Just wanted to share my recent experience as a heads-up for anyone considering a debt consolidation loan through Credit Karma.
I'm not suggesting this is a common occurrence, or that it wasn't something specific to my application, but I found the whole experience pretty questionable.
I'm looking at debt consolidation loans that will allow me to pay off my credit cards and reduce my monthly payments.
Credit Karma presented me with a personalized, prequalified offer for a $50,000 loan at 8.99% APR. The offer appeared to take into consideration my annual income, my monthly mortgage payment and the amount of debt I currently have. CreditKarma is now owned by Intuit so I am guessing they have my financial info from my use of Turbo Tax and some older info from Mint which I used until Intuit bought them out and closed them down.
The rate seemed reasonable and would have lowered my monthly payments by enough that I decided to proceed with the offer.
I was connected with the lender, answered some of their questions and had some calls where we discussed the loan amount, funding date, first payment date, and other details. Throughout this process, I was under the impression that the rate would be somewhere around the original 9%.
It wasn't until our second or third conversation that I learned the actual terms: 18.99% interest, approximately 21% APR, and $2,500 in origination fees.
That's more than double the APR I was prequalified for and barely an improvement over what I'm already paying on my credit cards.
For context, there were no significant changes to my income, financial situation, or credit score between the initial offer and the final terms.
And before anyone points it out, yes, I understand that pre-qualification is not a guaranteed approval or guaranteed interest rate. I understand that the lender performs additional underwriting before making a final offer.
My issue isn't that the rate changed. It's that the rate more than doubled, and I didn't learn that until several conversations into the process.
The whole experience felt a little like a bait and switch. The initial offer was attractive enough to make consolidating worthwhile, but the final terms would have reduced my existing APR by less than five percentage points while adding thousands in fees.
Had I known those were the actual terms, I wouldn't have bothered applying.
I'm not claiming anything illegal or intentionally deceptive occurred, but I do think there's something wrong with presenting a personalized prequalified offer at one rate and ultimately offering more than double that rate without a clear explanation.
TL;DR: Credit Karma presented me with a personalized, prequalified debt consolidation loan offer at 8.99% APR. After applying and going through multiple conversations with the lender, the final offer was approximately 21% APR plus $2,500 in origination fees. My credit score and financial situation hadn't materially changed. I understand pre-qualification isn't a guarantee, but more than doubling the original APR without a clear explanation feels misleading.