Personal Finance

Credit Karma Money Spend Adds Cashback Offers for Cardholders

Those looking to add some extra cash back into their pocket will soon have a new option. This week, the popular credit monitoring site Credit Karma announced a new feature for its Credit Karma Money customers. Now, debit cardholders will be able to earn cashback when making purchases from select retailers. According to the site, the list of eligible retailers includes national chains, such as Adidas and Shake Shack, as well as local small businesses. This new platform will be powered by Cardlytics, which already partners with a number of banks and FinTechs.

When the cashback feature officially launches, Credit Karma Money Spend members will automatically be enrolled in the program. Then, when customers make eligible purchases from partner brands, they’ll receive cashback directly into their Spend account. Notably, there are no payout minimums and cashback funds can be used as soon as they’re available. Additionally, Credit Karma says that these offers will apply to online and in-store purchases “in most cases.”

This cashback benefit comes on top of what Credit Karma Money already has to offer. That includes the company’s “Instant Karma” program where debit card users have a chance at being reimbursed for a purchase they just made. Instant Karma is capped at $5,000 per win and is also not available to residents of Florida or New York.

Speaking to why the platform decided to launch a cashback offering, Credit Karma SVP and GM of Credit Karma Money Poulomi Damany said, “Cashback benefits and other such rewards have historically been reserved for credit cards. Specifically, those that are most often only obtained by consumers with prime credit. That didn’t seem fair to us. That’s why we sought to deliver cash back rewards to our members for spending with retailers they already know and love.” Damany added, “The best part? They’re able to earn cash back for spending money they already have, resulting in more money in Americans’ pockets.”

Additionally, Credit Karma Money Product Manager Satyen Motiani stated, “We’ve built Credit Karma Money to do more for our members and that starts with helping them develop better financial habits and giving them ways to make their money go further. Cash back rewards from Credit Karma Money is the latest example of that.”

Credit Karma isn’t alone in adding retailer-specific cashback deals for its cardholders as the feature has become a bit of a trend as of late. For example, Upgrade rolled out a cashback shopping portal for its customers in February followed by Varo Bank introducing its Perks cashback marketplace in March.

With inflation still soaring, any money that consumers can save is definitely welcome. That’s likely why more and more services are adding cashback marketplaces to their offerings. Plus, these portals can be a win-win-win for consumers, brands, and intermediaries as it saves shoppers money while increasing sales for retailers and growing engagement (not to mention interchange fees) for debit card issuers. Thus, while Credit Karma is the latest company to roll out such a feature, you can bet that it won’t be the last.