
Credit Karma to launch free ID monitoring following Equifax hack - ersnyder1
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-equifax-cyber-creditkarma/credit-karma-to-launch-free-id-monitoring-following-equifax-hack-idUSKCN1BQ2CJ
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snarf21
We need to get rid of this whole industry. Our credit should be frozen by
default and approved only via the method of our choice, not something we have
to pay to do. We should be able to view our credit report anytime we want.
There is still plenty left for a business model for the credit bureaus.

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SamReidHughes
Another idea would be to deregulate the industry (is credit reporting not free
speech?) but add a lot more teeth to libel laws.

~~~
el_benhameen
That still puts the onus of correcting issues on the public (must sue a large,
well-lawyered corporation to rectify incorrect information), and it has a lot
of knock-on effects (loose libel laws seem like a very bad thing for a free
press).

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sadadar
Awesome to get all the attention. We've been working on this product for a
bit, with everybody worried about this in a timely way we thought we'd push it
out soon, and some social attention is great as launch is right around the
corner. CK brought some evolution to free credit score years ago, last year we
brought it to tax, and this year we start on the ID monitoring space. The hope
is the same credit karma promise and package (always free, monitor the data,
notify you if an issue comes up, give context on how to fix it, and try to
help people make progress) works in this space. We're hiring a few more senior
full stack engineers for the team and if you are interested in identity
monitoring, dark web monitoring, data security, batch processing, and helping
people we'd love to have you. Feel free to hit me up via email matt _at_
creditkarma.com.

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shostack
So, in essence, Credit Karma is going to use ID monitoring as a lead gen tool
for their affiliate/ad business model.

Will be interesting to see how LifeLock responds.

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squeaky-clean
LifeLock has been running ads for several days now making fun of these
services. The tagline is something like "What good is monitoring credit fraud
if they don't stop it too" and then showing a character such as a security
guard in a bank robbery saying "Oh, I don't stop robberies, I just monitor
them. You're being robbed."

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thegayngler
I think Equifax, Transunion, and Experion should be blocked from accessing a
person's information unless they explicitly authorized by the person.

There needs to be more transparency into the storing of personal information
and the whole process of credit scoring an individual for the purposes of the
borrowing they wish to do. This is a service that should be free. Why should
people be paying to access their own information? That's just weird. The
lenders are the ones who should be financing the credit scoring industry.

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paxy
Have you read any of those credit card or loan applications you've been
signing? You are authorizing them access to your information.

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faitswulff
As a long-time user of Credit Karma, I'm curious if anyone knows anything
damning about the company that could change my mind about using them for
nearly all my personal finances?

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shostack
As long as you understand their business model, that's pretty much it. With
Credit Karma you are the product--they monetize your data for ads and
affiliate offers, and potentially have deals with data brokers (although I
can't easily confirm if that is the case or not).

But so far I haven't had issues as long as I ignore the offers. Kind of like
Mint--the service is valuable enough that the value of the data I'm providing
is worth it for me.

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arikrak
Do they give out your data to other parties who then spam you, or do they just
show you offers on their own site?

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cheriot
Only to show offers on their site. There are some old Reddit AMAs where they
discuss it.

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faitswulff
FWIW I found a bunch of them:

[0]: 2 years ago -
[https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2qq95l/i_am_the_found...](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2qq95l/i_am_the_founder_of_credit_karma_ask_me_anything/)

[1]: 1 year ago -
[https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/3zh78n/im_ken_lin_fou...](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/3zh78n/im_ken_lin_founder_and_ceo_of_credit_karma_id/)

[2]: 9 months ago -
[https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/5ha7sg/im_kenneth_lin...](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/5ha7sg/im_kenneth_lin_founder_and_ceo_of_credit_karma/)

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arikrak
What are the cons of using Credit karma? I'm fine with them showing me as many
ads as they want on their own site. But I'm not sure I want them giving over
my address and phone number to other parties who can then send as much spam as
they want. Anyone have extensive experience using then, or knows all the fine
print?

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paulsutter
> We won't sell or rent your personal information to third parties for
> marketing purposes. That includes your credit report and credit score.

Not for marketing purposes, but for other purposes?

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45h34jh53k4j
Not 3rd parties, but their business model is based on affiliate payment from
the banks/credit companies they recommend to you based on your data.

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craftyguy
Wait, so the general idea is to now trust them (for some reason) to handle
your personal information properly? This seems like they are preying upon
folks who do not know any better.

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krastanov
They are not a data broker. With them you are much closer to a client than a
product (they are ad funded). It is better than the status quo, but I agree it
is just a band aid on a broken system.

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craftyguy
I think the bigger problem is trusting yet another company to store your
personal data securely. The less info out in the wild, the smaller chance of
it falling into the wrong hands.

Next week Credit Karma could just as well be on the front page of the news for
being hacked.

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lukejduncan
Anyone else get a pop up that says "congratulations! You're visitor X and
winner of..."? Pretty bad for Reuters if someone can inject JavaScript into
their site.

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propogandist
Credit Karma should not be trusted in any way shape or form

Read their ToS and privacy policy. Your data WILL be mined & your data be sold
to marketers and third parties.

They are in this business of providing you "free" services, where you give up
extremely valuable (otherwise inaccessible) financial data to marketers

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eyeareque
Read the small print with credit karma. A friend told me to use it, but after
reading their terms I said no way. They basically sell your info to other
companies. Which should be obviois if you realize they need to make money some
how.

