I thought those credit builder loans were a total scam until I tried one

For years, I saw ads for those 'credit builder' loans from apps and figured they were just a way to trick people. My score was stuck around 580 and I felt hopeless. Then my buddy in Phoenix, who had a similar score, told me his jumped 40 points in three months after using one. I was super skeptical but desperate, so I signed up for a Chime Credit Builder card. I put my $50 phone bill on it each month and they reported the payments. I checked my FICO score yesterday and it's now 635. The whole 'paying yourself' thing actually works by showing consistent payment history, which I had zero of before. Has anyone else used a tool like this and seen a bigger jump, or is my experience pretty typical?

2 comments

2 Comments

sageellis7d ago

Normal bills don't always get reported to credit bureaus, so that's the difference. These tools force a report for every payment.

nancy_garcia637d ago

Honestly, that's a lot of work for a number that doesn't matter until you need a loan. Tbh, just paying your normal bills on time does the same thing for free. Seems like a whole thing for a small gain.