cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Anyone tried Self Lender and did it raise score?

tag
Anonymous
Not applicable

Anyone tried Self Lender and did it raise score?

I'm wondering if anyone has thoughts on a program called Self Lender in which a bank opens a $550 savings in your name and you pay a set amount for 12 months until you've matched the savings amount, at which time the money becomes yours. While you're making payments, the lender is reporting your payments to the credit bureaus. It supposedly boosts your score. Is this a better way to try to boost a score vs. a secured card for someone without access to unsecured credit? What are the possible drawbacks?
Message 1 of 77
76 REPLIES 76
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Anyone tried Self Lender and did it raise score?

Credit building loans only work if a person has no open installment accounts of any kind.  If that is true, we recommend the Share Secure Loan Technique.  It would be a good deal better than what you mention.  You can find out about it here and only need to read the first 2-3 posts:

 

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Adding-an-installment-loan-the-Share-Secu...

 

There's no reason to consider the SSL technique vs. a secure card as an either-or proposition.  Both can be smart moves with both helping.  Do you have any credit cards?

Message 2 of 77
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Anyone tried Self Lender and did it raise score?

Hi there, 

 

I'm the CEO and co-founder @ self lender. One of things that's special about what we do is that we give everyone free credit monitoring — so, each month, we can track our customers' progress as they repay their credit builder accounts. I'm not going to make a sales pitch and so I'd recommend doing some research on how other self lender customers have been impacted. Some of them are on this forum.

 

Some of the drawbacks of self lender are: 1) if you don't repay your account, then you will damage your credit and 2) you have to spend $594 over 12 months for your CD to unlock with $550 (plus $0.55 of interest). So, it's not free. 

 

My suggestion: if you can afford to do both a secured credit card and self lender, you may want to consider doing both.

 

Warm regards,

James

 

Message 3 of 77
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Anyone tried Self Lender and did it raise score?

Glad you are with us, James!

Message 4 of 77
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Anyone tried Self Lender and did it raise score?

Thanks James. Can Self Lender boost scores for people who already have installment loans, such as car loans or a loan with a finance company, or is it basically a way to establish a installment loan on your credit report if you don't already have access to one?

Message 5 of 77
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Anyone tried Self Lender and did it raise score?

So, unfortunately I don’t have any data that supports the claim that “a person with an installment loan won’t get benefit from a new installment loan.”

We know on average re: credit score improvement of our customers, but we don’t know the answer to your question.
Message 6 of 77
torry590
Regular Contributor

Re: Anyone tried Self Lender and did it raise score?

I opened a self lender account and I have other installments, student loans, car loan.  It did raise my score about 15 points, I just needed more payment history on my reports that is why I opened it. 

 

and as they say YMMV, every credit profile is different. 

As of 5/2021 EX8: 616 | TU8: 665 | EQ8: 662
First Premier $700 | Capital One Secured $500 | Discover It $1,000 (formerly secured)
Capital One Quicksilver $400 | Credit One Platinum $300 | Victoria's Secret $200
Express Next $500 | Williams Sonoma Store $400 | Brylane Home $250 | Chime Credit Builder NPSL
Walmart World Mastercard $300 | Aspire Mastercard $500 | Cerulean Mastercard $750
CFNA Bosch Car Care $800 | First Premier no AF $700 | Avant Mastercard $300 no AF
Message 7 of 77
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Anyone tried Self Lender and did it raise score?


@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks James. Can Self Lender boost scores for people who already have installment loans, such as car loans or a loan with a finance company, or is it basically a way to establish a installment loan on your credit report if you don't already have access to one?


My opinion here, which may be borderline fact, is that something like Self Lender will have ZERO score boost to anyone that already possesses an open installment loan on their credit report when considering FICO scoring.  I have a feeling CGID will agree with this.  If anyone disagrees, I'd certainly like to hear their reason(s) as to why.

Message 8 of 77
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Anyone tried Self Lender and did it raise score?

I will be making my final payment on a self lender loan this December. I have done a lot to my profile over the last year, so I cant say that this has helped me specifically. However a positive tradeline is always good! They give you a vantage 3.0 credit score which is ok ish and they have some credit alerts. That being said Credit Karma is a better user interface that provides the same info. The Selflender product is excellent so not too much thought should be given on the credit scoring that they give. It would be nice if they had true Fico scores, but they do not do that as of now.

 

I am not sure how the certificate is cashed in at the end, will find out soon. The FAQ on their site doesnt appear to have info on it. I will be chatting with them soon to find out.

Beside the Vantage score.. the only gripe if you want to call it that, is the backend website is semi dated and not intuitive to use. Because of the vantage score and limited account and credit report information, there is no real need to login and check anything. Sooo

 

and thats about it.

Message 9 of 77
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Anyone tried Self Lender and did it raise score?

Appreciate the feedback! We’re building a mobile app right now and revamping the dashboard.

Additionally, by the end of the year, we’ll have two options to send money: ACH back to you or paper check. As of today, it’s only check.
Message 10 of 77
Advertiser Disclosure: The offers that appear on this site are from third party advertisers from whom FICO receives compensation.