Financial software firm Intuit recently announced that it is buying Credit Karma, which is known for its free consumer products. The big question is: How will users be affected?
Money expert Clark Howard is a big fan of Credit Karma’s free credit monitoring service, which he recommends as part of his credit freeze process. Here’s what he thinks about the Intuit/Credit Karma deal.
Clark’s Take: What the Intuit-Credit Karma Deal Means for You
“If Intuit is smart, they’ll leave [Credit Karma] alone because it’s been one of the most successful technology startups in the last 10 years,” he says.
For Intuit, the $7.1 billion acquisition basically neutralizes a competitor in the free tax-filing space. That’s an area that Intuit — also the parent of financial tools like TurboTax, Quickbooks and Mint — has tried to own.
Clark is well aware that big companies seldom seem to be able to leave things alone, so here’s his advice to consumers, especially those thinking about abandoning Credit Karma:
“I’d say for now, just ignore that they’ve been bought, and over time if Intuit messes things up, it would be fine for you to move on.”
Final Thought
Of course, a wait-and-see attitude may be a bit hard for some people who have followed Intuit, after reports surfaced last year that the company was hiding its free tax service (the IRS has since rectified that).
That’s exactly why you can be sure that Clark is going to continue to use his platform to help consumers and “watch how Intuit behaves very, very closely.”
“I’m just going to wait and watch and if they start messing with it, I’m going to be screaming from the highest mountain top as loud as I possibly can,” he says.
