Credit Strong Review (2024): Build Credit (2024)

Credit Strong Overview

A quick sign up and penalty-free cancellation make Credit Strong a great option for credit builder loans.

Credit Strong is reaching out a helping hand for anyone with a poor credit score or no credit history at all. It offers a refreshing approach to credit builder loans that has allowed many to breathe a sigh of relief.

Credit Strong aims to provide a low cost and transparent solution to both improving credit scores and building savings.We love the mission of the company and the opportunities it provides to anyone attempting to build their credit score. In this review, we will cover everything you need to know about credit builder loans, how they can help, and what makes Credit Strong stand out.

Credit Strong: What You Need to Know

Credit Strong was founded as a division of Austin Capital Bank with the intention of helping people of all backgrounds work towards a higher credit score. In fact, Valerie Rocco, the Digital Marketing Director at Austin Capital Bank explains, “The mission is to help Americans build up their credit score so they aren’t caught up in the cycle of bad credit.”

The cycle of bad credit can be brutal. First, you borrow money at a high interest rate due to a bad credit score. After you take on the loan, you might have trouble making on-time payments because the interest rate is so high. When you miss these payments due to a sky-high interest rate, your credit takes another hit. And so the cycle continues the next time you need a loan.

Credit Strong makes the process of improving your credit score painless. The company offers easy ways to build your credit without any hoops to jump through.

Pros

Everything is processed through one financial institution which eliminates any middlemen fees.
Free monthly access to your updated FICO® Score 8.
No upfront deposit.
You have some savings when you finish making your payments.
The company allows you to rebuild your credit with a variety of credit builder loan options.
You can add an installment loan to your credit mix.
You can cancel at any time without a penalty.
Credit Strong customer reviews call out the quality of its customer service

Cons

Any missed or late payments will be reported to three credit bureaus.
No opportunity to touch your savings until you repay the loan.
Another payment to factor into your budget.
These accounts are designed for individuals, so there is no opportunity to create a co-owned account.

How Does A Credit Builder Loan with Credit Strong Work?

Before you get started with Credit Strong, you’ll need to decide the goal of your credit builder loan. The company offers options that prioritize the following:

Lowest monthly payment.
Build savings while building credit.
Build credit for extremely large loans in the future.

You’ll select your loan type based on your goals and the funding you have available. Be realistic about your goals and your ability to make on-time payments. The last thing you want to do is overestimate your payment ability and receive another bad mark on your credit history.

Once you select your loan, you’ll need to apply for a Credit Strong account. The application is relatively easy to fill out and there is no hard credit check required.

As you make monthly payments to Credit Strong, they will report these payments to each of the three credit bureaus. If you make on-time payments, then it is possible for your score to increase dramatically. The flip side is that your score can suffer if you make late payments to this credit builder loan. With each payment, a portion will be placed into an FDIC insured account held at Austin Capital Bank. Once your loan is repaid, you’ll be able to unlock your savings.

If you know that you aren’t going to be able to make a monthly payment, then you have the opportunity to cancel without a penalty. Credit Strong actually recommends closing your account if you are unable to make on-time payments, which shows they have your best interests at heart.

At the end of the loan, you’ll end up with a payment history for an installment loan. Plus, the principal of the loan that you’ve saved along the way.

What Credit Strong Has to Offer

Since its founding in 2006, Credit Strong has taken the traditional model of credit builder loans to the next level. Instead of simply offering only short-term credit builder loans to temporarily boost your credit, they offer long term solutions for credit building.

Credit Strong offers plans from 12 to 120 months and up to a $25,000 credit builder loan through its Credit Strong MAGNUM product. With those options, it offers some of the longest and largest loans available on the market today. Plus, you’ll have the option to cancel at any time without a penalty.

The company also provides a free FICO® Score 8 monthly. This will allow you to accurately track your credit score as it grows. Since most top lenders use the FICO scores to make their lending decisions, this is an accurate score to track your progress.

Application Process

Credit Strong has a quick application that should take less than 5 minutes to complete.

Go to Credit Strong’s website.
Click the “Apply Now” Tab.
You will be walked through a product selector that will help you choose the best option based on your financial goals.
Fill in your information.

After you complete your application, Credit Strong will use a database of past bank account activities to determine your application’s success. The company does not perform a credit check or ChexSystems inquiry.

Once you are approved, you’ll start making credit building payments right away.

HOW TO CONTACT CREDIT STRONG

Address: 8100 Shoal Creek Blvd Suite 200, Austin, TX 78757Customer service: (833) 850-0850Website: www.creditstrong.comEmail support: [emailprotected]Instagram: www.instagram.com/creditstrong/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/GetCreditStrong/ Twitter: @credit_strong

Terms and Requirements

Eligibility requirements:

If you’re interested in working with Credit Strong, the first thing you need to do is make sure you are eligible for a Credit Strong account.

Here’s what you’ll need:

You need to be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.
You need to be at least 18 years old.
You must have a valid Social Security Number or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number.
You must have a mobile phone number and email address.
You must have a bank account, prepaid card, or debit card.

There is no minimum income required by Credit Strong. If you check all of the boxes, then you should be good to go.

Terms:

You can customize the terms of your credit builder loan based on your personal financial situation. The service offers three plans for building your credit and savings.

Depending on the loan that you choose, you can select a term of up to ten years and minimum payments as low as $15.

Credit Strong Pricing Plans

Credit Strong offers three tiers of pricing. Each plan is set up with different goals in mind.

Here’s what you need to know about each:

If you want to build credit but don’t have a lot of free capital, then you’ll likely want to prioritize the lowest monthly payment possible. With the Subscribe plan, you can reap the rewards of a credit builder loan with a fairly low monthly payment that you can put on autopay.

You can choose the Subscribe 1000 plan or the Subscribe 2500 plan. The monthly cost for each is $15 and $30, respectively. Depending on which plan you choose, Credit Strong will report a $1,000 or $2,500 installment account to the credit bureaus.With either plan, you’ll have the opportunity to build up to 120 months of payment history. You’ll be able to cancel this at any time without a penalty.

Overall, this plan offers an opportunity to build your credit and your savings without a big commitment.

BUILD & SAVE

If you want to build your credit score and your savings, the Build & Save plans are great options.

The Build & Save 1000 plan is a 24-month commitment that will allow you to build $1000 of credit history of 24 months. You’ll make monthly payments of $48 for this option. If you prefer a 12-month commitment, the Build & Save plan is also offered for 12 months with monthly payments of $89. The choice between these two depends on how quickly you want to build credit.

If you want to build more credit, then the Build & Save 2000 plan is a good option. With monthly payments of $96 over 24 months, you’ll build $2,000 of credit.

MAGNUM

The name of this product says it all. If you want to build an extremely large credit line, then the MAGNUM products are the best option. They are perfect for anyone that wants to secure a large personal loan or business financing in the future.

The MAGNUM loans offer installment loans of $5,000, $10,000, or $25,000. You would need to make monthly payments of $50, $100, or $250 to stay current with this loan. However, you have the opportunity to cancel at any time without a penalty.

This is the perfect opportunity to supercharge your credit score for large loans in the future.

What is the Cost of a Credit Strong Loan?

The pricing of a Credit Strong loan does not tell the whole story. Although your monthly payments will help to build your credit score, it comes with a cost.

The first cost you will encounter is the Admin fee. Depending on your account selection, this will be either $15.00 or $8.95. All in all, this is a reasonable fee but it is something to be aware of.

The more expensive cost of the Credit Strong loan, and all credit builder loans, is the loan interest rate. For example, if you decided to take on the MAGNUM 25000 loan, the loan interest rate would be 3.74%. At the end of a 24 month period, you will have made $6,000 in payments but your savings progress would only be $4,282. That leads to a cost of $1,718 in the first 24 months of the loan.

With that example, it is easy to see that a credit builder loan could cost you thousands of dollars. However, it may be worth it depending on your credit history and your financial goals for the future.

For Whom is Credit Strong Good?

Credit Strong offers credit builder loans. Its loans aren’t like normal loans where you get to borrow money. In a way, its loans are like a forced saving plan that also helps you build your credit.

The primary audience for Credit Strong’s service are people who have poor or no credit and who are struggling to qualify for other loans or credit cards that they can use to build credit. Credit Strong’s loans are very easy to qualify for and can help you start building a history of good payments while saving some money.

The secondary audience is people who want help with saving money. Credit Strong’s loans do come with interest and fees, so you’ll pay for the service helping you to save, but it can be a good way to force yourself to save and has the perk of boosting your credit at the same time.

Credit Strong Alternatives

Credit Strong is just one company that offers credit builder loans. There are plenty of other companies that have credit builder loans available to consumers.

Every company will charge different fees and interest rates and have different features. It’s worth taking the time to compare your options before applying.

If you’re not sure Credit Strong is right for you, consider these alternatives:

Self

15.65% - 15.97% APR
Open a secured credit card with your loan progress balance
Terms of 12 or 24 months
Cancel your loan any time
No credit check

MoneyLion

5.99% - 29.99% APR + $20 monthly fee for membership
More than just credit builder loans - crypto, cash advances, banking, etc.
Access some of your loan funds upfront
No credit check

The Bottom Line

While a high credit score can open many doors, a low credit score can limit your borrowing possibilities dramatically. It can seem like you don’t have many options available as you try to rebuild your credit score or start from scratch. That’s where Credit Strong comes in.

If you are unhappy with your current credit score, then Credit Strong offers the opportunity to improve it. With flexible options and the ability to cancel without a penalty, there is really nothing to lose by working on improving your credit score with Credit Strong.

Take action today in order to see results as soon as possible.