Credit Karma Money Review 2024 (2024)

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Credit Karma Money Review: Overall Rating

Credit Karma Money Pros and Cons

About Credit Karma Money

Credit Karma is a finance company primarily known for showing you credit scores and reports for free. Credit Karma Money is the company's money movement platform, and it has a checking and savings account.

Credit Karma Money recently launched up to five-day early access to government benefits and no-fee overdraft coverage. You'll need to have a Credit Karma Spend Account to have access to these features. To qualify for early access to government benefits, sign up for direct deposits through your federal government provider so any payments go directly into your Credit Karma Money account. Meanwhile, to receive no-fee overdraft coverage you must set up monthly direct deposits of $750 or more to a Credit Karma Money Spend Account.

With Credit Karma, you have free access to 55,000 ATMs around the US in the Allpoint network.

The Intuit Credit Karma mobile app has 4.8 out of 5 stars in the Apple store and 4.7 out of 5 stars in the Google Play store. You can link your Credit Karma Spend Account to your TransUnion credit report. Then you can see your credit score, upcoming bills, payment due dates, minimum payments due, and outstanding balances in your Credit Karma app.

Your deposits are FDIC-insuredfor up to $5 million through Credit Karma's partner banks.

Is Credit Karma Money Trustworthy?

The Better Business Bureau gives companies scored based on responses to customer complaints, honesty in advertising, and transparency about business practices. The BBB gives Credit Karma an F rating because the company has received a high volume of customer complaints on the BBB website, it hasn't responded to several customer complaints on the BBB website, and lastly, because government action was taken against the company.

In 2022, the Federal Trade Commission required Credit Karma to pay $3 million in a settlement that claimed the company misled consumers with pre-approved offers that they at times did not qualify for.

Credit Karma Money FAQs

Credit Karma Money Accounts Review

Credit Karma Money Spend Account

Credit Karma Money Spend Account is a good free checking account, with no monthly service fee or overdraft fees.

This account also offers a unique perk that lets you receive access to government benefits up to five days early. Generally, financial institutions take a few days to process paychecks. However, Credit Karma Money's new feature allows you to receive funds as soon as Credit Karma Money gets a notice from the federal government, which may be up to five days earlier than the payday.

Credit Money Save Account

The Credit Karma Money Save Account has no minimum opening deposit or monthly fees. This account pays higher than the national average, but you can still find other high-yield savings accounts with even higher rates right now.

How Credit Karma Money Compares

Credit Karma Money vs. Chime

Both banking platforms have checking and savings accounts with no monthly fees. You'll earn a higher interest rate with Credit Karma than Chime, though.

Credit Karma Money also has recently launched a new feature that allows Credit Karma Money Spend Account users to receive up to five-day early access to federal government benefits like Social Security, VA benefits, or Supplemental Security Income through direct deposits. At Chime, you'll get up to two-day early access to government benefits when you set up direct deposits and receive qualifying payments, which is still a good benefit, although not as distinct.

Chime may be a better choice if you frequently deposit cash. You can visit Walgreens locations and deposit cash without fees. With Credit Karma Money, select retailers like Walmart can load cash to your debit card, but the retailer will charge a fee for each deposit.

Chime Review

Credit Karma Money vs. Capital One

Capital One will likely be a more appealing option if you want to bank directly with a financial institution. Capital One offers CDs, which Credit Karma Money doesn't offer. It also has some of the best credit cards overall.

You might still consider Credit Karma Money if you're interested in the platform's new feature that allows qualifying members to have five-day early access to federal government benefits Social Security, VA benefits, or Supplemental Security Income. To get access to the future, you must have a Credit Karma Money Spend Account and you'll have to set up direct deposits through your government provider. Capital One 360 offers two-day early direct deposits for government benefits if you have Capital One 360 Checking, which still is better than some financial institutions but not as impressive.

Capital One 360 Bank Review

Why You Should Trust Us: How We Reviewed Credit Karma Money

At Personal Finance Insider, we rate banking products using a scale of 0 to 5 stars. To assess Credit Karma Money we used our banking methodology, which analyses features of various products to help determine if the account may be right for you.

We applied our checking account methodology to the Credit Karma Money Spend Account and looked at the accounts the minimum opening deposit requirements, monthly service fees, overdraft fees/protection programs, and ATM network/fees. For the Credit Karma Money Save Account, we implemented our savings account methodology and reviewed the account's minimum opening deposit requirements, monthly service fees, and interest rate. We also generally look at customer support availability, mobile app ratings, and overall ethics of the company for all bank products.