Financial health giant expands into Canada

US-based personal finance firm Credit Karma branches out into Canada.

Credit Karma, the US personal finance platform with over 60 million users, is bringing its services to Canada. The expansion will offer Canadians free access to their credit scores and full credit reports online, updated once a week. The credit score is a hallowed thing in America, to a far greater extent than it is in the UK, and Credit Karma is now offering Canadians free access to credit scores and full credit reports for the very first time.

A 2015 survey by BMO Bank of Montreal found that approximately 56 per cent of Canadians have never checked their credit score, with only 14 per cent claiming to check it at least once a year.

Canadian consumer lending platform Borrowell joined forces with credit reference agency Equifax in June of this year in order to allow users free access to credit scores via the Borrowell website.  

Credit Karma may be the world’s biggest and best-backed personal finance firm. The company has raised $368m since launching in 2007, with early investors including QED Investors and Susquehanna Growth Equity.

In addition to opening up free access to credit scores, the firm also makes personalised recommendations to its users as to how they can manage and improve their financial standing. The company says that it intends to expand its rollout to make many of its tools and features available to Canadians in due course.

“Since our founding nine years ago, many Canadians have asked for Credit Karma, which made selecting Canada as our first market outside of the U.S. a natural decision,” said Credit Karma founder and CEO Kenneth Lin (pictured above). “We’re thrilled to assist Canadians in making smart financial choices by empowering them with the knowledge of their financial standing. We’re putting people first when it comes to information and services that promote financial progress.”