Behavior Change is hard, but if there is an area even harder to master it’s personal finances. Things like saving and building a credit score are far from our favorite activities. In this episode of The Science of Change, our host Kristen Berman talks to Product Manager and the Growth Lead for Credit Karma Money, Kyle Thibaut. Kyle and Kristen talk about getting people to save and spend, habit formation, removing friction, and overall changing people’s relationship with money; all leading to Credit Karma’s ultimate goal: automate our finances for us. Hop in and learn about this company’s behavioral science and its expertise in defaulting people into good financial behavior.

Jump straight into:

(01:10) - How much do you have in your emergency fund?: Credit Karma’s start as a savings account service.

(10:51) - Instant Karma!: Getting people to spend money and sign up for their service with prize-linked spending. 

(16:49) - Sorting old obstacles for debit card users: Removing friction, setting new users up quickly, and adding digital options to the user experience.

(23:13) - How paternalistic should an app be?: Helping people save money and have a great credit score.

(27:36) - Multi-step flows vs. single page forms: What works better for Credit Karma data collection.

(30:56) - What is your job?: How ranking by popularity can decrease time and energy spent making choices. 

(35:03) - What’s next for Credit Karma?: The future of money, FinTechs, and how to make financial products for today and tomorrow. 

Episode resources

Additional reading and citations

Connect with Kyle through Twitter

Credit Karma 

Thank you for listening to The Science of Change. Reach out to Kristen through LinkedIn and visit The Irrational Labs website for more information on behavioral science. 

This show is presented by SetSail (follow on LinkedIn) and produced by Kristen Berman and Studio Pod Media. The executive producer is Rachael Roberts. All episodes are written by Jack Bueher. Music and editing provided by nodalab.