These services can help build your credit score: But are they worth it?

In the hunt to find ways to boost your credit score, you’ll encounter many free and paid credit-building options on the market. There are services that can help boost your score by sharing payments for rent, utilities, streaming services and more with the three major credit bureaus. There are also services that help build your credit with loans that report regular payments to the three bureaus and via targeted secured credit cards.

Your FICO credit score is made up of five components:

1. Payment history (35 percent)
2. Amounts owed (30 percent)
3. Length of credit history (15 percent)
4. New credit (10 percent)
5. Credit mix (10 percent)

Credit-building products can help with all five, with a focus on payment history, length of credit history and credit mix.

Credit building: A brief history

Kristian Lund is the senior vice president of market innovation and strategy at Self Financial. But before that, he co-founded RentTrack in 2012, one of the first companies that allowed renters to have their payments sent to the three credit bureaus to help build their credit scores.

“In the financial crash of 2008, over five million people lost their homes or had them taken away,” says Lund. “The [then]-new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau published a paper on ways to help a lot of these people by getting more non-debt-based data into the credit ecosystem.”

In 2013, Lund went to Experian to see how RentTrack could bring rent reporting to the masses. “We worked with them and figured out how to get data from property management companies and landlords to give consumers an opportunity to start reporting,” he says. “We were approved to report in [May] 2014. We were approved to report to TransUnion in mid 2014 and Equifax was approved around November 2014.” RentTrack was acquired by Self in 2022.

Six credit-building apps available today

The credit-building sector now stands at $845 million, with three million accounts held by 2.8 million individuals, according to a 2024 Federal Reserve report on the industry.

Below are six credit-building products currently on the market you may want to consider.

Ava

The company has two products: its save-and-build credit account and the Ava Card*.

With the save-and-build account, which can be opened on the Ava app, you’re given a “pretend” card with a credit limit up to $2,500 designed to help lower your credit utilization ratio. You turn on autopay, and $25 a month is automatically withdrawn from your chosen bank and deposited to your Ava credit account. Your payments are reported to the three credit bureaus, which helps you build a positive loan history.

After 12 months of on-time payments, you can access your original $300 and may see a noticeable rise in your credit score due to your low credit utilization of the pretend card’s limit. I can personally attest to these results; my Experian VantageScore 3.0 score rose 97 points after a year of using Ava’s save-and-build credit account — not too shabby for a free product.

The company’s second product is the Ava Card, which comes with its own “pretend” credit limit of up to $2,500, again to show low credit utilization. The card is connected to your bank account and your credit limit is tied to your balance. The card doesn’t charge interest or late fees, but it does come with a monthly membership fee of $9 a month or $72 a year.

Once the account is opened, the card works by setting up automatic payments to 60+ Ava vendors, including Allstate, Amazon Prime, HP Instant Ink, 24 Hour Fitness, Every Plate and Xfinity. Every time a recurring payment is made, it’s taken from your bank account and reported to the three credit bureaus, building positive credit and showing a lower credit utilization.

When it comes to the Ava Card, it’s important to determine whether the $72 annual fee makes sense for you. If you use a lot of the vendors on the card’s list, it may be worth it, since users report their credit scores rising from between 37 points and 132 points based on Ava data between Jan. 1, 2023 and Dec. 31, 2023.

But if there aren’t enough vendors on the list that you use, you may want to consider secured credit cards, such as the Capital One Platinum Secured Credit Card. This card comes with more spending flexibility, no annual fees, isn’t connected to your bank account and gives you the chance to switch to one of its unsecured cards after a history of successful usage.

Credit Strong

Unlike many credit-building products, Credit Strong is backed by a bank, Austin Capital Bank, which means your funds are FDIC-insured for up to $250,000. The company claims it can raise a FICO 8 score by 45 to 86 points, but notes that, “Everyone’s credit profile is as unique as their fingerprint, so there’s no way for us to determine exactly how much a CreditStrong account may benefit you.”

Customers can sign up for one of two personal credit-building loan families: the Instal and the CS MAX. The borrowed funds go into a savings account, which is then locked to secure it. With both options, you make a fixed monthly payment of principal and interest on the loan, currently at 15.61 percent for Instal 28 and 6.99 percent for CS Max 49. The principal is credited to the locked savings account, while the interest covers the bank’s loan costs.

Payments are reported to the three credit bureaus, and you earn interest on your savings account. Once the loan is paid, the money in the savings account is returned to you. You then have a good payment history on your credit report and money that can go toward paying off debt. Here are the details of the two loans:

Instal loan

CS MAX loan

The current average personal loan interest rate is 12.65 percent, according to Bankrate monitor data for June 2025. Bankrate’s loan calculator found that Instal 28’s 48-month loan will cost you $359.53 in interest, while the CS MAX 49’s 60-month loan adds up to $474.17.

Some may not be comfortable paying that much interest on these loans, but others may feel the credit score boost — and the payout — may be worth it, especially if you use the funds to pay off debt or put them in a savings account. Other credit-boosting options, such as a secured credit card or credit-building loans with lower interest rates, may be a better option.

Dovly

This company uses what it calls an “AI credit engine” to check for inaccuracies on your credit report, which, if fixed, could lead to a boost to your credit score. The free version targets those with only a few errors in their credit history or who want to test the product out before committing to the paid version. It comes with a monthly TransUnion credit report and score, and it provides guidance on how to dispute any issues found in your TransUnion report.

For $39.99 a month or $99.99 a year, Dovly’s paid version is best for people with low credit scores that keep them from getting traditional credit cards or loans with good terms. Perks include unlimited AI-powered disputes to the three credit bureaus, a weekly credit report and score, $1 million in identity theft protection and credit monitoring alerts.

Dovly claims to offer a 37-point average credit score increase with its free product and an 82-point average boost for the paid one, based on surveys of free and paid members conducted in March 2025.

Be aware that while Dovly does help you dispute inaccuracies with all three credit bureaus, you’ll only get your TransUnion credit report and score with the company’s paid and free subscriptions. Other credit-building companies offer credit reports and scores from all three bureaus — for a lower monthly fee.

Experian Boost

Created in 2019, this free product reports up to two years’ worth of bills with on-time payments, including phone, rent, utilities, satellite and cable television, insurance, internet and video streaming services, to Experian.

Experian Boost works by connecting to the bank or credit card account you use to pay the majority of your bills. It then searches for bills with at least three payments in the last six months, including one within the last three months.

Once you verify the information, those bill payments are added to your Experian file, boosting your FICO 8 credit score by an average of 13 points. But know that this score isn’t shared with Equifax or TransUnion.

“It’s been reported that it doesn’t work for everyone, and when it does, it only has an effect on FICO 8 EX score. If a lender is using another scoring model, the boost is essentially useless,” writes JoeRockhead, a community leader and senior contributor in MyFICO’s general credit topics forum.

While you may see your credit score rise using Experian Boost, it’s also important to understand that you must stay enrolled in the program to keep that benefit. If you leave the program, your credit score will drop, since your bills are no longer being reported.

Kikoff

Users of this product receive what Kikoff calls a “tradeline,” though it’s really just a line of credit. You can choose from three plans:

There’s no credit check with Kikoff. Instead, you open your Kikoff account with a Social Security number or Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN). The monthly fee you pay for the service is tied to the debit card you signed up with.

Your monthly plan payment and the purchase of financial education materials in the Kikoff Store, including eBooks and eCourses, are charged to your line of credit, which is paid via your debit card. In turn, you’re keeping your credit utilization low and building a payment history that’s reported to the credit bureau.

But with so many free financial education materials (including Bankrate) and lower-cost credit-building options on the market, you may want to compare other credit-building products to Kikoff before deciding if it’s best for you.

There’s also the Kikoff Secured Credit Card*, which can be opened with only a $50 deposit and has no credit check or fees. Like any secured card, it’s designed to build your payment history as you use it and make regular, on-time payments. The credit limit is set by how much you add to your Kikoff Mastercard debit card, and payments are reported to all three credit bureaus.

Unlike most secured cards, this one offers cash back, but only on purchases by participating merchants. Only customers can see participating merchants — and the amount of cash back earned — from the offers tab on Kikoff’s app or via promotional emails.

Another unique feature of Kikoff’s secured card is its $200 bonus promotion. However, in order to earn this bonus, new customers must set up direct deposit, put a minimum of $500 a month in the account for three months and spend more than $200 per month for three months.

Not everyone can afford to pay $1,500 over three months and meet the required spending to get the bonus. While the cash back you earn on the card could be tempting, it won’t help if you don’t know which merchants are participating — or how much you can earn — until after you sign up.

The company claims its customers with credit scores below 600 can see their scores rise by 84 points when they use the card responsibly. But there are other secured cards — with no annual fee or credit check — that offer better cash back and aren’t tied to your bank account.

For example, consider the Discover it® Secured Credit Card, which also comes with no annual fee but offers 2 percent cash back at gas stations and restaurants (up to $1,000 in combined purchases each quarter, then 1 percent) and 1 percent back on all other purchases. Plus, Discover matches all the cash back you earn in your first 12 months and gives you the chance to upgrade to one of its unsecured credit cards.

Self

Self offers the following products: The secured Self Visa® Credit Card¹, a credit-building loan, free rent reporting and a paid reporting service that can share additional payments with TransUnion.

With the free version of Self’s reporting tool, customers can have their rent payments reported to all three credit bureaus. For an additional fee of $6.95 per month, Self will report up to five utility and cell phone payments per month to TransUnion (though, as with Experian Boost, it would be better if these payments were reported to all three credit bureaus). For a one-time fee of $49.95, Self’s Lookback will search 24 months’ of payment history on rent, utility and phone bills.

Like Credit Strong, Self has bank backing. Its credit builder accounts are held by partners Lead Bank, Sunrise Banks, N.A., or First Century Bank, N.A., all of which are FDIC members.

As with Ava’s credit builder account, I’ve used the secured Self Visa card to build my credit. Previously, the secured card was only available to customers who had the separate Self Credit Builder Account. But in January 2025, Self unveiled that its secured card could be opened with only a $100 deposit, no credit check or minimum credit score required.

When I first applied, I was required to make three monthly payments of $25 minimum into a connected Credit Builder Account to open the secured card, with the balance serving as my credit limit. I then transferred to a two-year plan where I deposited $150 a month into my account for two years to grow my credit limit. In March 2025, when my two-year plan was completed, I had $3,069 in my bank account, and my credit score was up 44 points since February 2025.

As a part of this program, I was charged an interest rate of 15.82 percent, which cost me $531 over the life of the two-year plan. I felt using the credit builder account was helpful, but some may balk at the card’s current interest rate of 28.24% APR Variable.

The bottom line

When it comes to choosing between credit-building products, ask the following questions before making a final decision:

1. Should I take advantage of these free or paid services as part of my credit improvement journey?
2. Do the services I’m considering report to all three of the credit bureaus?
3. Are the fees I’ll pay worth an undetermined boost to my credit score?

The truth is, there’s a lot you can do by yourself to build your credit score. For example, you can go to AnnualCreditReport.com, request copies of your credit history from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion and comb through them to check for inaccuracies. Once you’ve compiled any errors you’ve found, you can dispute them with the credit bureaus yourself.

Other options include working with nonprofit credit counseling agencies, applying for a secured credit card or becoming an authorized user on another person’s credit card.

However, everyone’s credit journey is different. Those with either no history or who are trying to rebuild may be more comfortable working with credit-building companies to help improve their scores. It’s up to you to look at each product and what they offer, do the math on those that charge for their service and decide if the potential boost to your credit score is worth it.

*The information about the Ava Card and Kikoff Secured Credit Card has been collected independently by Bankrate. The card details have not been reviewed or approved by the issuer.