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Credit builder loans have exploded in popularity as an effective tool that can help boost your credit score by 40 – 50 points or more. With most loans, you make monthly payments for a year or more before you receive any cash, which can put a strain on your budget. Grow Credit has an innovative alternative – a no interest credit card with tiny monthly payments that can still help you build your credit score by 50 points or more. There’s a lot to like (including a free credit building plan!) – and a few things to watch out for – covered in our Grow Credit review.
Start building credit for free >>> Check out Grow Credit
Having a low credit score (or no credit score) is stressful and expensive. You can’t get approved for most credit cards or loans, and the few that you may qualify for usually carry small credit lines or loan amounts, costly fees, and sky-high interest rates.
There are few magic bullets for establishing or rebuilding your credit history, and you can often find yourself caught in a frustrating Catch 22: You can’t build credit without credit, but no one wants to extend you credit.
A new set of tools solves this problem and has exploded in popularity. Credit builder loans are specifically designed to help consumers with poor credit boost their scores by building up a history of on-time payments that are reported to credit bureaus. While these loans are often effective way rapidly increase your score, they often charge over $100 per year in interest and fees and require biweekly or monthly payment that can put a strain on your budget. Plus, you usually don’t get any cash from a credit builder loan until you’ve completed all of your payments, which takes up to ten years with some lenders!
A better credit score is supposed to help your finances, not put more strain on them. Grow Credit is an innovative new product that help deliver big improvements to your credit score, without taking a big bite out of your wallet.
Start building credit for free >>> Check out Grow Credit
What is Grow Credit?
Grow Credit can help you build your credit score with a no interest Mastercard that you can use to pay for your monthly subscriptions to streaming video, music and food delivery services. Your on-time payments are reported to credit bureaus, which can help you build up your credit score.
You can apply online or via the Grow Credit app in just a few minutes. There is no credit check and bad credit or no credit won’t prevent you from being approved; you do need a valid bank account.
Once you’re approved, you’ll receive a Grow Credit Mastercard with a $17 monthly spending limit. You can use the Grow card as the payment method for one or two monthly subscription services. Grow Credit supports over 100 popular services, including:
Streaming Video: Hulu, Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max
Music and Audio: Spotify, Pandora, Audible, iHeartRadio
Food Delivery: Postmates, Uber Eats, GrubHub, Door Dash
Grow provides discount offers and free trials to dozens of products, such as Peacock, Showtime, Bark Box, and Hello Fresh. You cannot use the Grow Credit Mastercard in stores, for online purchases, or to withdraw cash from an ATM. However, unlike a credit builder loan, with Grow you’re paying for services that you already use, so you’re not adding new strains on your budget.
You may qualify for Grow Credit’s free credit building product, Build Free, which has no security deposit or monthly fee. Otherwise, you will need to post a $17 security deposit and pay a $1.99 monthly fee. Your deposit is returned to you after 12 months of on-time payments, or if you close your account. Apps like Grow Credit will set up automated payments of your balance once per month, so your bill will always be paid on-time to help your credit score. There is no interest, annual fee, or any late fees. You can close your Grow Credit account at any time, with no termination fees.
Make six months of on-time payments, and you can upgrade to a higher spending limit with Grow Credit. You can spend up to $50/month for a $3.99 monthly fee or a $130/month for a $7.99 fee. With the $130/month spending limit, you can also use your Grow Credit card to pay for phone service from Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and other mobile carriers.
All Grow Credit customers have free access to credit score monitoring tools so you can track your progress.
Start building credit for free >>> Check out Grow Credit
How much can Grow Credit help your credit score?
Grow Credit users see their credit scores increase by an average of 51 points after twelve months!2 Your payments to Grow Credit are reported to all three major credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian and Transunion.
51 points is a significant increase! For many borrowers, it can push your application from declined to APPROVED for a credit card or loan. A higher score can help you land a larger loan or credit line. And a 51 point score increase may help you receive dramatically lower interest rates and fees, which could be worth thousands of dollars!
(Of course, consistently making on-time payments is key to improving and maintaining your credit score. Late or missed payments to Grow Credit, or on any other outstanding loans or credit cards, could cause your score to fall.)
Is Grow Credit Legit?
Your money is safe with Grow Credit. The Grow Credit Mastercard is offered by Sutton Bank, member FDIC so your security deposit is federally insured and Mastercard protects you from any unauthorized purchases on your card.
Grow Credit was founded in 2018 and has raised $111 million in financing from prominent investors, including Arena Investors, LP, a $2.6 billion private investment fund. The company also boasts former NBA star Baron Davis and NFL Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott as investors. Grow Credit has over 50,000 customers and was named to the prominent Forbes Fintech 50 list in 2022., which highlights the most innovative global companies in financial technology.
Grow Credit is rated A- by the Better Business Bureau, and has received just 13 complaints over the past three years.
Start building credit for free >>> Check out Grow Credit
Watch: How does Grow Credit work?
WAIT! Why borrow quick cash when you can earn it?!
Cash advance apps can be a great tool for getting a little extra cash when you need it, but you’ll need to repay it – plus fees – wihtin a week or two. Did you know there’s an easy way to earn extra cash that’s yours to keep?
KashKick is a wildly popular service that lets you earn money for playing games, completing surveys, signing up for trial offers and more. (You’ll even earn cash for just completing your profile!) You can earn cash today and withdraw your earnings through PayPal once you’ve reached $10. You can earn over $100/month with KashKick – and you don’t need to spend a dime or take out your credit card to do it.
There are dozens of high-paying offers available on KashKick, and if you’re into playing new games on your phone, you can earn some serious cash for doing what you love. Though offers change regularly, there are currently1 more than three dozen offers available where you can earn cash – sometimes over $100 – just by downloading and playing popular games like Coin Master, Monoply Go, Bingo Blitz, and more. These games are all free to download, and no in-app purchases are required to earn with KashKick.
Get paid to play on your phone >>> Check out KashKick
Mitchel holds a Bachelors of Business Administration in Finance from The Goizeta School of Business at Emory University and a Masters of Business Administration from The Haas School of Business at The University of California.
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- As of February 13, 2024. Offers may change and may not be available to all users. Eligibity requirements apply. See KashKick's Terms of Service for full details.
- According to a platform study conducted in March 2021, the average user experiences a FICO score increase of 51 points after 12 months of using Grow Credit, but it is difficult to determine how those scores were impacted by other factors as well.
