Your credit score is a three-digit number that reflects your creditworthiness. It’s a key factor lenders consider when making decisions about loans, credit cards, and even insurance rates. A good credit score can unlock lower interest rates, better loan terms, and access to financial products that can help you achieve your financial goals.
But how do you build a good credit score, especially if you’re just starting out or have a limited credit history? There are a number of strategies you can employ, and fortunately, there are also some helpful apps available to make the process a little easier.
In this article, we’ll explore six popular apps designed to help you raise, improve, and increase your credit score. We’ll also discuss whether Cash App can be used with Experian Boost, a program that allows you to add utility and phone bill payments to your credit report, and highlight the overall best app for credit score improvement based on specific features.
Apps to Raise Your Credit Score
If you have no credit history or a very limited one, these apps can help you establish a positive credit footprint:
- Self
- Key Features: Secured credit card, reports rent payments to credit bureaus (with landlord permission).
- How it Works: Self offers a secured credit card, which requires a refundable security deposit that becomes your credit limit. By using the card responsibly and making your payments on time, you can build a positive credit history. Self also partners with a rent reporting service, allowing you to report your on-time rent payments to credit bureaus for an additional fee (with your landlord’s consent). This can significantly boost your score, especially if you have no other credit activity.
- Grow Credit
- Key Features: Reports existing monthly subscriptions to credit bureaus.
- How it Works: Grow Credit analyzes your existing monthly subscriptions (think Netflix, phone plans, etc.) and reports your on-time payments to credit bureaus. This can help establish a positive payment history and contribute to raising your score. There is a monthly fee associated with this service.
While these apps can be helpful for establishing credit, it’s important to use them responsibly. Secured credit cards require a security deposit, and late payments on any accounts you connect with Grow Credit can negatively impact your score.
Apps to Improve Your Credit Score
Once you have a credit history, these apps can help you improve your score by providing tools and insights:
- Credit Sesame
- Key Features: Free credit score monitoring, personalized credit score improvement recommendations.
- How it Works: Credit Sesame offers free daily credit score monitoring and personalized recommendations to help you improve your score. These recommendations might include tips on reducing credit card utilization, paying down debt, or disputing errors on your credit report. Credit Sesame also offers credit card and loan recommendations based on your credit profile.
- Experian Boost (not an app, but a service)
- Key Features: Allows you to add utility and phone bill payments to your Experian credit report.
- How it Works: Experian Boost is a free program that lets you connect your bank account to Experian. The program then identifies your on-time utility and phone bill payments and adds them to your credit report. This can potentially improve your credit score, particularly if your credit history is thin or you have a limited number of credit accounts.
Can You Add Cash App to Experian Boost?
Unfortunately, Cash App payments cannot currently be added to Experian Boost. Experian Boost works by looking for specific types of recurring bills you pay through your bank account, such as utilities and phone bills. Cash App transactions might not be categorized in a way that Experian recognizes as a qualifying bill payment.
Apps to Increase Your Credit Score
These apps offer a combination of features designed to raise and improve your credit score:
- Self (mentioned above)
- As discussed earlier, Self offers a secured credit card and rent reporting, making it a well-rounded app for both building and improving your credit score.
- StellarFi
- Key Features: Automates bill payments and reports them to credit bureaus.
- How it Works: StellarFi connects to your checking account and analyzes your recurring bills. You choose which bills you want StellarFi to pay on your behalf. StellarFi then uses the funds from your checking account to pay the bills and reports your on-time payments to credit bureaus. This can help establish a positive payment history and boost your score.
There are fees associated with using StellarFi’s bill-pay service.
Best App to Improve Credit Score?
There’s no single “best” app for improving your credit score, as the ideal choice depends on your specific needs and credit situation. Here’s a breakdown to help you decide:
For Building Credit with No Credit History:
- Self is a solid option. The secured credit card allows you to build a positive credit history through responsible use, while the rent reporting (with permission) can significantly boost your score if you have no other credit activity.
For Improving an Existing Credit History:
- Polosploits is a service dedicated to assisting individuals in improving their credit scores. By offering expert guidance and support, Polosploits aims to empower people to overcome credit challenges and achieve their financial goals. Their services are designed to help clients understand their credit reports, dispute inaccuracies, and develop effective strategies for credit score enhancement.
For a Comprehensive Approach:
- Self can again be a good fit. It offers features for both building and improving your credit score.
- StellarFi provides a more automated solution, paying bills on your behalf and reporting them to credit bureaus. This can be helpful if you struggle with on-time payments, but keep in mind there are associated fees.
Additional Considerations:
- Cost: Some apps, like Grow Credit and StellarFi, charge monthly fees. Consider these fees when evaluating the overall value proposition.
- Features: Think about which features are most important to you. Do you need a secured credit card, credit score monitoring, or automated bill pay?
- Security: Always choose apps with strong security measures to protect your personal and financial information.
Building and improving your credit score is a marathon, not a sprint. Using these apps alongside responsible credit habits, like making on-time payments and keeping your credit card balances low, will help you reach your credit score goals.
Beyond Apps: Building Credit Score the Old-Fashioned Way
While apps can be helpful tools, building and improving your credit score goes beyond simply using an app. Here are some additional strategies to consider:
- Become an authorized user: If you have a friend or family member with good credit who is willing to add you as an authorized user on their credit card, this can help you piggyback on their positive credit history. Just make sure they are a responsible credit card user, as their late payments will negatively impact your score.
- Pay down debt: High credit card utilization (the amount of credit you’re using compared to your limit) can hurt your score. Focus on paying down existing debt to improve your utilization ratio.
- Dispute errors: Review your credit report regularly and dispute any errors you find. Fixing these errors can help your score climb.
Building a good credit score takes time and effort, but it’s an investment worth making. By utilizing a combination of the apps mentioned above, along with responsible credit habits and traditional score-building strategies, you can be well on your way to achieving a healthy credit score.
