topic Is MoneyLion a Consumer Finance Account? in Rebuilding Your Credit

Is MoneyLion a Consumer Finance Account?

PerArduaAdAstra — Fri, 04 Jun 2021 07:31:33 GMT

Awhile ago I was talking with the Recon line at my Credit Union and they were going over my file with me.... I was fresh out of a rebuild and they were like "Yeah these Consumer Finance accounts don't look good and you're going to want to avoid them in the future." They listed off 3 companies that were for sure Consumer Finance Accounts, but then they mentioned MoneyLion, which I wasn't aware was considered a CFA. I figured they might have just mixed it in with the actual CFA accounts since there wen't many accounts to begin with.

Anyway, this was a couple years ago and I haven't touched a CFA with a 10 foot pole since. But I was heavily impacted by the pandemic and right now MoneyLion is offering me a $1k loan at decent terms that could really help me out. But if it is in fact a CFA that could be a dealbreaker.

Does anyone know if MoneyLion is in fact a Consumer Finance Account? Or better yet? How the heck do I see that for myself on my file? I pulled my annaul credit repots but don't see any "Consumer Finance" notation, even on the accounts I know aboslutely are Consumer Finance Accounts.

Thanks!

Re: Is MoneyLion a Consumer Finance Account?

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Jun 2021 09:57:17 GMT

@PerArduaAdAstra wrote:
Awhile ago I was talking with the Recon line at my Credit Union and they were going over my file with me.... I was fresh out of a rebuild and they were like "Yeah these Consumer Finance accounts don't look good and you're going to want to avoid them in the future." They listed off 3 companies that were for sure Consumer Finance Accounts, but then they mentioned MoneyLion, which I wasn't aware was considered a CFA. I figured they might have just mixed it in with the actual CFA accounts since there wen't many accounts to begin with.

Anyway, this was a couple years ago and I haven't touched a CFA with a 10 foot pole since. But I was heavily impacted by the pandemic and right now MoneyLion is offering me a $1k loan at decent terms that could really help me out. But if it is in fact a CFA that could be a dealbreaker.

Does anyone know if MoneyLion is in fact a Consumer Finance Account? Or better yet? How the heck do I see that for myself on my file? I pulled my annaul credit repots but don't see any "Consumer Finance" notation, even on the accounts I know aboslutely are Consumer Finance Accounts.

Thanks!

That is the part that sucks - there is literally almost no way to tell who is a CFA or not, and I found it can vary based on how they report, too, if you will be stuck with that mark for over 10 years +/-....

I only found out who my CFA was when they aged off 10 years post closing...

Re: Is MoneyLion a Consumer Finance Account?

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Fri, 04 Jun 2021 11:48:12 GMT

While not being able to tell who is a CFA sucks, it seriously isn't that big a deal. The majority of lenders aren't going to deny you credit because you took an Affirm loan. I'm not going to turn down 0 or 0.9% financing from Toyota or Honda just because they might report as a CFA.

Re: Is MoneyLion a Consumer Finance Account?

DSewnauth — Fri, 04 Jun 2021 20:47:58 GMT

If an institution wants to do business with you, it will find a way. That being said, if $1k from MoneyLion helps right now, I would say take it. Worry about the CFA nonsense later. Help yourself now so your future self can thank you. This is, of course, under the assumption you can repay moneylion in a short amount of time.

I started a new job in January. Unfortunately, my first check was lost in the mail. I used moneylion to cover a portion of my responsibilities until the situation was settled. Paid them back next paycheck. I have 0 regrets.

Re: Is MoneyLion a Consumer Finance Account?

House2021 — Sat, 05 Jun 2021 03:31:00 GMT

What is a consumer finance agency?

Re: Is MoneyLion a Consumer Finance Account?

Slabenstein — Sat, 05 Jun 2021 03:43:45 GMT

@House2021 wrote:
What is a consumer finance agency?

Roughly speaking, a consumer finance company is a financial institution that makes loans but does not take deposits, and more specifically one whose products are meant to be easier to obtain than more traditional credit. Two examples would be the companies behind in-store financing at furniture and mattress stores and some online personal loan sites like Self Lender. The CFA reason statement is supposed to flag a consumer as having used one of these lenders, which apparently is a mild risk indicator, but the actual coding as to what lenders count and what don't seems to be somewhat nebulous and arbitrary. It may, e.g., flag a consumer who takes advantage of an auto manufacturer's financing, which probably doesn't correlate with any greater future risk than any other auto loan, and not flag another lender that fits more squarely into the category of credit it's meant to indicate.

Re: Is MoneyLion a Consumer Finance Account?

GrandBay — Sat, 05 Jun 2021 04:30:12 GMT

@Slabenstein so folks doing Credit Builder loans will get dinged for opening a CFA for 10 years? is PayPal credit a CFA?

Re: Is MoneyLion a Consumer Finance Account?

Slabenstein — Sat, 05 Jun 2021 04:36:20 GMT

@GrandBay wrote:
@Slabenstein so folks doing Credit Builder loans will get dinged for opening a CFA for 10 years? is PayPal credit a CFA?

Paypal Credit isn't a CFA for two reasons: 1) it is a revolving account, and the CFA code only applies to installments and 2) it is issued by Synchrony, which is a bank. Whether a credit builder loan would be flagged as a CFA would depend on the lender.

Re: Is MoneyLion a Consumer Finance Account?

Anonymous — Sat, 05 Jun 2021 06:05:25 GMT

@GrandBay wrote:
@Slabenstein so folks doing Credit Builder loans will get dinged for opening a CFA for 10 years? is PayPal credit a CFA?

Self Lender did not ding me as a CFA.

Student Loans did ding me as a CFA - federal backed ones, since they technically do not deny you the money if you meet their income and other requirements, and it is not credit based at all, many are in fact CFAs. These are the accounts that aged off both mine and my SO's credit reports and our mortgage scores shot up. Mine +22pts and my SO was something like +43pts. Thesewere entirely positive accounts, not derog whatsoever, and when they came off actually lowered AAoA. Not a small impact, imo, especially if going for a mortgage. I still feel like it may be profile dependent, like those with lower scores/dirty profiles, that probably need the easier access to credit, get dinged more points than stronger credit profiles.

Hard to say for certain, as it takes so long for them to age off to actually see a lot of DPs to make real deductions of their impact.