The accounts that are listed on your credit report are referred to as "tradelines." The two most common types of tradelines that you will see on your report are revolving credit accounts (such as credit cards or other lines of credit) and installment credit accounts (such as mortgages or auto loans.)
If you don't have enough tradelines on your credit report, it can put you in the "thin credit profile" category or even make you "unscorable," meaning that you don't have a credit score. Even if you don't fall into one of these two categories, there are numerous benefits to adding new positive tradelines to your report.
There are three primary ways to add a tradeline to your credit report: opening a new account, adding an existing account, or utilizing a service that lets you add utility or rent payments.Let's take a look at all of the most important details you will want to know about adding tradelines to your credit report.
Tradelines, in short, are the accounts that appear on your credit report. The two most common types of tradelines for individuals are:
If you have any debts that have been sold to collection agencies, you will probably also see these appear as separate tradelines on your credit reports.
The tradelines on your report are important because they directly impact your credit scores. They are an essential part of your credit history. The information found in your tradelines-- including the length of your credit history and your payment history-- will be used to calculate your credit scores.
To learn more about tradelines, check out our article about how long tradelines stay on your credit report.
There are a number of reasons you might want to add a tradeline to your credit report, including:
There are three primary ways you can add tradelines to your credit report:
The first way you can add a tradeline to your report is by opening a new account. This might mean applying for an unsecured credit card, a secured credit card, or a loan. I've personally used installment loans in the past, for example, to help my own credit score and credit file.
If you have reasonable credit, the most obvious option is to apply for a traditional credit product, such as a credit card from a lender, a credit account through department stores and merchants, or a personal loan.
However, if you find yourself in a situation where you will struggle to qualify for a traditional product, you could also apply for a secured credit card.
Secured credit cards require a security deposit that will equal the credit limit you are offered. Since you are borrowing against your own deposit, it is much easier to be approved for a secured credit card than an unsecured credit card.
Of course, you'll want to be thoughtful when applying to borrow money-- the whole plan could backfire if you end up digging yourself into debt. Adding tradelines to your credit report will ultimately only be favorable to your credit score and creditworthiness if you are able to make on-time payments and otherwise prove that you are a responsible borrower.
You don't necessarily have to apply for a new credit card or loan in order to add a tradeline to your credit report.
You might also:
Perhaps one of the easiest ways to add another tradeline to your credit report is to ask someone you are close with if they would be willing to add you as an authorized user to one of their accounts.
If a parent, relative, or close friend is willing to add you as an authorized user, it will add the tradeline to your credit report. This will allow you to benefit from the positive payment history, credit history length of your account, and additional available credit of this account.
Before asking to be added as an authorized user on someone else's account, you'll want to make sure that their credit history is excellent and their income is stable. Otherwise, it could end up backfiring and harming your credit rather than helping.
For what it's worth, it is possible to be added as an authorized user but not be given access to actually using the available credit. This can help put the other party's mind at ease, as they will know there is no risk of the arrangement damaging their credit.
One way you can add your utility accounts to your credit report is through a program like Experian Boost, which we will discuss a little later on in the article.
However, you can also contact your utility companies directly and ask them if they would be willing to report your information to the credit bureaus. Of course, you will only want to do this if you have a positive payment history, and adding the tradeline will benefit your credit file.
There is no guarantee that your utility companies will comply, but it also isn't uncommon. There is no harm in asking, and if they say yes, it could help improve your credit report and credit score.
Creditors almost always report your account information to the three major credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion.) However, it is possible that some of your creditors do not report to all three of the bureaus, and some in-store accounts might not report to any of the bureaus.
For example, let's say that you purchased an expensive appliance using an installment loan through a retailer. If you are making payments for it regularly and on time, you might be able to ask the retailer to report your information to the credit bureaus. When you communicate with them, make sure you ask them to report your information to all of the credit bureaus.
Before we start telling you why Experian Boost can help you add tradelines to your credit report, it's worth understanding that you will be required to share your accounts and banking information in order to use this service. It's entirely up to you whether you feel comfortable with this, and Experian states that they don't store consumer credentials and use world-class encryption in order to ensure that your data remains secure.
What is Experian Boost, exactly, and how can it add tradelines to your credit file?
Basically, Experian Boost is a credit-building tool that will allow you to raise your FICO score instantaneously. The way it works is that you can add accounts that have positive payment histories, such as phone bills, utility bills, and even streaming service payments.
You will need to link your bank account and any other accounts that you use to pay your bills. From there, Experian Boost can use the information regarding your on-time payments to add tradelines to your report and increase your score.
There are a few alternatives to Experian Boost that are worth knowing about, including eCredable Lift and Perch.
One of the benefits of eCredable Lift is that there is a wider selection of utility providers to choose from, while Perch lets you add your on-time rent payments to your credit report.
When your credit history has too few tradelines, it can mean that you have a "thin credit file" or that you're "unscorable." Both of these can be obstacles to having a healthy credit score.
If you have less than three tradelines, it means that you have a "thin credit file."
Even if you have at least three tradelines, there can still be additional benefits to adding more tradelines to your credit report.
You can benefit from adding tradelines to your credit report in a number of ways, including:
Positive tradelines (like well-managed loans or credit cards) can help to increase your credit score. When your credit report clearly shows that you have been making payments on time and demonstrating responsible credit usage, it can have a positive impact on your score.
If you are able to add a tradeline to your credit report that has a high credit limit and a good payment history, it can increase your creditworthiness.
Creditworthiness is the extent to which an individual or company is determined to be suitable to receive financial credit. It is typically based on their history of reliably repaying debts in the past.
The more creditworthy you seem to lenders and credit card companies, the easier it will be to receive approval when you apply for loans or new cards.
If you are able to add an existing tradeline to your credit report that is older than your oldest account, it can help to expand your credit history. The length of your credit history is one of the factors taken into account when calculating your credit score.
Lenders like to know that you have experience with several types of tradelines when applying for a loan. You can help increase your creditworthiness and maybe even your credit score by adding a tradeline from a different type of account.
For example, if you only have credit card tradelines on your credit report, you might consider getting an installment loan to diversify your credit profile.
To learn more about using installment loans to improve your credit, check out our ultimate guide to payment and installment plans.
If you have a strong credit profile with positive tradelines, it can help you receive lower interest rates and more favorable terms on both credit cards and loans.
Over your lifetime, you could save tens of thousands of dollars if you were able to receive the most favorable rates and terms when you borrow money. According to Experian, taking out a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage with an interest rate of 4.3% with a 700 credit score would cost you $16,319 more over the life of the loan than if you had a credit score of 760.
If you are able to add a tradeline with a high credit limit, it means that your overall available credit can increase significantly. This results in a lower credit utilization rate, which is one of the factors taken into consideration when calculating your credit score.
Your credit utilization ratio represents the amount of revolving credit that you are currently using divided by the amount of total credit that you have access to. Credit utilization ratios are typically expressed as a percentage and should ideally be below 30%. When it comes to credit utilization ratios, lower is always better.
When you add a new tradeline to your credit report and make on-time payments consistently, it allows you to build a positive payment history. Lenders will look closely at your payment history when determining whether or not to extend a loan or line of credit to you, as they want to know how likely you are to pay them back on time.
Payment history is a crucial factor in determining your credit score. In FICO scoring models, your payment history accounts for 35% of your score. Even one 30-day late payment can result in a decreased credit score.
Are you thinking about taking out a loan to buy a home or a car? Were you considering applying for a personal loan to consolidate your credit card debt?
No matter what type of loan you're applying for, adding a positive tradeline can help your chances of being approved. The same goes for applying for credit cards, as creditors want to see that you have experience managing credit responsibly.
If you have a less-than-ideal credit score, you aren't alone. According to LendingTree, 42% of Americans were denied a financial product (such as a personal loan or a credit card) due to their credit score between June 2021 and June 2022.
There are a number of things you can do to help build your credit when there are negative items on your credit report, including adding positive tradelines. When you are able to add tradelines in good standing to your report, it can offset the negative impact of less desirable items and help you in your quest to demonstrate creditworthiness to lenders.
Having good credit can open up new financial opportunities to you, and one of the ways you can improve your credit is by adding positive tradelines. Beyond getting the best rates and terms for credit cards and loans, an excellent credit score can help you qualify for rental applications, obtain favorable insurance rates, and secure lower security deposits.
When you research adding tradelines to your credit report, you will come across numerous articles claiming that you can simply buy tradelines that will then be added to your credit report.
It isn't difficult to find companies that sell tradelines for a fee, which can be expensive indeed (some prices stretch up into the thousands of dollars.) If you utilize one of these services, a tradeline will usually be added to your report for a brief period before it is removed as an open account.
Whether you have a thin credit profile or your credit report isn't the shining example of responsible borrowing that you hope it would be, adding positive tradelines can benefit your credit file and your credit score.
There are, luckily, a number of different ways that you can add new tradelines to your report, including opening a new account, adding an existing account, or using a service like Experian Boost.
Considering that there are a number of avenues you can take to add tradelines to your report, it really isn't worth going the route of buying tradelines from a potentially predatory company. Not only can this be expensive, but lenders and credit bureaus can see it as deceptive, and it can even put you at risk of committing bank fraud.
Building your credit the right way can take time, but it's worth going about it through the proper methods. Otherwise, you could end up harming your credit more than you help it.
If you're interested in discovering more tips for improving your credit, make sure you check out our Credit Building Tips blog.
Knowing how to build credit when you have no credit history is something everyone needs to know. Unfortunately, many Americans do not know how to build a positive credit history or do not think about it until they need to use their credit.
Not having a credit history when you need to rent an apartment or want to buy a car or home is extremely frustrating. So, we created a guide to help you build credit, even if you have no previous history.
In it, you will learn how long it takes to establish credit, how to review your credit profile, how to build credit, what a good credit score is, and much more!
Three major credit bureaus, Experian, Transunion, and Equifax, all report consumer credit usage. Banks use FICO, which analyzes all three credit bureaus and issues different scores using the information.
FICO offers scores in different areas, some of which consider the overall scores from all three bureaus and others that provide separate FICO scores for each bureau. There are also FICO scores for bank cards, car loans, home loans, and other types of credit, and each lender may use a different FICO score to determine a consumer's ability to repay loans.
Your scores may vary significantly depending on the information available from each bureau. That is because all lenders do not report to each credit bureau. The information each lender uses to determine whether a borrower is trustworthy also varies depending on the lender's protocols and the type of loan you want.
Established credit is a history of credit usage. Initially, you may have one or two scores but lack a FICO 8 score which is what most lenders look at when they decide whether to lend to you. Usually, you need at least six to twelve months of credit history or more to generate a FICO 8 score, and you typically need a mix of credit accounts to generate this score.
Even if you have had a credit history previously, you may have no history now if you have not used credit in a long time. So, having no credit history is not an issue specific to new credit users.
Building a credit profile can be stressful when you have not used credit in a long time. You do not want to do anything to impact your credit negatively. However, you have to use credit to get a score.
When a bank looks at your credit profile and sees that you have not used credit, they are less likely to lend to you than if they see that you have a 'thin credit profile.'
A lender may also tell you that you have no credit history even after using credit if you apply for a new credit type. For example, FICO gives lenders several different scores based on each credit bureau's data. Some FICO scores available to lenders include auto, home, and credit card scores.
When you are starting to build a credit history, you will have a lower score even if you are properly managing your credit.
The credit scoring models consider many factors, like:
So, it takes time to build a high score. Score ratings also differ depending on the type you are looking at. For example, Vantage scores ratings are as follows:
FICO score ratings are similar, but they do differ some, as you can see below:
Before you start using credit, you may not have a score. You can also have a score on one bureau and lack a score on the others.
While you may think it would be better to have no credit than bad credit, lenders prefer that you have some credit because they can better tell if you will repay your loan.
Credit allows you to buy things and pay for them over time. When you have bad credit, some lenders will not loan you money. Those who do charge higher interest rates, and that isn't the only compelling reason to have good credit.
That means it costs you more to make large purchases than someone with positive credit. Just a slight increase in the interest rates of your loans can make a huge difference. The better your credit is, the more likely lenders will give you a reasonable interest rate on loans. Many lenders even offer interest-free loans if you have good credit.
The ability to borrow money at low or no interest helps you save money. You can save thousands of dollars over the life of a loan with a low-interest rate. You will pay thousands of dollars more to borrow the same amount at a high rate.
Many employers check credit reports when you apply for a job. In some fields, your credit may not impact you significantly. However, companies are more critical of your credit profile if you plan to get a job in banking, finance, real estate, or other industries where you handle a lot of money.
If you are not paying your bills on time, you must submit written reasons for each late payment. These organizations view employees with late payments as higher -risk. These company policies follow the theory that an employee in debt is more likely to steal if they are put in a position to do so.
Insurance companies usually check your credit when you request an insurance quote. The better your credit is, the lower the rates they offer.
If you have bad credit, utility companies usually require large initial deposits. Some of the companies that may require an initial deposit include:
Not having credit can prevent you from getting approved for housing. Apartment complexes and landlords check your credit before they approve you. If you do not have credit, the landlord may deny your application or require you to pay an extra deposit, or have a co-signer guarantee your lease.
Before you start trying to build credit, you need to review your credit report. Even if you do not think you have used credit, you may have something on your credit report. So, the first thing you need to do is check your report.
There are several free sites that you can use to receive a free credit report, like annualcreditreport.com. You can also signup for free credit-building apps that give you access to Vantage scores. Vantage scores are similar to your FICO score but usually slightly off.
It is also possible for you to have a Vantage score and not a FICO score.
There are a few initial steps you can take to build credit. Where you start depends on your specific situation.
If your family has good credit, you can ask to be added as an authorized user on one of their credit cards. However, you will want to make sure that if you do this, you choose someone who has good credit and is responsible for using it because their credit usage for the card you are authorized to use will appear on your credit report.
One of the easiest ways to start using credit is to apply for a secured credit card. Most major banks offer these cards, which work just like a traditional credit card but require an initial down payment.
Store cards are sometimes easier to get. However, you want to be very careful with store cards. These cards are not reported to the credit bureau the same way as traditional credit cards.
So, it is crucial to pay these cards off as you use them. Many store cards do not report your credit limit. They only report your high balance. So, if you have a $5,000 limit and charge $500, the high balance will be $500 until you pay it off.
The card issuer may not report that you have a $5,000 limit. So, when a lender pulls your credit report, it appears that you have a $500 credit limit.
There are ways that you can have your rental payments reported to the credit bureaus. One way is to sign up for Experian Boost. Then, pay your landlord through Zelle. After a few months, the payments should appear in the Experian Boost feature.
You can add them to boost your credit score along with other bills like your:
It can be even more challenging if you are still living at home because you do not have bills in your name. However, you can put a few bills in your name to start building credit.
Even bills like cable, internet, cell phones, and even Netflix help to give you some credit history.
You build good credit over time. There are different ways to start building credit. However, a well-rounded credit profile consists of different account types, accounts that have been open for years, and a substantial credit payment history.
The longevity of accounts is vital if you want to achieve an excellent credit rating. In fact, it is the only way.
You need to have some accounts that you keep active for a long time. You also need to make sure that you do not close any credit cards you have had for many years, as your credit score will take an immediate hit that may take months or years to recover.
The threat of closed accounts harming your scores prompts many credit advisors to instruct clients to keep credit balances on their cards. It is not a bad practice and prevents issuers from closing your accounts due to inactivity. However, when you first learn how to build credit, do not worry too much about banks closing your cards due to inactivity.
Having one line of credit may give you a score. However, it may take a long time to establish credit that way. Banks want to see a mix of account types in your credit profile.
So, it is a good idea to have a few credit cards, at least two to three. With a few major credit cards, a couple of utility bills, and an auto loan or rental payments reported, you will have an excellent account mix that should give you a score in all areas.
Your payment history is extremely important, especially for the past 24 months. So, you want to make all payments on time.
Your payment history makes up the most significant portion of your score, impacting your credit for the most time. For example, you can pay down cards and raise your credit score within a month or two.
However, if you have late or missed loan or credit card payments, they will significantly impact your score for at least 24 months. Even a few late payments can bring your score down considerably for years.
Having credit and not using it will not get you far with lenders. They want to see that you can manage using credit. So, keeping a small balance on cards is a good idea.
However, if you have trouble managing a small balance, you can pay your cards off each month. Another thing you need to be mindful of is the amount you charge on your cards.
Banks want to see that you use your credit, but not too much. Even if you pay your bill monthly, charging your credit cards to the maximum allowed will negatively affect your credit scores.
Banks often report your payment on time but take a week or more to report the correct card balance. If you charge $500 on a card with a $750 credit limit, your bank may report the card as current if you make a payment, but they may not report the decrease in your extended credit. So, if you apply for credit, the bank would see that you owe $500 out of your total credit of $750, which doesn't look good to lenders.
You need to have accounts open for years to achieve excellent credit. One way to overcome the longevity of accounts required for achieving a higher credit score is to be added as an authorized user to an account with a long history.
You need to leave your credit accounts open when you start using your credit. Banks will often close accounts that are not actively used. So, making frequent purchases with your cards or leaving a small balance is a good idea.
You can start establishing credit within a few months if you open a couple of secured cards and other bills in your name. If you want to buy a home, having an auto loan or rental payments reported to the major credit bureaus will also help.
You can plan for it to take between 12 and 24 months to build enough credit to get favorable rates on significant purchases.
Building credit is vital, and missing even one payment can affect your score for years. So, it helps to have a few tips from a trusted credit education source to ensure you are correctly managing your credit.
Many people get in a rush to build their credit and over-extend themselves. It is easy to use credit when you have it. You do not want to start your life with substantial debt, though. So, it is best to add credit to your profile slowly. Practice managing each credit account responsibly before you add another.
When you start using credit cards, learning how to pay your payments on time is crucial. Being over diligent is better than dealing with the long-term effect of slow payments.
Your total consumer debt, including auto payments, should not exceed ten percent of your annual salary.
Building positive credit takes n and responsibility. Letting someone else use your credit or co-sign for them can impact you for years. So, be extremely careful when you use your credit to help anyone.
Credit scoring models can be challenging to understand. There are numerous things credit scoring models factor. To better understand how credit works, look at the answers to these frequently asked questions by people trying to build their credit.
Lenders often offer students credit cards that they do not offer to people with similar credit profiles who are not in school. There is nothing wrong with using a student credit card to build credit. However, you need to be very careful with these cards as they often have higher limits, and it can be tempting to use them when you are a student living on a strict budget.
Paying off credit cards with high balances can be challenging for a student. You may have good intentions and want to make credit card payments on time, but if you do not have enough income, your credit card bill will likely take a backseat to other essential expenses like your phone bill or groceries. So, it is best not to overspend even if you have the ability.
Some people may tell you it does not hurt your credit to pay your cards off monthly. However, charging your cards to their limit will lower your score even if you pay your cards off each month. Creditors also like to see that you can manage to have some debt, so many experts will advise you to keep a small balance, under 30 percent, on your credit cards.
If it makes a difference in making payments on time or forgetting to make credit card payments, it is better to pay your accounts off than leave a balance. Even a late payment on an insignificant balance can considerably impact your score.
The easiest way to establish credit is to have someone add you to their account as an authorized user. You need to be careful when you do that, though.
When you are added as an authorized user, the card issuer will report account activity on your credit report and the original card owner's. If you are irresponsible with the card, the family member or friend will suffer, and if either of you fails to make payments on time, it will reflect poorly on your credit report.
The five Cs of credit are character, capacity, capital, collateral, and conditions. These are the factors lenders consider when deciding how much credit and terms they are willing to lend to you.
Credit is not the only thing banks consider when determining whether or not they will lend you money. In addition to your credit score and history, banks look at your income and employment history.
Lenders also look at your debt-to-income ratio. Banks will not approve you if you have a lot of credit extended, and you can only show a portion of your income. If you are self-employed, lenders want to see additional documentation before they give you a loan. The additional information you may need to provide could include additional tax returns, bank statements, and proof of income.
If you are self-employed, you must also show that you have had the same income source for two consecutive years.
Understanding how to build credit is essential if you want to enjoy low-interest rates and have the ability to finance the purchase of a home or car on credit. Following these credit-building tips will help you create a positive payment history and maintain it, so you can achieve an excellent credit rating.
A prepaid credit card might be convenient for paying bills if you do not have a bank account. However:
Prepaid credit cards do not help to build credit because the issuers do not report to credit bureaus.If you currently use a prepaid card to manage your finances, some alternatives, like a secured credit card, can help you build credit. Managing credit can be confusing for first-time credit users and individuals who lack a score due to a brief history.
So, we created a guide to help. In it, you will learn how prepaid cards work, what alternatives you can use to establish your credit history, and how to manage accounts that report to credit agencies.
Prepaid credit cards do not report to credit bureaus. When you are learning how to manage credit, this can be a good thing. However, when trying to build credit, you need your card issuer to report your card usage and payments.Issuers do not report to the reporting agencies because they are not extending you any credit. You are using your funds the same way you would if you had them deposited into a traditional bank account.
Prepaid cards can be beneficial if you do not have a bank account.
So, if you are short a few dollars, the merchant will decline your transaction. That is because prepaid credit cards are more like debit or check cards. They even allow you to directly deposit funds into the prepaid account using a payroll direct deposit enrollment form. The form lists the routing and account number of your prepaid card and gives payroll companies the information they need to deposit your funds correctly.
Prepaid credit cards are helpful when you do not have a bank account. They are easy to purchase, and you can use them to purchase most things you would use a debit or credit card to buy.
Then, you can use the card to pay for your purchase when you have enough. It is a convenient way to pay for things. However, it is not like a credit card. Prepaid cards are more like a checking account.
You can think of prepaid cards more like debit cards. You can only spend what you have in the account. Prepaid card issuers do not issue you credit or report any 'credit' activity.
If you do not have a bank account or owe a bank, you can use a prepaid credit card to pay many bills. However, prepaid cards do not allow you to complete some purchases that major credit cards allow.
Prepaid cards have some limitations that typical credit cards do not have.
Some of the purchases you might not be able to make with a prepaid card include:
The restrictions may make it challenging to pay for some items as these cards do not work like major credit cards.
Secured credit cards are similar to prepaid cards in that you pay an initial payment to open the card. Unlike a prepaid card, the initial payment for a secured card is like a security deposit, which is why banks call them secured cards.
With your security deposit, the bank will extend you credit. After the initial security deposit payment, your secured card works just like any other major credit card. There are even cards that offer cash back and travel rewards, and you can use a secured credit card to book rental cars, pay bills, and buy things online.
Each month, the card issuer sends you a bill with the total amount owed on the card and the minimum payment. You must pay at least the minimum payment to keep the account current. If you miss a payment, the card issuer will report the late payment to the credit bureaus.
However, they also report all of your on-time payments, which helps you to build your credit history. Periodically, the bank will review your card history and credit report to determine if you are eligible for credit increases. If your credit history is positive, the issuer may also return your security deposit and transition your card to an unsecured account.
You can get a secured credit card through most banks. Typically they require a payment of around 75 percent of the card limit. The credit limits available depend on the issuer and your credit history. However, there are secured cards with limits as high as $5,000.
Several credit building applications offer a virtual secured credit card. You pay a security deposit, and they issue you a secure credit card that you can use for online and in-store purchases if the merchant has a tap-to-pay card reader.
Virtual secured cards work just like having a physical card. They report to the credit bureaus. You just do not have a physical card.
When you deposit money on a prepaid card, you do not have to pay the money back. You load more money when you need to use the card. It does not adversely affect your credit score if you cannot load money on the card for a while.
When you use a secured credit card, the issuer reports to the credit bureaus. You have to use them like you would any other major credit card.
It sounds like getting a secured card is a great way to build your credit, and it is, but you first need to make sure that you can pay back purchases. If you are strapped for cash, paying a credit card payment can be challenging.
If you are unfamiliar with using credit and need money, it can be easy to charge something and worry about how to pay it later. However, even a small purchase can negatively impact your credit if you do not have the cash flow to pay it off.
Your method for keeping track of your monthly finances depends on your personal preferences. If you are good at managing things online, you should set up auto-pay.
You can usually make payments through your account application if you get a secured card through your bank. Your credit card balance and due dates will also appear under your list of accounts, making it easy to make payments and manage your credit card balance.
You can likely apply for a secured card through your bank if you have a bank account. Setting up a relationship that includes several accounts of different types with a single bank is a good idea. It helps establish a long-term banking relationship and makes it easier to go to your bank for loans even if you do not have a substantial credit history.
Your bank will look at your complete history over time when considering you for loans. Plus, you can speak to your banker about different options for building your credit.
Part of learning to build credit is learning good financial habits. If you only use your card to make planned purchases, it is easier to create healthy spending habits. It is easier said than done. However, with diligence, you can learn how to spend responsibly.
You should always treat credit purchases the same as cash. If it would put you behind financially to spend your money on a purchase, you should not use credit to buy it.
Many people think that credit cards are there to purchase things you want and pay them off over time, which can be used for that. However, you always want to ensure you have the money to pay off credit card purchases before you spend.
If you make purchases on a secured card that you plan to pay off over time, at the very least, you need to factor the monthly minimum payments into your budget. Then, wait until you pay off the purchase before you make another.
When you keep a high balance on your credit cards, it reflects poorly on your credit score. It can reduce your credit score by 50 to 100 points. Even if you make your payments on time, having a high card balance will negatively impact your score.
Many people use credit cards to earn travel points or cashback. If you do, pay the card down to below 30 percent of the monthly limit. Otherwise, your credit report will show that you have high credit usage, and your score will go down.
You need to keep a balance or use your cards regularly if you want the bank to keep them open. Otherwise, the issuer may close your card and return your initial security deposit.
When a bank closes one of your accounts, it can lower your credit score, especially if it is one of your oldest accounts.
You will want to keep your secured card open for a long time to build a high credit score. Closing the account will lower your credit score significantly once you have had it open for some time.
So, you want to ensure you do not have to pay an annual fee to keep your account active. Many secured cards offer no annual fee.
Cards issued by central banks are great for building your credit. However, there are many options out there that offer little credit and charge high fees.
Just because you have little or no credit does not mean you should subject yourself to predatory lenders. You pay a deposit when you open a secured card, so you give the bank money before you spend any of yours.
Do not be so eager to build your credit that you give your money to the wrong bank. The best cards are usually the ones issued by central banks.
If you do your banking at a national financial institute, consider applying for a secured card through your bank.
Getting a secured card is not the only way to build your credit. There are many other ways that you can earn a good credit score.
Store cards can be easier to qualify for if you have no credit. However, store cards can be harder to manage.
You must make sure you pay down the balance on store cards quickly. Most issuers of department store cards do not report your card limit. They convey your high balance.
If you pay the minimum payment of $50 on a $500 purchase for a card with a limit of $5,000, a lender pulling your credit will not know that you have only used ten percent of your card. Instead, you will appear to have a $450 balance on a card with a $500 limit.
Having someone add you as an authorized user to their card can help you build your credit profile. However, you have to be careful about who adds you as an authorized user.
Once added to someone's card, their payment history reflects on your credit profile. The card owner may have other positive accounts to counteract a few late payments, but when you are building your credit, even one or two slow payments will significantly impact your credit score.
Furthermore, you must use the card wisely. Otherwise, it will impact both your (and the card owner's) credit negatively. Do not use the card if you cannot make payments on time. Have your friend or family member hold on to this card.
Experian allows you to add utility bills, rent payments, cable and internet payments, and even monthly subscription services to your credit report. If you lack an Experian score, taking advantage of this feature could give you a credit score.
To receive credit for paying these bills, you need a national bank account that connects to the Experian site. Once you add your bank account, the Experian Boost app will scan for bills you can add.
You then have the option of choosing the bills you want to report. You can also remove them later. However, removing your bank account or specific bills may negatively impact your score.
If you have been using a prepaid card as an alternative to a bank account for paying monthly bills, you will have to open an account at a central bank before using the Boost feature through Experian.
If you are a student, you can likely get an unsecured credit card. Banks often issue student credit cards to college students. So, this may be a good option if you are going to school. Just be mindful of your spending, as these cards often have higher initial limits.
Conn's accounts are beneficial for building credit. When you buy with Conn's financing, you apply for a specific amount to cover that particular purchase. If you are approved, Conn's will open a retail installment account for you. It is similar to an auto loan. You have terms that you must adhere to that specify the monthly payment amount and date.
You can pay the purchase back and apply for other purchases, but you do not have an open credit card. If you do not qualify for Conn's in-house financing, they may refer you to other lenders who work with borrowers who have not had as much time to build their credit and people trying to rebuild.
Auto loans can help you build credit, and if you have a stable job, they are sometimes easier to get than an unsecured credit card. While you need a mix of accounts to build a strong credit profile, if you take out an auto loan and pay your payments on time each month, it will go a long way toward helping you build positive credit.
Furthermore, auto loans are categorized differently from credit cards in credit models. So, if you want to get approved for a mortgage, auto loans are considered a better indicator of your ability to repay a home loan.
Opening a bank account will not directly impact your credit profile. However, it will make applying for some types of credit more accessible. It can also help you to add bills you regularly pay to your credit profile through the Experian Boost feature. When opening a bank account, make sure to use a national bank. That way, you will have access to free ATMs across the country, and you can connect your account to Experian Boost.
When you open a bank account, your bank will issue you a debit card which you can use like a prepaid credit card to pay bills and make purchases in stores and online.
Now that you know the difference between prepaid and secured credit cards, let's read the answers to some frequently asked questions. They are highly informative and may help you better understand the limits of prepaid credit cards.
When you load money onto a prepaid debit card, accessing the funds via an ATM can be challenging. These cards give people without a credit card the ability to make credit card purchases, but they make it more difficult to pay bills at times. Another disadvantage of prepaid credit cards is that they do not report your payment history to the credit bureaus.
If you set up your prepaid card, you should be able to use it to complete debit and credit card payments. If you want to use it as a debit card, you will enter the pin you selected when you set up your account. If you use the card as credit, you will have to sign for the purchase on a printed receipt or the pin pad.
While you can choose the credit option for in-store purchases, you are not able to make some purchases you would be able to make with a major credit card. For example, many hotels will not let you use a prepaid card to rent a hotel room. You may also be unable to pay for gas at the pump, rent a car, or pay some utilities with a prepaid card.
According to Experian, one of the major credit bureaus, leaving a small balance on your cards does not positively impact your credit. Leaving a small balance can help prevent account closures that can negatively impact your average age of accounts. However, it is best to ensure that your credit payments are on time.
If carrying a balance causes you to miss payments, it is not worth leaving a balance on your cards. Furthermore, if you use your credit cards frequently, the card issuer should not close your account without first notifying you.
The most important thing to remember about prepaid cards is that they do not help to build your credit score. Instead, if you want to build credit, you can start with a secured card. It works like a traditional credit card, except you must make an initial deposit before the bank opens the account or issues the card.
You can also open a bank account and use your debit card to make everyday purchases. Opening a secured card and bank account at the same bank will make it easy for you to pay your monthly credit card payments on time, which is essential to building a favorable credit profile.
The lower your credit score, the harder you'll find it to get loans, financial deals, and approval for accounts. It's a vicious circle; the worse your score, the harder it is to manage money, and the less flexibility you have, with fewer options available to you.
Financial institutions of various kinds have implemented a variety of different methods to help improve your credit score. Among those options is a secured credit card.You likely have some questions about these credit cards, so let's go through and answer them!
With a normal credit card, you apply and are approved by a bank based on your credit score and history. They are, essentially, the bank letting you borrow money (up to a certain limit), with terms allowing you to repay it over time. It's simple in concept, but the terms of a credit card make things more complicated. Different credit cards have different limits, there are usually rewards programs (like cash back, points of some kind, or frequent flyer miles) attached, and they may have different grace periods, interest rates, and repayment terms.
Secured credit cards are, by contrast, much simpler. They still work roughly the same way; you apply for a card, and a bank approves you.
There are numerous differences, though.
The biggest difference, though, is the security deposit. It's what makes the credit card "secured" in the first place.
The security deposit is a lump sum of money you give to the bank to put on hold. It's a prerequisite for a secured credit card. Most secured credit cards start around $200, though some are closer to $99 on the low end or as much as $500 on the high end. Typically, the higher the deposit, the better the terms and the lower the interest rate.You can see some examples of secured credit cards and their terms here.
Some people view a secured credit card as a form of debit card or prepaid card because you have to put money into it to get it. That's not quite accurate, though. You don't use that money to pay for your purchases. Instead, it's a form of security for the bank so they're not stuck with a negative balance.
Usually, the deposit is 1:1 to your credit limit, at least initially. You put $200 into a security deposit and get a secured credit card with a $200 limit. Then, you can buy things up to $200 on the card and pay them off over time. If you end up defaulting on the credit card, the bank has your money to cover it, so they don't assume much risk. "Secured" in the name of the card refers to security for the bank, not for you.
Your money isn't lost, though. Most secured credit cards have some mechanism for retrieving the money. Sometimes, it's simply refunded to you if you close the account. Other times, as you use the card and pay it off appropriately, the security deposit is slowly applied to purchases to reduce your costs or even slowly refunded to you over the course of months.
Obviously, all of this varies depending on the issuing financial institution and the terms of the specific secured credit card you're looking into.
How do you pay for the things you buy?
If you pay in cash or use a cash-equivalent debit card, your transactions aren't reported to the credit bureaus. As such, they don't earn you any benefit to your credit score. A credit card, as we all know, is a line of credit and is thus reported. Maintaining an account in good standing and carrying as low a balance as possible (preferably zero) helps build your credit score.
A secured credit card is still a credit card. Therefore, purchases made using a secured credit card – and the payments made to pay them off – are reported to the credit bureaus. Making payments on a secured credit card will gradually raise your credit score. Additionally, having lines of credit and a good debt-to-income ratio will benefit you as well.
Why not just use a regular credit card instead of a secured card? Well, as many of you likely know firsthand, you probably can't get one if your credit score is low enough.
The biggest benefit of a secured credit card is that, because of the security deposit, banks and financial institutions are much more likely to offer them to people with lower credit scores. The security deposit helps mitigate some of the risk the bank would otherwise assume.
Moreover, after using a secured credit card appropriately for a while, you may be able to "graduate" to an unsecured card without having to close your card and open a new line of credit. This maintains continuity in accounts, which is beneficial since "age of credit accounts" is a credit calculation factor. Banks like this because you've already proven you can stay financially solvent with the secured card, and you stick with them to give them your business.
There's one all-important question left to answer, and that's "how much will a secured credit card help?" If you're talking about five points here, that's barely anything and might not be worth the effort. On the other hand, if it can rocket your credit score up 200 points, you'd be jumping at the chance.
The truth is, it's highly variable.
Keep in mind that the more blemishes there are on your credit report, the harder it will be to raise your credit score until you deal with them. That's why we always recommend pulling your credit report, checking for errors to get them removed, negotiating to have accounts in collections removed, and employing other strategies to mitigate the damage.
If you're interested in using a secured credit card to improve your credit score, here's how.
The first thing you need to do is some research. While most secured credit cards are fairly similar, they are not all created equal. There are many different cards with different terms. Figure out what you can afford as a security deposit; a higher deposit will get you a higher credit limit, and a higher credit limit improves your debt-to-income ratio (as long as you don't carry a balance), so it's generally more beneficial. However, make sure you don't try to take on more than you can afford; jeopardizing your ability to pay off your credit will only make your credit score worse.
Once you've picked a card, apply. Since secured credit cards are usually aimed at people with low credit scores, many banks will either have very broad terms or won't check your credit score at all. If they don't check, they likely check something else, like the ChexSystems Report. Some of the stricter or better cards will be hard to gain approval for, but most secured cards will be open to you as long as your expectations are reasonable.
The key to building your credit with a secured credit card is to avoid carrying a balance. Treat it as you would cash; only make purchases you can afford, and pay them off immediately. Carrying a balance does not improve your credit score, and the interest charges will make it harder to keep paying it off.
While you're working to improve your credit score using a secured credit card, you can also try out additional strategies. For example, you can get credit builder loans without a credit check, and paying those off (if you can afford them in the first place) is another good avenue for improving your score.
After you've been using your secured credit card for several months, keeping it paid off effectively, you can contact the issuer and request a higher credit limit. A higher credit limit makes your debt-to-income and credit utilization ratios look better, especially if you continue with reasonable spending. Note, though, that this only works if you don't start using it as an excuse to spend more money and carry a balance.
After about a year of using a secured credit card effectively, your credit score will have gone up, and, more importantly, you will have proven to the issuer that you have financial responsibility. You can often request a graduation from your secured card to an unsecured card. This maintains your existing account but allows you to transition to a card with added benefits, such as a rewards program, a higher limit, and a lower interest rate. Once you've done this, congratulations! You've made it and can leave secured credit cards behind.
After reading today's article, do you have any questions about secured credit cards, how they work, or how they may be able to boost your credit score? If so, please feel free to reach out and ask your questions at any time! We'd be honored to assist you on your credit-building journey however we possibly can!
Sometimes, building your credit seems like an impossible task. Does this sound familiar?
How do you get a loan to pay off to build your credit if you need good credit to get a loan in the first place?
Luckily, many credit builder loans are structured in such a way that they're attainable if you have bad credit or even no credit at all.To understand why, you have to know how they work.
So, let's dig in and discuss how they work and how to get them.
Credit builder loans are akin to normal loans but with a twist.
When you take out a normal loan, you are given money and expected to pay it back over time. The most common uses of loans like this are to pay for purchases much larger than you can normally afford, like a car or a house.
Banks take on a lot of risk for these loans. If you end up not paying back the loan, the bank is the one losing the money. That's why they often have liens or other collateral on record, so if you stop paying your mortgage, you lose the house. Your credit score exists as a way to measure how effectively you control and pay off your debt.
Credit builder loans operate differently. When you take out a credit builder loan, you don't get the money. Instead, the money is put into a bank-controlled account, often a savings account or a Certificate of Deposit (CD) with some small interest rate attached.To use a very simple example, say you take out a $1,200, one-year credit builder loan at zero percent interest. That $1,200 is put into a savings account, and you are asked to pay $100 per month to pay off the loan. Each month, you make a $100 payment; by the end of the year, you're down $1,200. When you finish paying off the loan, the savings account is cashed out and given to you; you get your $1,200 back.
Make sense?
There are a handful of different factors that adjust how this situation works, but that's the core idea. Build on it with:
A credit building loan is, essentially, a secured loan. Since the money isn't given to you until you've paid it back, you're the one who takes on the risk, not the bank. If you stop paying, well, the money is still there in a bank-owned account, and they can liquidate it for themselves.
Different credit building loans have different terms and restrictions that may adjust how much they can keep versus how much they give back, if anything, and what they do with interest, fees, and other details. Always make sure to read the fine print on any loan you consider taking out.
One thing to note is that you can still be denied for a credit builder loan, even when bad credit isn't a problem. Most of these loan providers will still check the ChexSystems report, and if you've had a lot of bounced checks in the past, it can lead to a denial of loan.Credit building loans are not standard loans and are not generally offered by most major banks. Instead, you usually have to turn to other organizations to get them.
There are generally three types of institutions offering credit builder loans.
There are dozens of organizations that offer credit builder loans with no credit check. They can do this because, as mentioned above, the credit builder loan is not a risk to the bank. Since you assume the risk of the loan, it doesn't matter what your credit is; the bank can "lend" to you anyway.
Examples of credit building loan servicers include the following. Note, however, that we make no judgment as to the quality of these banks, credit unions, and online lenders; we simply mention that they exist.
This is just a representative sample of financial institutions offering credit builder loans. Their terms, qualifications, and requirements may vary.
Credit builder loans put the risk on you, so you need to make sure any loan you take out is one you can afford to pay back. Luckily, most credit builder loans have relatively low balances and good terms because it defeats the purpose if people can't handle paying them off.
Still, you need to take a close look at your financial situation and determine how much you can afford to reliably pay every month. Taking on a loan that asks you to pay more than that amount is a significant risk because a credit builder loan only helps you if you maintain successful payments. If you fall behind, default, or otherwise cannot pay off the loan, it backfires and leaves you worse off than you started.
Most credit builder loan programs are 1-2 years, though some will go up to ten years. We highly recommend avoiding those; short-term loans are much easier to handle, and it's much harder to predict your financial position a decade ahead of time.
Ideally, you will find a credit builder loan with 0% interest. This isn't always possible, though. APRs generally range from 4-5% on the low end to 25% on the high end.
Many credit builder loan servicers will also require a loan that has a particular minimum payment. This is usually somewhere in the $15 to $25 range, though some can be as much as $50. (Yes, our $100 per month example is higher than most actual credit builder loans.)
You will also want to take a look at any fees associated with the loan. Many credit builder loans will have one-time administrative fees, usually between $5 and $25, though some have additional monthly fees. It's usually best to avoid the latter if you can qualify for the former.
All in all, this will give you an idea of the capacity of the loan you can handle paying regularly. Then, you can look for credit builder loan programs that offer terms that match what you can pay.
Remember: Bigger isn't necessarily better! A larger loan takes up more of your credit utilization and may hurt you somewhat in the short term while it builds credit in the long run. Take a loan you can comfortably pay off, not the biggest loan you may be able to pay off.Once you've chosen a loan, apply! Some lenders may have certain requirements to qualify, like minimum annual income, but most will not perform a credit check specifically because they cater to people with poor credit, so it doesn't matter.
Once you apply and are approved, all that's really left to do is make your regular monthly payments. If you have enough leeway to set money aside specifically for paying for the loan, do so. Otherwise, just make sure you have enough to pay it off each month. Since your loans should only last 12-24 months and usually have low numbers attached, this shouldn't be too hard of a burden.
As you successfully pay for your loan, your payments will be reported to the credit bureaus. This will have a slow impact on growing your credit score, often by 10-30 points, which will continue to grow as you pay off your loan. By the time the loan is done and paid off, many people with low credit see a jump of 60 points or so. Obviously, the exact amount that your credit score can increase will depend on your specific financial situation.
When you finish paying off your loan and close out the account, the balance of the loan will be returned to you. This is usually something less than the total value of the loan due to fees, interest, and so on. For example, a $1,200 loan will likely return something like $1,050 to you when all is said and done.
While this may feel like a windfall, especially if you're used to operating on thin, paycheck-to-paycheck margins, it's important to remember that this money should be handled responsibly. Whether it goes towards bills, paying off other debts, or is rolled into another credit builder loan, ideally, handling your money responsibly is part of growing your credit.
Additionally, it can be a good idea to check your credit score a few days or weeks after you finished paying off your loan. You are always able to check your credit score and can check your credit report for free once per year; doing so can show you that your payments were correctly processed, no errors have occurred, and that your credit score has risen accordingly.
As always, if you see any errors on your credit report, dispute them. It's hard enough maintaining a proper credit score without having misreporting or errors dragging you down.
Depending on your current financial situation, yes, it most certainly can be.
Credit builder loans are not without risk. If you take on more of a loan than you can reliably pay off, missed payments can hurt your credit score, eliminating the benefit you would be getting from the loan.
Additionally, if you have existing debt on credit cards or other loans, it's better to put your money towards paying them off rather than taking on another form of debt. Adding more debt won't improve your score as much as paying off existing high-interest debt.
All of that said, credit builder loans are often beneficial for those who have no credit or low credit and won't qualify for other forms of loan with favorable terms. They serve to help you reach a point where you can get to more favorable financial positions.Do you have any questions or concerns about credit builder loans, or whether you should apply for one? If so, please feel free to reach out and contact us at any time! We'd be more than happy to answer any of your questions, and assist you on your credit building journey however we possibly can!
When your credit score is low, and you need to gain approval for a loan – like a car loan or a mortgage – you are probably looking for any way you can to build your credit quickly.
There are all manner of credit builder programs available, some better than others, but many of them share one common issue: they're an added financial burden. A credit builder loan is taking out money for the sole purpose of repaying it, for example. You're just adding an extra bill to pay for a credit bump, but you don't get anything tangible to improve your life immediately.
It makes sense, then, that you might start looking for ways to build your credit that also get you something. Financing a new phone is one such idea.
The question is, does it work?
These days, smartphones are nearly indispensable. The little pocket computers are powerful for all manner of benefits, including task scheduling, calendar management, banking, payments, and much more. They can even make phone calls! Statistically, half of you reading this post are probably doing so on a mobile device of some kind.
At the same time, many smartphones are quite expensive. The latest Google Pixel is $600, and the Pro is $900. The latest iPhone is $700 with a Pro starting at $1,000 with the higher end models landing around $1600. The latest Samsung is similarly expensive. Many people, especially those living paycheck to paycheck, can't afford to pay full price up-front for a new phone.
Of course, phone manufacturers and cell carriers know this, so they all offer a variety of different ways to spread out the costs. You can trade in an older device for a discount, you can add the cost of the phone as monthly payments on top of your cell phone plan, or you can even finance the phone.
Financing the phone usually happens in one of three different ways.
Retail financing usually works by asking you to open a credit card, often with the store itself. Apple offers the Apple Card, retail outlets like Best Buy and Amazon have their own credit cards, and so on.
Credit cards are credit cards, and they are almost always reported to the credit bureaus. Of course, many of these credit cards are limited. They may, for example, offer 0% interest on a cell phone purchase, but an incredibly high interest rate if you use the card for other purchases. They're meant to be opened to buy the phone or some other piece of flagship technology from the manufacturer, and then either closed or let to lie when the purchase is done.
Cell carriers – the people you're paying to have access to cell service, like T-Mobile or Verizon – often offer their own forms of financing for phones. The phones they offer may be slightly cheaper than buying an "unlocked" phone, or they may have their own added software or even a slightly-customized operating system to customize the phone experience for that carrier.
Carrier financing usually involves signing a contract and paying in installments, usually for 24 or 36 months. The cost of the phone is divided across your monthly bill, so your bill contains charges for both the device and your usage of the service. Since this isn't a line of credit, it is usually not reported to the credit bureaus.
On the other hand, these options are usually a bit cheaper than other financing choices, especially if you're working with one telecom for your household. Bundling multiple phones together, or even your cell service along with your TV and internet service may allow you access to cheaper pricing than everything individually would cost.
Services like Affirm and AfterPay are third-party services that vendors may offer. They're technically known as "point of sale installment loans" and function similarly to loans. You "buy" the phone at the time of purchase, taking out a loan with this third-party service to pay for it. The vendor has their money and is no longer involved; the loan is with the BNPL service provider.
Though these services operate as loans, they generally do not report to the credit bureaus, so they don't affect your credit. It depends a lot on the provider. For example:
Of course, this all depends on the vendor to offer one of these services; many do not.
If you've read up on how credit scores work, you know that taking out lines of credit, paying regularly, and keeping your debt-to-income ratio low can all help boost your credit score. However, it's all dependent on one thing: whether or not the loan/credit and activity is reported to the credit bureaus.
Most options for financing a cell phone are not reported to the credit bureaus. Of the three options, only the first – opening a vendor credit card – is likely to be reported. Only a few of the buy now, pay later services report activity, so you would have to shop around to find a vendor that uses the service, and that you trust to make a large purchase, which can be a tall order.
This means that financing a cell phone can boost your credit score, but only if you're able to open a credit card with the store. This isn't always possible.When you apply for financing for a store line of credit, the credit provider will analyze your financial situation and will decide whether or not to approve you. If your current credit situation is poor, they are just as likely to deny you a line of credit as they are to accept you, and if they do accept you, they may offer extremely risky terms.
Conversely to the above, financing a cell phone has the potential to hurt your credit score. This can happen in several ways.
1. Failure to make payments.
As with any line of credit, loan, or financing plan, if you fail to make payments on time, that failure is likely to have negative repercussions. At the very least, you'll rack up interest and fees. In some cases, you may violate the terms of the loan and lose benefits like 0% interest. You may be able to try to get these removed with a Goodwill Letter, though it's never guaranteed to work.
And, of course, if you fail to pay your loan, you will go into default, and your debt will likely be sold to a collection agency. That agency will be more than happy to report to the credit bureaus to leverage additional pressure to force you to pay what you can. In fact, with some of the buy now, pay later financing plans, they only report if you fail to pay. This means the potential benefit to your credit is nil, while the potential downside is significant.
2. The hard credit check for approval.
You may have heard that a hard pull of your credit report can hurt your credit score. Here's a quick lowdown:
Realistically, a hard credit pull for a phone is unlikely to really harm your credit score, and the brief dip will go away relatively quickly if it even happens. However, if you're financing multiple pieces of technology in a short time, multiple hard pulls can hurt more.
3. A worse credit utilization ratio.
Depending on how the loan or line of credit is formed, it can make your credit utilization look worse.
For example, say you have one credit card with a $4,000 limit and $1,000 in debt on it. That's a 25% credit utilization, which isn't bad. If you then finance a cell phone for $1,000, you're opening a line of credit with a $1,000 limit and using $1,000 of it; that puts your totals at $5,000 of limit and $2,000 of utilization, which is 40% utilization; much worse.
Debt to income ratio is also relevant here. The more debt you have relative to your income, the worse your financial situation looks. Taking out financing on a cell phone increases debt, so unless your income went up as well, your ratio looks worse.
If you need a cell phone and you don't want to finance one, you have a few options.
For one thing, you can look for a cheaper phone. Often, manufacturers have smaller, less fully-featured phones available for lower prices, or they may sell the previous generation of phones at a discount. You can get a slightly older model, or a non-flagship model, often for half the price or less.
You can also buy a used phone. This carries the risk of the phone already wearing out some of its lifespan, so you'll need to replace it sooner than you otherwise would, but it can carry you through a tight time or still work out to be cheaper in the long run.
Some brands of cell phones are also cheaper across the board. However, an off-brand cell phone may have compatibility or usage issues, which need to be considered depending on what you need your phone to do for you.
If you're just looking for ways to boost your credit and are now convinced that financing a cell phone is not a good way to do it, you have plenty of options.
It's entirely possible to raise your credit score quickly, especially if your current score is relatively poor. Taking the right actions and being smart with the money you have available can have a dramatic impact.
Financing a cell phone is usually not a great option, simply because most of the available methods to do so don't report to the credit bureaus unless something goes wrong. It can be beneficial if you need a cell phone and can't afford to buy one in cash, but it's not likely to help your credit score outside of certain specific situations.
If you have any additional questions about financing anything, whether it's technology, furniture, or anything else, simply drop us a line. Our goal with this blog is to answer your questions, so we highly encourage you to ask them. Drop us a comment, send us a message, and make sure to subscribe to our newsletter for more great credit building tips! We would love to assist you on your credit building journey by answering any of your potential questions or clearing up any concerns you may have to the best of our ability!
There's no single thing called a "credit builder program"; instead, there are a handful of different financial and non-financial programs you can enroll in to boost your credit. Some of them work, some are minimal in their impact, and some are scams.
How do you know which is which? What should you pursue?
Let's dig in!
Credit builder programs generally fall into a few categories.
While they each work a bit differently, they are all designed to help individuals boost their credit score by establishing a pattern of on-time payments to creditors.
To see how these all work, let's talk about them in greater detail.
Let's start with credit-building loans.
You take out a loan for X amount of money at Y% interest with a typical loan. You make payments over time, showing your reliability and improving your credit score. You also pay interest, which can be steep over time. However, it's also a risk; you use the money from the loan to buy something, and you have to come up with the funds to repay it.
When you take out a loan with a credit builder loan, you aren't given the money. Instead, the money is put into a short-term savings or investment account, like a Certificate of Deposit (CD), where it can earn some interest.
Then, for the duration of the loan's terms, you make payments towards the loan. Making regular payments towards a loan builds your credit, and since the loan values are usually small (often under $1,000), the payments are easy to make, and the hit to your credit utilization is low.
So, wait. If you're paying a company to hold money in a savings account in your name, how do you benefit, other than your credit score? Well, when you finish paying off the loan, the loan's value is returned to you. The savings account/CD is cashed out and given to you.
You end up building your credit, and the only costs are:
Because the company controls the money the entire time you're making payments, it's no risk to them, so they're much more willing to issue these loans to people with bad or no credit, unlike a typical financial institution. And, because you aren't given the money until you fully pay off the loan, there's no temptation to splurge and waste the money, then fall off the wagon in paying.
A credit builder loan is often a short-term loan, though some servicers offer them up to 10-year terms. Making regular payments on a credit builder loan can potentially increase your credit score between 25 to 75 points.Typically, a debit card is tied directly to your bank account and pulls money immediately in an ACH transaction when you pay for a product or service. Money is transferred immediately, with no need for a line of credit, interest calculations, monthly payments, or any other trappings of a credit card.
Since debit cards require you to have the funds on hand, it's essentially just like cash. The transaction isn't reported to the credit bureaus because it doesn't say anything about your ability to handle credit, just cash on hand.
Unlike credit cards, you can't go into debt with a debit card (unless you overdraft your account, which the financial institution typically disallows). It doesn't count as part of your credit utilization.
A reported debit card is a twist on this concept. It works like a debit card, linking to your bank account and only allowing you to buy things if you have the money on hand. However, it also works like a credit card by putting the transaction on a line of credit to be repaid.
The difference is the repayment terms. With a credit card, your debts are tallied up, and you're issued a monthly bill for part of the overall balance, while any remaining balance accrues interest. With a reported debit card, your transactions are due for repayment within 24 hours, and the money is debited from your account automatically.
This strategy is no different from monitoring your credit card and paying off any outstanding balance every day or week. However, doing so with a credit card requires you to have the discipline to do so and the funds on hand if you make a purchase beyond what you have available in your bank account. With a reported debit card, you can't buy anything you don't have the money on hand to pay for.
In exchange for the tighter limitations on buying with the card, your reported debit card is reported to the credit bureaus. And, since the card requires you to have the money to pay it off before you use it, it's low-risk to the issuer, so they're willing to issue it to individuals with poor credit.
These debit cards can boost your score anywhere from 5 points to a whopping 100 points, depending on your initial credit score and how frequently you use the card.Consider all of the bills you have to pay regularly to survive.
Sure, some of these aren't essential – nobody needs a Netflix subscription to survive – but they're usually bills that you regularly pay, on time, every month. Why shouldn't that be reported to the credit bureaus? It's proof that you can pay a regular monthly bill, on time, with no delinquency issues.
Any of these can be reported to the credit bureaus, but it's usually the responsibility of the company issuing you the bills. It's also expensive for those companies, and a company like Netflix or your property manager/landlord doesn't want that added expense for no benefit to them. Thus, those bills are never reported.
Unfortunately, you cannot self-report your own bills. Only officially-designated "data furnishers" can report bills. That's where bill reporting services come in.Bill reporting services come in two forms.
1. The first is usually for rent. You give the rent reporting company read-only access to your bank account, so they can scan your bank statements for rent payments and report those payments to the credit bureaus. They can generally report up to the last two years of rent payments immediately, which can be a massive boon of up to 40 points of credit score growth near-immediately.
There may be some restrictions, however. You need to have a valid rental agreement for these services to verify your payments, and they may not be able to confirm if you pay in cash, even if you withdraw the cash regularly. They're verifying a specific transaction, after all.
You can also enroll in ongoing reporting, usually for a minor (under $5) monthly fee.
2. The second form of bill reporting works for other bills, like your utilities or your entertainment.
They work by, essentially, issuing you a heavily-limited credit card. You switch your payment method on those services to the credit card, and the credit card charges you for the bills every month just like if you were paying the bills as you typically would. The only difference is where your money is going and where the money is coming from that Netflix or your utility company sees.
Because it's technically a credit card, it builds your credit by showcasing credit utilization and regular payments reported to the credit bureaus. They also generally don't charge interest because you're guaranteed to pay off your balance every month, or they stop paying your bill for you.
Unlike rent reporters, bill reporting doesn't reach back and report historical payments, so you need to enroll and use the service on an ongoing basis. Thus, your credit growth will build over time but starts small.
If you have low credit or no credit, it can be tough to get started. Many credit issuers will either not give you the time of day or will only offer you programs with extremely steep interest rates or very unfavorable terms.
Credit building programs take advantage of loopholes or structures in payments that:
As such, they can help you if you're in a position to use them.
There are always downsides, though.
You "take out a loan" with a credit-building loan, but you don't get the money until you're done paying it off. So, you're essentially just paying money for nothing except a boost to your credit score. It's an added bill that may not be feasible to support if you're already tight on cash.
Reported debit cards require you to use them properly, though if you already use a debit card, there are no real drawbacks.
Bill reporting also tends to be limited in that it can only report certain kinds of bills, so you have to have those bills first. Rent reporting won't work if you've spent time homeless, pay your rent informally, or don't have an official rental agreement.
These are all more favorable to you than many other forms of building credit. Unlike secured credit cards, you don't have to worry about the risk of going into debt, and you don't need the sizable up-front payment. Unlike becoming an authorized user on someone else's card, you don't have to have a friend willing to risk their credit for you.
The truth is, these programs work. How well they work depends on the program you use, your existing credit, and other factors that might be suppressing your credit. Many people will see a jump of anywhere from 20 to 100 points, depending on those various factors.These are some of the best options for improving your credit quickly and effectively. You need to make sure you're financially able to keep up with the payments and pay the small fees associated with using the services. Rent reporting, for example, might charge you $2-5 per month. It's minuscule, but it's still essential.
Please give them a look. There are dozens of companies providing these services today, so you have plenty of choices. Find the ones that work best for you. Whether you're having trouble securing a mortgage or trying to get your first credit card, these credit builder programs can be a huge help to prove to the credit bureaus that you're capable of making on-time payments.
Do you have any questions about any specific credit building program? Are you thinking of trying one of these credit-building programs, or have you used any of them in the past? Please let me know! I'd love to get a conversation started on this subject for the benefit of everybody reading and working to boost their credit score.
In our modern world, having access to a car is near-essential. Urban sprawl, poor public transportation, inaccessible city design, and other factors all come into play to make cars a requirement for participation in society. Regardless of your feelings on the matter, this is the reality of our modern way of life.
Whether to buy or lease a car is one of the most important decisions you'll make, and it has repercussions beyond just your monthly payments. It can even impact your credit score. The question is, is it good or bad, or both? Can it help you build a score, or can it hurt to lease?
Let's dig in.
Your credit score is a numeric indicator of your financial reliability. It is used in many different situations where large amounts of money or assets are on the line. Much like when you want to find an apartment to rent, your credit score can impact your ability to obtain a vehicle.
Having bad credit can impact your ability to qualify for a car lease, affecting your ability to be eligible for a car loan. Despite the outward similarity – approval for money for a vehicle – credit can impact your ability to qualify differently.There are two significant differences between leasing and buying that mean your credit score has a different impact.
The first is the source. You're making a deal with a car dealership when leasing a car. If you default, the company leasing you the car is at risk, who has to repossess the vehicle to recoup their losses, and who has to collect payments regularly. When buying a car, you're typically working with a bank to get a loan to pay for the car, at which point the dealership has no further hand in it, and the deal is between you and your bank.
Banks are more flexible with credit than dealers because they tend to have better arrays of safety nets in place and more options for handling financial issues. Dealerships are much smaller entities.
The second difference is the collateral. When you apply for a car loan and use that loan to buy the car, the car becomes collateral. You're paying towards the loan, which the bank technically owns until you pay it off and they send you the paperwork. With a lease, the dealership owns the vehicle, and you're just granted temporary use of it.
All of this means that leases tend to have higher standards for credit scores than loans. Most auto dealerships will only lease a vehicle to someone with a credit score of 620 or above, and many prefer a score of over 700.
An exception is the agencies that allow for lease transfers. People who want to get out of a lease can "sell" the lease to you; you take on the lease for the remainder of its duration, picking up responsibility. This option can be a good choice when credit is exceptionally poor or non-existent.
Both leases and loans have variable terms, and the lower your credit score, the worse the conditions will be for you, primarily in the form of an interest rate for loans and monthly payments for leases. A bad credit score means you're less reliable financially, so a dealership will want to get the most out of you that they can if you default.
You may be able to qualify for a loan to buy, but the terms may not be in your favor. In practice, what this means is that if you have bad credit, you likely won't even be offered the option to lease. Even still, it's better than nothing.
However, all of this is about your credit score before you buy or lease. The question is, though, what happens to your credit score after you sign the paperwork?
Your credit score is a single number calculated based on several factors. The five elements, and their weight in the total calculation, are:
The single most significant factor influencing your credit score is establishing a history of paying off your debts.It doesn't matter if it's a credit card you pay off fully every month, a loan you pay the minimum towards each month, or a lease you pay regularly; the act of making regular payments, on time, with no late payments or defaults, is the critical part.
When you sign a lease for a car, you're signing up to make regular payments. Making those regular payments can benefit your credit score – if the dealership reports leases to the credit reporting bureaus. Most dealerships will make those reports, but occasionally one may not. Your credit score is only based on what is reported, so if your payments aren't being reported, they won't do you any good.
The general exception is rent-to-own businesses, similar to but distinct from leases. Rent-to-own agencies often don't report to credit bureaus because they're self-interested and specifically target people with poor credit. Those credit scores don't improve by not reporting, so those customers are forced to use their limited options. Cynical, predatory, but legal.
If you can get one, a lease for a vehicle can help build your credit score by establishing a reported history of regular payments. It can also add to your credit mix and be part of new credit, so it has more impact than you might expect.
Buying a car is similar to any other loan. Qualifying for a loan has a relatively low bar in terms of credit score, but the better your credit score, the better the loan terms.
The dealership doesn't necessarily care about your credit score unless they work with their financing process. If you come with a cheque in hand, money is money, and you'll get your car. You have to deal with a financial institution to get the loan, but once you have it, the vehicle is yours.
A car loan is a loan and, as such, impacts your credit. Opening a new loan, making regular payments on the vehicle, and maintaining a reasonable debt-to-income ratio benefit your credit score.The only way buying a car will hurt your credit is:
Opening a new loan account can temporarily hurt your credit, but your credit will grow as long as you maintain making payments on time.
When a lease ends, you give the car back to the dealership, and the relationship ends. At least, that's the way it works on paper.
In reality, most dealerships will offer you three options.
When a lease ends, and a new one begins, it may not even be reported as a new lease and will no further impact your credit score. If you choose to buy the car or walk away, the cancellation of the lease may hurt your credit score a small amount, temporarily.
Your credit score can take a minor hit because you're closing a line of credit – even if it was a financial relationship you were successfully paying off – removes one line from your credit mix and number of accounts.However, this credit drop is temporary; in most cases, the credit bureaus are smart enough to recognize that closing the account is beneficial, and your score will return to where it was or higher. This phenomenon is, after all, why your credit mix and number of accounts are such small percentages of your overall score.
The one possible way a lease ending could hurt your credit is if you had additional closing fees, like wear and tear charges, and you don't pay those right away. In that case, it becomes like any other debt you default on and hurts your score.
Like ending a lease, ending a loan closes a credit account and can temporarily cause your credit score to go down. And, much like a lease, when the bureaus recognize that it's a beneficial action, your score will return to its previous heights.
Closing a loan can be more impactful if you have few or no other lines of credit and aren't making any other regular payments that the dealerships would report to the credit bureaus. However, even still, your credit score is likely to be higher than before opening the loan, mainly if you had bad credit and made your payments on time the whole way through.
Whether or not a lease or a loan is better depends on a few factors.
The first is if you have bad credit. With bad credit, anything that improves it can have a significant impact. More importantly, you want short-term solutions rather than long-term solutions because a completed contract is valuable to your credit score.
A car loan usually starts at two years and may stretch as far as seven. That means it can be as much as seven years before you get a completed contract on your record. Of course, regular payments during that time are beneficial, too.
On the other hand, leases are often 1-4 years. If you opt for shorter contracts, you can have more closed contracts and thus a better credit score.
In both cases, however, the history of making regular monthly payments is much more impactful and roughly equivalent between methods.
The other factor is the value of the debt you take on.
You're taking on debt for the car's total value with a car loan. Taking a $30,000 loan for a vehicle means taking on $30,000 in debt - a significant hit to your debt-to-income ratio.
With a lease, the total amount of the debt is only reported when the lease ends and is only the amount you paid. A $30,000 car, after a three-year lease, might only be worth $20,000; your lease burden will be reported to be the $10,000 paid towards it in that time. Your debt-to-income ratio looks better, so leasing has a better impact.
From a pure credit standpoint, leasing may be the better option. However, there are numerous caveats to this.
Then there are the other considerations. With a lease, you are often restricted on the number of miles you can drive in a month. You may not have steep maintenance bills, as the dealership may cover maintenance, unlike with a vehicle you've purchased.
However, terms can vary, so make sure you know what you're getting into.
In the end, the choice may not be yours to make.
Are you thinking of leasing or purchasing a vehicle, or do you already lease a vehicle? Do you have any questions for us about your options? Please share with us in the comments below! It will help other users out, and we would be happy to give you advice on your current situation.
Credit scores are a fact of life we all have to confront sooner or later. They've attached to us our whole lives, and they rise and fall according to our decisions, often before we even understand what credit is and what affects it.
Moreover, credit scores are inscrutable. The credit tracking agencies keep the specifics of their algorithms a secret. Many people don't even know that Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion are not the exclusive authorities on credit. There are dozens of credit reporting agencies. All of them track and weight aspects of credit differently, so your score across them all will be different.
Yet, despite all of this mystery, credit scores are a critical deciding factor for everything from your ability to buy a car to your chances of getting a mortgage. Having a lower score can tangibly harm your life and lifestyle, and you may never quite know why or even realize it's happening.
As if this wasn't enough, the internet – and casual advice from friends and family – is full of misinformation. For example, maybe you've heard this one:
"Carry a balance on your credit cards, and never pay them off completely; making regular payments helps your score!"
Did you know that this is entirely false?
We're not sure where the myth got started. Maybe it's a misinterpretation of the advice not to close a line of credit, or perhaps it's a myth put forth by banks who pull in the interest on your balance. Either way, it's not true, and it's financially better for you to pay off any outstanding loans or balances as quickly as possible (in general).
Our goal with this site is to provide accessible, easy to internalize knowledge to help you build a higher credit score and improve your quality of life. So, let's start with five tangible actions you can take to improve your credit score quickly.
Your credit score is, in part, a measurement of how reliable you are at paying off the money you borrow. This score applies whether you're getting a massive 30-year mortgage or buying $50 worth of groceries on your credit card. You borrow money, you pay that money back, regularly and on time.
One aspect of credit that hugely factors into your score is utilization. Credit utilization is the amount of your total credit that you use. Utilization also accounts for as much as a third of your credit score, so keeping your utilization low can be a considerable boost.
Your target number is around 30% or lower. So, let's talk about how you get there.
The first thing you need to do is tally up all of your lines of credit and their credit limits. Let's say you have three credit cards:
For now, don't worry about your balances. Just add up the total of all three credit limits. In our example, this is $12,000.
Next, figure out what 30% of your total limit is. 30% of $12,000 is $3,600.
Your goal should be to keep your total running balance across all of your cards at under $3,600. If your total balance across your three credit cards is higher than that, pay off enough to get it under. Keep it low by avoiding borrowing too much whenever possible.Getting and keeping your utilization under 30% is a sure-fire way to boost your score.
Now, we understand that "pay off your debts" isn't exactly helpful advice for many people. Millions of Americans live paycheck to paycheck and don't have the luxury of quickly paying down debt.
Luckily, you can approach the problem from the other side as well. Consider asking your financial institutions for a higher credit limit. If your account is in good standing – that is, no late payments – they may be more than happy to raise your limits. Increasing limits will lower your percentage utilized and can be helpful to your score – as long as you don't rack up even more debt.
Most of the time, asking for a higher credit limit is as simple as calling your credit card or bank and talking to customer service. As long as your account is in good standing – even if you're already carrying a balance – many institutions will be more than happy to increase your limit for you.
This credit increase isn't always purely out of magnanimous interest in your well-being, of course. Banks want you to have a higher limit when you've proven you can pay it off because then you'll be more likely to carry a higher balance and thus rack up even more interest for them to earn off of your spending.
That's why the key here is to ask for a higher limit, but treat your spending as if you didn't have that higher limit. That way, you keep your utilization low and carry as small a balance as possible. This strategy is great because it can boost your score, but it also helps you by keeping your monthly payments small and your interest low.
Note: Some lines of credit will pull a hard check on your credit score when requesting an increase, and others may only request a soft check or won't check your credit at all. It's advised that you ask them for this information before they pull a report.The closer you can get to paying off your debts, the better off you'll be.
Another factor that goes into your credit score is the overall age of your credit history. The older your credit history, the more experience you have with managing your money appropriately, so the better off you'll be.
The trick here is that you have to keep old accounts active. You can't open a credit card and never use it.
Generally, our advice is to set up auto-pay on a bill or two and then forget about it. Even something as simple as a Netflix subscription can be enough to keep your line of credit active with relatively little risk of ever boosting utilization too high or otherwise breaking the pattern.
Now, you don't need to carry a balance to keep a line of credit active. You need to use it. Maintaining a balance only gives banks or financial institutions more money through interest payments and doesn't help you. Use the line of credit, but pay it off as much as possible.
Banks are not infallible. They can make errors. Payments – especially payments by check or mail – can slip through the cracks. Reports can get mixed up. Someone swapping digits on a social security number when they file for a loan can throw an issue on your information when it has nothing to do with you. Identity theft can wreak havoc.
Federal law requires that each of the three main credit reporting bureaus – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion – provide a full credit report to everyone upon request, for free, once a year. During Covid-19, the credit reporting agencies are offering weekly reports for free. Take advantage of them if you want to keep an active eye on your credit report! You can request your information from Annual Credit Report.
Important: You do not need to pay for your credit report if it's the first one you've requested in the year.Once a year, at minimum, you want to request your credit report and look for errors.
What kind of errors might you find?
Essentially, you can dispute anything inaccurate, fraudulent, or false. How do you do it?
Start by creating a list of all of the errors you find, so you can keep track of what you challenge, when, and when it's removed. You want to maintain proof in case any of it reappears.
Next, gather any supporting evidence you can to challenge the errors—for example, payment and transaction history may show zero late fees to contest a late payment report.
At this point, you want to write a Credit Challenge Letter. This letter is a formal statement to the credit bureau that you are challenging a line on your credit report as inaccurate and why. This page provides templates and examples. You can also contact the agency responsible for the error – like a bank that misreported a late payment – and see if you can fix it from their end.
Note: if you determine that the line item isn't an error but is a case of identity theft, you can take additional steps to handle it. Here's an excellent place to start.In general, your credit score only keeps track of things like loans, credit cards, and other significant financial transactions.
You might be surprised. A lot of your basic, everyday transactions aren't counted. What falls into this category?
All of these are regular monthly payments that you pay on time (obviously, or else your service is canceled) and should count towards your credit score.
You might even notice that mortgage payments are counted, but rent payments aren't. This phenomenon is another example of the many systemic ways the credit system is fundamentally flawed, but that's a topic to go into another time.
The problem here is that the lender has to pay to submit the information to the credit bureaus to get those sorts of transactions reported. Your landlord or your utility company don't want to spend this extra fee, in part because it doesn't help them in any way, so you're left with all of these regular payments that don't go on your report and don't help you.
Luckily, there are a few ways you can get these reported.
Additionally, newer versions of FICO (your credit score) take these other channels into account and are slowly gaining popularity.
Considering the above tips, how much can you raise your score?
The truth is, it varies.
Some of these steps can have a near-instant effect, and you'll see a bump in your score within a month or less. Others might be more long-term since credit scores are slow to change even in the best of times.
The lower your score is, the more benefit you'll get from any given credit-boosting step you take. The dream goal is a 100-point boost, and if your credit score is low (say, 300-400), you can achieve it. On the other hand, if your credit score is already in the 700s, you're probably not going to get more than 10 points or so from them. The higher your score, the harder it is to improve. Virtually no one has perfect credit, anyway.
Luckily, you don't need a perfect score. Getting your score above 750 can get you slightly lower interest rates or better loan terms, but the most significant benefit is bringing your score from under 500 to over 600. In practical terms, anything above 650 is good enough for most people.
Sound financial habits over time, along with a few tips and tricks, can help you boost your score by a surprisingly significant amount. Be sure to check back here regularly; we'll have plenty of advice for you in the coming months, and we're more than happy to answer your questions.
