If you hold a Credit Karma Money spending account and are looking to connect it with other apps, you may have come across the question “What Bank is Credit Karma on Plaid”. In this post, you will get an easy explanation for this query.
Plaid is a service that allows you to connect your bank account with financial apps, using your online bank credentials like username and password to authenticate you as the owner of the bank account.
Credit Karma offers you the option of a checking account without any fees or minimum balance requirements, as an alternative to traditional banks. But Credit Karma is not a bank account in itself but actually a financial technology company that offers banking services and a debit card in partnership with MVB bank.
But does this bank name work with Plaid to link your Credit Karma account?
What Bank is Credit Karma on Plaid?
Credit Karma Spend account is provided through banking partner MVB bank Inc. However, you will not be able to link this Credit Karma account via Plaid because it is not a full-fledged bank account and does not offer any online banking credentials, which are required by Plaid to connect.
The reason being Plaid allows users to connect their US bank accounts. For this purpose, it uses the online banking credentials associated with a bank account like the user name and password for this purpose.
But with a fintech like Credit Karma, there are no bank account credentials as it is not a full-fledged bank account. Credit Karma only offers limited bank services in partnership with MVB bank, that only provides service from the back-end.
This is the same scenario even with other fintechs that offer prepaid cards like Cash App, Venmo, etc.
However, financial apps themselves use Plaid to connect with bank accounts. But it is not the same for connecting two financial apps.
How to find Credit Karma on Plaid
You won’t be able to find Credit Karma on Plaid, as Plaid enables you to link a bank account with a financial app and usually does not support linking two financial apps.
Even if you try adding Credit Karma’s banking partner MVB Bank, it does not work as you need the online banking credentials to link a bank account through Plaid which does not come with a Credit Karma spend account.
Note: The scenario is changing with few fintechs now showing up on Plaid. If you run a search typing the words “Credit Karma” on Plaid search bar and get the option displayed, you are in luck.
If it doesn’t show up, you may have to explore alternative options
You can check if there is an option to connect your Credit Karma account manually using the associated account number and routing number. Or try adding the Credit Karma debit card, in cases where the service allows you to add a debit card as a funding source.
Let’s look at these options in detail below.
Alternatives to using Plaid for connecting Credit Karma
Add Credit Karma Account Manually
While you cannot link your Credit Karma account through Plaid, it may not be the end of the road.
Many services allow you to link a bank account manually using the routing number and account number details associated with your account.
It usually takes a little bit more time for such manual verification and it works using micro-deposits to your account.
To get your Credit Karma Account details, follow the steps below
- Log in online to your Credit Karma Money Spend account.
- Next, navigate to the Settings option
- Next to the Settings page, click on Account Info.
- To view your account number select Show.
- Below the account number, you will see the routing number.
Add your Credit Karma Debit Card instead
Another way you can look is by adding your Credit Karma debit card as a funding source, then adding the bank account.
Some services allow you to link a debit card using the details of the card number, CVV, and other details. Linking your debit card does need the Plaid service. And it is as good as linking your bank account in most cases.
Wrap Up
It does seem ironic that the financial apps that themselves use Plaid to connect external bank accounts do not work with Plaid when it comes to connecting their bank account. It makes sense to not rely on any financial app as your main bank account and opt for a traditional bank account to avoid such issues. But if you do get the other option to add the account manually or use the debit card option, you can give it a try.