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Credit Karma fined $3M by FTC for misleading consumers with credit card offers

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Re: Credit Karma fined $3M by FTC for misleading consumers with credit card offers

#51

Post by JumpCrisscross »

distantaidenn wrote: post #47
cmeacham98 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You've had a secured card for over a year and still receive "insufficient credit history" denials, even for basic unsecured cards? Have you ever defaulted on a debt or something similarly bad? If you haven't, have you checked your credit reports (from all 3) to make sure there isn't false/fraudulent info on there?

That's how my journey started. I wanted to take advantage of my frequent flights (pre-pandemic), and applied for a card with travel benefits, only to be declined. I decided to check my credit report, and noticed a default from like 5 years ago that had been sent to collections -- it was a paltry sum. Some years ago, I was in the US for a couple months for work, and got a monthly phone contract with a large mobile pro…

> was told by them as well that the record is 100% gone, yet I still can't make any headway in loans or credit cards. The _only_ thing that makes sense is that I'm being flagged due to my physical address in the US -- high-crime, low-income inner city neighborhood

Hmm, you may want to check if there are other public records with respect to this. That seems much more likely than redlining. (Also, credit card companies have been criticised both ways on this—for denying credit to such neighbourhoods as well as for flooding them with offers.)

Re: Credit Karma fined $3M by FTC for misleading consumers with credit card offers

#52

Post by sofixa »

kQq9oHeAz6wLLS wrote: post #38
LeoPanthera wrote: post #26

I've never seen a website so successfully bypass my adblocker. Both DNS level and browser blockers don't seem to make any difference.

I believe they're self-hosting the ads, so if you can see the page at all, you'll see the ads.

Usually browser based adblockers such as Ublock Origin apply extra logic on top of domains to determine if it's an ad or not and if it should be blocked, and they're usually quite successful.

Re: Credit Karma fined $3M by FTC for misleading consumers with credit card offers

#53

Post by jahewson »

distantaidenn wrote: post #33

I have zero debt. Absolutely zero. However, I left the States soon after graduating university, and thus also have (had) no credit history there. Since I've been planning to return soon, I've been trying to build a history, so when the time comes, I can get a mortgage loan. The process of building a credit history has been enlightening and frustrating. I'm in the tech world, as most people in this forum is as well. I…

So they way to do this - and what I did - is to not apply for anything other than a store card, e.g. Target, they gave me $300 credit - and use it regularly. After a year you’ll be able to get a regular credit card from your bank. Make sure to use it regularly, never make a late payment, and your credit rating will increase.

Re: Credit Karma fined $3M by FTC for misleading consumers with credit card offers

#54

Post by ev1 »

sofixa wrote: post #52
kQq9oHeAz6wLLS wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe they're self-hosting the ads, so if you can see the page at all, you'll see the ads.

Usually browser based adblockers such as Ublock Origin apply extra logic on top of domains to determine if it's an ad or not and if it should be blocked, and they're usually quite successful.

Yeah none of these are ad networks, they are literally gifs uploaded to the site's wp-content folder like a normal blog post.

Re: Credit Karma fined $3M by FTC for misleading consumers with credit card offers

#55

Post by jjcon »

gruez wrote: post #15
charles_kaw wrote: post #7

>The FTC alleges that the company used claims that consumers were pre-approved and had ’90 per cent odds’ to entice them to apply for offers that, in many instances, they ultimately did not qualify for. I believe CK has inside views to the models^ these companies use, and I wouldn't be surprised to find that 90% is actually very close to reality. However, I can also see why someone taking a hard credit pull would be…

>I wouldn't be surprised to find that 90% is actually very close to reality The FTC press release[1] says "for many offers, almost a third of consumers who applied were in fact denied". That's quite a ways off from 90%. [1] https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2022/09/... edit: >Also, Credit Karma gets paid for successful conversions, and maybe ad placement? It doesn't seem like misleading someone got…

> The FTC press release[1] says "for many offers, almost a third of consumers who applied were in fact denied". That's quite a ways off from 90%.

The statistics don’t play out that easily - their models may be accurate in aggregate but better or worse for specific offers.

Re: Credit Karma fined $3M by FTC for misleading consumers with credit card offers

#56

Post by devoutsalsa »

distantaidenn wrote: post #33

I have zero debt. Absolutely zero. However, I left the States soon after graduating university, and thus also have (had) no credit history there. Since I've been planning to return soon, I've been trying to build a history, so when the time comes, I can get a mortgage loan. The process of building a credit history has been enlightening and frustrating. I'm in the tech world, as most people in this forum is as well. I…

Do you plan to buy a car? A car loan will establish your credit history. Car lenders will lend to anyone because they can always repossess the car.

If you could buy a car with cash, take out a auto loan at any interest rate. Pay off the entire balance except $1. You’ll have no balance due each month, but each payment will be recorded as having been made on time. Then pay off the last $1 in the last month.

Double check to whether this actually works, I haven’t done it and I’m just regurgitating something I saw in Reddit. Also make sure there’s no sort of prepayment penalty on the loan.

Re: Credit Karma fined $3M by FTC for misleading consumers with credit card offers

#57

Post by SilasX »

distantaidenn wrote: post #50
SilasX wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When I started fresh I had a 500 credit score (which sounds like what you have). No, when your credit history is non-existent, the free credit score sites will happily tell you it’s much higher than that (mine was reported as 720-740 when I lacked history), but you’ll still get auto-rejected for everything. Interestingly, I emailed Arnold Kling, an economist writing about the subprime market at the time (2007) and…

Did you ever get the situation sorted? If so, any tips?

I had a financial advisor connected to a bank. I applied for a credit card there and followed up on the rejection at the number they gave. (I might have had to ask the advisor to intervene, not sure.) I got through to the CC people, they asked me a few more questions (previous employment[1]) and then approved one with a low limit. From then on I built a history.

Edit: ah, you’re the OP. Did you have that same issue, where sites would assure you you have a good credit score even as you keep getting rejected on any credit application?

[1] If they lean further on credit reports as a job applicant filter, that could turn into an even worse catch-22!

Re: Credit Karma fined $3M by FTC for misleading consumers with credit card offers

#58

Post by cmeacham98 »

distantaidenn wrote: post #49
ralph84 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there someone who lives in the US who can co-sign with you? It shouldn't be surprising that people who don't live in the US have trouble getting unsecured credit in the US. Creditors want to at least have the option of suing if there's a default. Suing someone who doesn't live in the country is a lot more complicated.

I'm American and 90% of my banking/bill payment is done on the US side. I still get plenty of snail mail to my US address, as well. I don't think the credit reporting agencies are aware of my physical location.

Is your snail mail address an actual residence, or is it something like a PO Box?

Re: Credit Karma fined $3M by FTC for misleading consumers with credit card offers

#59

Post by cmeacham98 »

devoutsalsa wrote: post #56
distantaidenn wrote: post #33

I have zero debt. Absolutely zero. However, I left the States soon after graduating university, and thus also have (had) no credit history there. Since I've been planning to return soon, I've been trying to build a history, so when the time comes, I can get a mortgage loan. The process of building a credit history has been enlightening and frustrating. I'm in the tech world, as most people in this forum is as well. I…

Do you plan to buy a car? A car loan will establish your credit history. Car lenders will lend to anyone because they can always repossess the car. If you could buy a car with cash, take out a auto loan at any interest rate. Pay off the entire balance except $1. You’ll have no balance due each month, but each payment will be recorded as having been made on time. Then pay off the last $1 in the last month. Double chec…

Your first paragraph is largely true if you're able to make a down payment (your car depreciates a ton as soon as you drive it off the lot, lenders will be much more willing to lend if amount of the loan is less than the value of the car sold _used_).

The second is close to true, but you should actually leave a little over one month's payment, not $1. This SE answer explains it better than I ever could: https://money.stackexchange.com/a/59311 (ignore the "Accepted" answer which contains awful advice).

Re: Credit Karma fined $3M by FTC for misleading consumers with credit card offers

#60

Post by NavinF »

distantaidenn wrote: post #33

I have zero debt. Absolutely zero. However, I left the States soon after graduating university, and thus also have (had) no credit history there. Since I've been planning to return soon, I've been trying to build a history, so when the time comes, I can get a mortgage loan. The process of building a credit history has been enlightening and frustrating. I'm in the tech world, as most people in this forum is as well. I…

> I've been planning to return soon

> However, I qualify for zero unsecured credit cards.

That’s normal. You don’t live in the US so American banks have zero recourse if you decide to default.

For comparison, I had a very easy time getting 3 unsecured cards back when I was a 18 year old student with nearly zero income. It also helped that I had checking/savings accounts with the same banks and years of deposit history.

> they do a credit check, which for some reason has a negative impact on your credit score

You lose a few points, but hard pulls are the smallest component of your score. You can easily apply for 6 cards (2 per bureau) every 6 months before you start getting rejected. The “some reason” is obviously because people with many hard pulls are slightly more likely to default. IMO there’s no point complaining about losing 5 points from hard pulls when you’re losing 500 points because your AAoA (average age of accounts) is zero and no bank wants to take a leap of faith with someone they’ll never be able to put pressure on.

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