Does kikoff mean anything?

[Cblough93]

I have a friend who had a credit score in the low 600s and they started using kikoff which to me sounded like one of those gimic things like experian boost. But apparently they raised their score almost 50+ points in just a couple months. (I feel I should mention they did not make any signifcant dent in their credit card debt, nor were there any significant changes in their profile besides this SSL wannabe)

I feel I should also mention the point gain was vantage, I tried to get them to check their fico score but the average person is SHOCKINGLY under informed about credit and they actually thought there was no difference between credit karma and fico, they weren't even willing to accept they could be wrong, and every time I tried to explain it they told me I was being negative so I gave up

Anyways, They chose the credit builder Loan they offer.. and once they explained it, it sounded a lot like the SSL's offered from navy fed and  the like.  Basically you put in 120 bucks, they credit you as paying $10/month for 12 months. And at the end you get your money back, and you don't pay any interest. Just the $5/month fee to sign up for The product. 

Is this actually comparable to a real SSL in any way? On paper it looks and sounds exactly the same? The biggest thing is apparently TransUnion stopped allowing them to report to them. So they only report to 2/3 bureaus now.  it sounded way too gimmicky to be real, but also sounded just like an SSL, so I was very stumped. 

[Jnbmom]

Do a search of Kikoff it has  been discussed  before 

[JoeRockhead]

Just my opinion but all "credit builder" products are nothing more than gimmicks marketed to sound like sound like credit products when in reality they are nothing but secured debit products... with a fee.  People would do much better with secured credit cards from the multitude of banks and lenders that offer them. 

[GZG]

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@JoeRockhead wrote:

Just my opinion but all "credit builder" products are nothing more than gimmicks marketed to sound like sound like credit products when in reality they are nothing but secured debit products... with a fee.  People would do much better with secured credit cards from the multitude of banks and lenders that offer them. 

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yup fintech credit builders are just worst versions of credit products that you pay for, usually never the best option for anybody

[Pppoolboy]

As someone who did a "Self" "credit-builder" secured loan, I can say... it doesn't do anything.  Positive or negative.  The loan amounts aren't enough to move the needle more than a point or two.  Not worth your time.  Now, if you could take out a $25,000 personal loan, pay 98% of it back in a month and let the rest ride for a few years... that would do something if you have no other loans on your CR.  But other than that... waste of time and money.  At least it was for me.

[FicoMike0]

I 'll add that the ssl trick works. I got 30-40 points across the bureaus on fico8. Similar boost on fico9. The loan amount doesn't seem to matter. I borrowed $2100 of my own money from penfed  for 84 months at 2.05%, got my $2100 back in about 5 weeks. Current balance $187, next payment due in 2030. The loan costs about $4 a year. It may be a fake loan, but it works. 

[CreditPoor]

I had Kickoff for about a year way back when I had a really thin profile. The way it worked is Kickoff would report $2500 credit line as a credit card and list the balance at $240. Each monthly payment of $20 would lower that $240 until it was paid off. You couldn't actually pay more than the $20, so you always had some balance and it didn't work for AZEO if that was your only balance.

IMHO, for those that could use some help with utilization or need to bolster their thin profile by adding a trade line , it does work. But once you get a few cards and a SSL loan you really don't need it unless you want to keep that $2500 reporting if you have low limits.

[FicoMike0]

The only downsides I've found with the penfed ssl is you have to come up with the loan amount to start, then wait 30 days.I