Credit Karma — Credit Karma: a suggested goal — Pay off credit card debt — is tapped, plants into the home, and a control mark fills.

Pay off credit card debt

Credit Karma

I sat in member sessions, then designed goal-setting as a first-class flow. A member names a goal; the product reorganizes around that commitment.

The onboarding flow captures the user's primary financial goal. Today's tab then prompts them to add one, while the For You feed begins tracking their debt.

Name the goal.
Credit Karma Today: TransUnion score 638 Fair, then an Add a goal card to review and set goals.
Add a goal on Today.
For You feed: Debt strategies with a Credit Card Debt Plan, then Credit monitoring at 27% utilization.
The feed follows the debt.

We used this progress map so a goal wasn’t one generic prompt. A member in scarcity and a member with a safety net do not name the same next step.

Progress Segment Guide: a human-centric guide to Credit Karma members. A green progress line with car-trouble setbacks and pay-raise recoveries, then four columns — Slipping Backwards, Staying Afloat, Building Momentum, Navigating Opportunity.
Goal-setting had to match the member’s actual progress.

Money stress wasn't a fringe case. It was the baseline: present hardship stacked on setbacks still to come. Stress erodes attention, planning, and the capacity to name a goal — so naming one is the opening.

  • I'm in a gray fog, trapped underwater.
Select the goals.
They’re added.

Pay off credit card debt and buy a home sit on Profile.

They sit on Profile.

Next steps track the goal. Missed payments are the blocker — progress as control, not a score ring.

Credit Karma Today: credit card debt $10,234 with a next step to take care of missed payments.
The home is the debt.
Credit Karma asks whether to set up a debt plan to track goals, with an estimated payoff date and interest cost.
A plan to track the goal.
Take care of missed payments: JPMCB $4,200 and Capital One $2,800, with Take action.
The blocker on that goal.

Before the score, the paycheck. Variable gig income gets counted, and a money map shows what is actually left to spend.

Income detail: $48.00 Instacart income on Apr 5, itemized into 2.25 hours worked, 2 deliveries, batch pay, tips, and mileage.
Even gig income, counted.
Money tab: $163.68 left to spend, with a Money map allocating this paycheck across $970 income and $1,156 in bills.
What's left, paycheck to paycheck.

The Money tab projects a shortfall, the member borrows against the next paycheck, and a confirmation closes the loop.

Paycheck advance flow: the Money tab flags a projected shortage, the member selects an advance up to $250, requests it against the April 15 paycheck, and a toast confirms $145 added, to be subtracted next paycheck.
Spot the shortage before it lands.

Cash back lands instantly: a small, immediate win on the way to the goal.

Instant Karma: $52.60 back from Credit Karma on a Shell purchase, transfer starting Apr 5 and funds available Apr 6.
A small win, right away.
Celebration screen: You received Instant Karma — the $52.60 purchase at Shell, free after reimbursement.
Free after reimbursement.

Mixpanel after the front door and a goal they confirmed.

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  1. Goal-setting member flow

    I designed goal-setting as a first-class member flow: a goal as an artifact, tied to the features that move it.