Credit Karma's enriched: Turbo Tax daddy Intuit snaps up personal finance platform for $7bn

Financial software behemoth Intuit – owner of QuickBooks, TurboTax and Mint – is splashing more than $7bn to get hold of Credit Karma and its 100 million customers. Credit Karma provides financial and credit rating advice and support. Its free services are funded by partnership deals with credit card firms and other financial …

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't like this outfit

They gobbled up "Noddle" with no information sent to subscribers. First I knew of it was I was getting emails from CK about "my account".

They then played the "what's GDPR" card when I wanted to know where they got my details from. This was after they claimed I wasn't a customer so they weren't contacting me.

And they have a really creepy trick of assigning faux "names" to their support emails. So they come from "[e-mail]" or "[e-mail]"

Best avoided, if you ask me.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Don't like this outfit

I got an email from Noddle on 2nd May 2019:

'We have some big news. Noddle has been acquired by Credit Karma —a company with more than 85 million members across the USA and Canada.'

It goes on a bit but they did send out notification of the takeover.

I'm no fan of these companies but I do take issue with your 'no information sent to subscribers' comment.

[IGotOut]

Re: Don't like this outfit

I got the same emails AND the app told you of the changes.

Also how do you know those are fake names? Both seem legit names to me.

[Halfmad]

Re: Don't like this outfit

Really? Duchess?

You've watched too many episodes of Archer.

[elvisimprsntr]

I am sure I will soon be receiving unsolicited emails from CK/Intuit about credit offers/services, in spite of having a promotional block, fraud alert, and credit freeze set at the three US credit bureaus.

[Art Jannicelli]

God damn it...

Credit karma rolled out a totally free online tax filing service this year, that I used and was equal to turbo tax. I was looking forward to never paying for turbo tax again.

They did this to kill a competitor.

[My other car WAS an IAV Stryker]

Not just "this year"

I used Credit Karma Tax last year, and it may have also been available the year before. I did my diligence making sure it's math matched* (mostly) my usual option -- TaxAct, not to be confused Intuit's TurboTax -- before filing.

* While I don't get all the detailed forms until I pay, TaxAct lets me fill everything out and compare refund totals.

But I agree with the overall frustration: I'm not happy with some of TaxAct's fee increases in the last 5 years -- hence the switch to CK Tax -- but I'll go back to them rather than pay Intuit a cent. I also changed my main desktop PC and need a solution upgrading from Intuit's Quicken 2009, so instead of a stupid yearly Quicken subscription I'm going open-source with HomeBank.

[JohnOates]

For what it is worth they're promising to keep both free services, turbo and karma, going for free.

Don't be asking me to pick up the bill if they go back on their word but that's the line today...

cheers

[Phil O'Sophical]

TANSTAAFL

"free services" are never free. The question is who is paying for them, and how, if you aren't?

My money would be on them selling all the data you give to their apps. Supposedly "anonymised", of course.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: TANSTAAFL

We securely transfer your data in an anonymous format. However, our buyers are able to match patterns and habits to de-anonymize your data which is out of our control. With that said we always discourage such activities, and we always swiftly stop providing data to agencies of whom we have confirmed deploy this tactic on our data.

We take your privacy very seriously at (us) and we always strive to ensure that rigourous checks and verifications are performed to anonymize your data.

However, sometimes shit just happens and your data is wide open you know.

So suck it up and continue playing that game and shut up. They are paying more than you ever have. So frankly, who cares?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: TANSTAAFL

Fortunately I don't take the data seriously at all, and the great thing about "free" tools is that I can create lots of profiles and lie about all the details, so the data is both anonymous and completely useless.

Go Disinformation!

[My other car WAS an IAV Stryker]

Re: TANSTAAFL

This is the most important data of the year, and it can't be faked. While I agree in the usefulness (and humor*) of lying, these are tax returns to the U.S. IRS and fake info becomes a Really Big Problem. Examples: the "return" is rejected based on unverifiable data (SSN or financial), the refund gets sent to a non-existent checking account and disappears, the fact that a return was not filed for the real "you"... Ain't no one got time to mess around like that.

* Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie, "The Privacy Song": "So whatever you do, when they're talkin' to you... for God's sakes, LIE!"

[IGotOut]

Re: TANSTAAFL

"free services" are never free. The question is who is paying for them, and how, if you aren't?

If only it was in the bleedin article...oh wait.

"Its free services are funded by partnership deals with credit card firms and other financial services."

Just like those price comparison sites, they take commission from any loans, credit cards or insurance you buy through them.

[JohnFen]

That's too bad

I don't use it myself, but I know that many people use and speak well of Credit Karma. Assuming their assessments are accurate, it's quite a shame to see Credit Karma tarnished by being owned by the likes of Intuit.

[Anonymous Coward]

Intuit

Aren't these the same scumbags that used lobbyists and Regulatory Capture to make the IRS agree to not make the tax filing process easier and used a file on their official website so that search engines would not crawl for their "free" tax forms?

Yeah, I thought so.

Fsck them.

[YourNameHere]

Hah!!!!

"We wake up every day trying to help consumers make ends meet." He forgot to add , "That's why re-removed all links to the free version of turbotax last year until some scum bag pointed out that minor detail to everyone"