Is Credit Karma selling my data?

Credit Karma recently asked me to activate “Karma Drive”. Apparently, based on my driving habits, it will recommend the best auto insurance for me.
This seems like a gross violation of privacy since it would be following all of my movements.
I understand I have the choice not to enroll, but I use Credit Karma for credit monitoring. Should I be worried about what else about me they may be collecting?

There terms of service don’t really make it clear how they use your data. They say they won’t submit an application for a service without your consent, but they don’t say they won’t share your data without your consent. (I didn’t read both documents in detail, maybe I missed something, check the links below if you’re concerned.) My thinking is that they’re giving you something for free, so YOU ARE THE PRODUCT.

Their terms are here: Terms of Service - Credit Karma or for Canadians here: Credit Karma - Terms of Service

This is the same type of info that is gathered from certain auto insurance companies. They monitor your driving habits to see if they can lower your rate. Supposedly.

Thanks everyone for the input. I won’t opt in to this for sure - but will likely stick with Credit Karma just for the credit monitoring service, since I’m thinking all other such services have a similar approach.

Well TurboTax just pushed me to Credit Karma to “monitor my refund” - I’m betting that also sends them my entire tax return. If you have to ask “are they selling my data?” they probably are.

Yeah!! same thing happened to my son - they were tricksters - made it seem like the only way for him to get his refund was to open a Credit Karma account.
I think I need to look for another credit monitoring service - happy to pay for it too. Any suggestions?

I don’t know how these things work in the USA but in Canada any info they would report is already going to be too late. (As in by the time you get info from them, the damage is already done, and you’re in recovery mode rather than prevention mode.)

I’d suggest it would be more useful and safer to put locks on your credit, then you shouldn’t need to monitor for changes because there will be none.

1 Like