What is Credit Karma and why does TurboTax insist on pushing it?

[question everything]

I finally filed my returns - Federal and State - and they just wanted to push Credit Karma and when they texted me a code, I just ignored it.

As far as I am concerned, the filing are "pending."

Glad that I have an Excel spreadsheet and all the numbers are in agreement.

Whew..

[Sherman A1]

1. Simple, they push it because there is money in doing so.

[Anon-C]

2. Right!

[PoliticAverse]

3. No Karma for you!!

https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_Karma

[nilram]

4. And I guess you didn't get an advance refund?

(at a super high interest rate, so please ignore the fine print and just click here.)

I put up with them for 10 years but they no longer support my old version of macOS, and I don’t want to put all my tax information into a web interface, and the UI was always pretty sucky anyway, so I’m going to go back to paper and pencil. Or paper and a spreadsheet. Or even an accountant, since some things are kind of complex this year, but definitely not their ugly program.

[question everything]

5. Last year TurboTax screwed up so badly and I made mistakes that I had to find

another plan.

Many here had good suggestions

https://democraticunderground.com/11212829

and I went with TaxAct. Not ideal, for me, could not find a few supporting forms and had to struggle with State Refund. I do like TurboTax place to ask questions and specialists assistance so went back.

For now.

[nilram]

7. Thanks, I'll look at that!

[FrankTC]

6. Credit Karma and Other Similar Programs

From personal experience they are customer recruitment platforms. They encourage you to be very serious about your credit score and to engage with borrowing opportunities such as credit card and auto loan purveyors. In return for frequent updates to your credit score and analyses of the factors underlying its calculation, you’ll be slagged with loan and card offers. They are presented as rewards and achievements: Congratulations! Lookey here! As a result of your reliability and diligence in paying your bills, you are now awarded a credit rating that may qualify you to obtain this super special card that comes in a unique color with perks and miles and stars, oh my. You will be trained to experience indebtedness as a privilege. The whole scheme is a scam. Just think for a moment: The more credit accounts you have, the higher your score. And assets like savings accounts or retirement accounts never ever figure into your creditworthiness computation. You can own your house outright, have substantial retirement savings, and have a comforting financial safety net but still be considered a greater credit risk than someone without those resources but instead mortgaged to the hilt and arrayed with a wallet full of credit cards. Credit Karma? It’s a manifestation of the consumer credit industry coming to harvest you like a cabbage.

[nilram]

8. lol! The best closing line! I have more

Credit cards and bank accounts than I need, but they’re at five different institutions and so I have access to about four different interpretations of my credit score, and even one full-on credit report. Anytime I want. So, yeah, Credit Karma can go find some other cabbage, and put it where the sun don’t shine.

[lostnfound]

9. Used to like TurboTax but DESPISE it now

I am not going to use it again. After 20 or 25 years, not again. Enough of the tedious interruptions to upsell. Disgusting.