools that Credit Karma expanded as Intuit retired Mint.
- 05
Credit Karma Money and Credit Builder
Checking and savings accounts are offered through an FDIC-member partner bank, and the Credit Builder tool is designed to help members establish or rebuild a credit history.
- 06
Identity monitoring
Identity monitoring watches for signs that a member’s personal information has been exposed, such as email addresses appearing in known data breaches, and alerts the member to take action.
- 07
TurboTax inside Credit Karma
Members can reach TurboTax and other tax tools from within Credit Karma, reflecting Intuit’s effort to run its two consumer brands as a single platform.
Who uses Credit Karma?
- Consumers check their credit scores for free before applying for a mortgage, car loan or new credit card.
- People rebuilding their credit track score changes, watch for new accounts and dispute errors on their credit reports.
- Shoppers compare credit cards, personal loans and auto insurance offers that show their estimated chances of approval.
- Former Mint users and other households link their financial accounts to follow net worth and spending in one place.
History of Credit Karma
Kenneth Lin founded Credit Karma in 2007 with Ryan Graciano and Nichole Mustard, and the website went live in February 2008. Free credit scores were the core of the service from the start, paid for by fees from financial companies rather than by users. Backed by investors including QED Investors, Ribbit Capital and Alphabet’s CapitalG, the company was valued at $3.5 billion in 2015, and it later added free tax filing and banking features.
Intuit agreed to buy Credit Karma for about $7.1 billion in February 2020 and completed the deal that December after the US Justice Department raised antitrust concerns. To resolve them, Credit Karma Tax was sold to Square for $50 million and became Cash App Taxes. In 2022 Credit Karma agreed to pay $3 million to settle Federal Trade Commission claims that some of its pre-approved offers were deceptive. Intuit folded Mint’s users into Credit Karma in 2024, and by fiscal 2026 Credit Karma’s annual revenue had reached about $2.6 billion.
- 2008
Credit Karma’s website goes live, offering free credit scores funded by financial companies.
- 2015
A funding round values Credit Karma at about $3.5 billion.
- 2020
Intuit completes its roughly $7.1 billion acquisition of Credit Karma in December.
- 2024
Intuit shuts down Mint and moves its users to Credit Karma.
- 2026
Credit Karma’s revenue reaches about $2.6 billion, and Intuit cuts overlapping roles across Credit Karma and TurboTax.
Credit Karma pricing
Pricing modelFree
Free for consumers; Credit Karma is paid by banks, card issuers, lenders and insurers when members take out products it recommends.
Prices change often. Check the official Credit Karma website for current plans.
Credit Karma alternatives
Well-known alternativesNerdWallet, Experian, Credit Sesame, WalletHub and LendingTree
Credit Karma: frequently asked questions
Who owns Credit Karma?
Credit Karma is owned by Intuit, the Mountain View, California, company that also makes TurboTax, QuickBooks and Mailchimp. Intuit completed its acquisition of Credit Karma, valued at about $7.1 billion, in December 2020. The service was founded in 2007 by Kenneth Lin, Ryan Graciano and Nichole Mustard.
What is Credit Karma used for?
Credit Karma is used to check credit scores and credit reports for free, monitor credit for changes and dispute errors. Members also use it to compare credit cards, loans and insurance with estimated approval odds, track net worth and spending across linked accounts and open Credit Karma Money checking and savings accounts.
Is Credit Karma free?
Yes. Credit Karma does not charge members for credit scores, monitoring or its other tools. It makes money from banks, card issuers, lenders and insurers, which pay the company when members take out products it recommends. Intuit reported that Credit Karma generated about $2.6 billion in revenue in fiscal 2026.
When was Credit Karma released?
Credit Karma’s website went live in February 2008, after Kenneth Lin, Ryan Graciano and Nichole Mustard founded the company in 2007. It later added mobile apps, free tax filing and banking features, and it has been part of Intuit since December 2020.
Does checking Credit Karma hurt a credit score?
No. Viewing scores and reports on Credit Karma counts as a soft inquiry, which does not affect credit scores. Applying for a credit card or loan through an offer found on Credit Karma is different, because the lender will usually run a hard inquiry that can lower a score slightly.
What happened to Mint?
Intuit shut down Mint, the budgeting app it bought in 2009, in 2024 and encouraged its users to move to Credit Karma. Credit Karma offers net worth, cash flow and spending tracking across linked accounts, along with the credit scores and financial product recommendations it was already known for.
Sources
- About Credit Karma creditkarma.com
- Intuit Form 10-K for fiscal 2026, SEC sec.gov
- Intuit reports fourth quarter and full year fiscal 2026 results investors.intuit.com
- Credit Karma, Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org
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