Personal finance company Credit Karma is focusing on helping consumers understand financial resources available to them amid the COVID-19 crisis, CEO Kenneth Lin told Cheddar Thursday.
Lin said the company is tracking both government and private aid to help keep its customers informed.
"When there are forgiveness programs, we want to make sure consumers are out in front of them and know that they're available to help them," he said. "One of the things we're trying to understand, and assessing, is can we track all of the programs that are available."
Lin said he expects dozens, if not hundreds, of programs "for the average consumer" and said it will be "a big challenge" weeding through them in order to find the ones its customers will qualify for.
Credit Karma, founded in 2007 and "born in the last recession," according to Lin, is seeing more usage and engagement, even as the economy falters and unemployment claims continue to rise.
"What we are seeing across the industry is more consumers are looking for personal loans… more and more people are looking for mortgages," he said, though Lin said there aren't enough people in call centers or appraisers to get users through the processes.
"So, while rates are low, the system is somewhat frozen," he said.
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A rare magnum of Dom Pérignon Vintage 1961 champagne that was specially produced for the 1981 wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana has failed to sell during an auction. Danish auction house Bruun Rasmussen handled the bidding Thursday. The auction's house website lists the bottle as not sold. It was expected to fetch up to around $93,000. It is one of 12 bottles made to celebrate the royal wedding. Little was revealed about the seller. The auction house says the bids did not receive the desired minimum price.
The New York Times and President Donald Trump are fighting again. The news outlet said Wednesday it won't be deterred by Trump's “false and inflammatory language” from writing about the 79-year-old president's health. The Times has done a handful of stories on that topic recently, including an opinion column that said Trump is “starting to give President Joe Biden vibes.” In a Truth Social post, Trump said it might be treasonous for outlets like the Times to do “FAKE” reports about his health and "we should do something about it.” The Republican president already has a pending lawsuit against the newspaper for its past reports on his finances.
OpenAI has appointed Slack CEO Denise Dresser as its first chief of revenue. Dresser will oversee global revenue strategy and help businesses integrate AI into daily operations. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently emphasized improving ChatGPT, which now has over 800 million weekly users. Despite its success, OpenAI faces competition from companies like Google and concerns about profitability. The company earns money from premium ChatGPT subscriptions but hasn't ventured into advertising. Altman had recently announced delays in developing new products like AI agents and a personal assistant.
President Donald Trump says he will allow Nvidia to sell its H200 computer chip used in the development of artificial intelligence to “approved customers” in China. Trump said Monday on his social media site that he had informed China’s leader Xi Jinping and “President Xi responded positively!” There had been concerns about allowing advanced computer chips into China as it could help them to compete against the U.S. in building out AI capabilities. But there has also been a desire to develop the AI ecosystem with American companies such as chipmaker Nvidia.
