Credit Strong is legit: it is run by Austin Capital Bank, an FDIC member, and it reports to all three credit bureaus with no hard pull. It is worth it if you have a thin or damaged credit file and can pay about $28 a month without ever being late. Skip the 10-year MAGNUM plans until you have read the interest math below, and price the three cheaper alternatives first.
Credit Strong at a glance
Best for a thin file and a steady $28 a monthThe takeaway Price Instal first. You pay $28 a month for 48 months plus a $15 fee and get $1,010 back, so four years of reported payments cost $349. The 10-year MAGNUM plans cost far more in interest than the monthly payment suggests.
Prices, fees and rates are from Credit Strong’s own site and plan schedules at this update. Credit Strong is a division of Austin Capital Bank SSB, Member FDIC. No credit score increase is guaranteed.
Credit Strong does not hand you money to spend. It opens a small loan or credit line in your name, locks it, and reports your monthly payments to Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. We checked every price, fee and rate in this review against Credit Strong’s own site and plan schedules for this update. Still comparing? Start with our list of the best credit builder loans.
Is Credit Strong legit?
Yes. Credit Strong is a division of Austin Capital Bank SSB, a Texas state savings bank based in Austin. The FDIC’s BankFind database lists the bank as active and insured since January 2006, under certificate 58082. Many credit builder apps are tech companies that partner with a bank. Here the bank runs the product itself.
Your account shows up on your credit report under the name Austin Capital Bank SSB. The part of each payment that goes toward principal sits in a locked savings account at the bank, which Credit Strong describes as FDIC insured.
Legit is not the same as loved. Customer ratings are poor, and the complaints follow a pattern you can avoid. We get to that in what customers say.
Is Credit Strong worth it?
It depends on which plan you pick. The three personal accounts have very different price tags.
- Instal is the fair deal. You pay $28 a month for 48 months plus a $15 activation fee, and you get $1,010 back. Four years of reported payments cost you $349.
- Revolv is good at one job. From $99 a year, it reports a credit line of $1,000 or more with a zero balance, which lowers your credit utilization. The yearly price does not come back.
- MAGNUM is the expensive one. The $1,000 plan runs 10 years at $16 a month. You pay in $1,945 with the fee and get $1,000 back.
If you want the lowest cost per month of credit history, Credit Strong does not win. Self runs a similar loan for 24 months, and its $25 plan costs $89. Kikoff charges $5 a month with no loan at all. Where Credit Strong stands out is length: one Instal account gives you 48 months of payment history from a single signup.
Credit Strong plans and what each one costs
Credit Strong sells three personal accounts and one for businesses. If you have read older reviews, note that the CS Max account they describe is no longer on Credit Strong’s site. The long-term plan is now called MAGNUM.
| Account | What gets reported | Price | Term | What comes back |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revolv | A revolving credit line of $1,000 to $10,000 at 0% APR | $99 to $399 a year, or $15 to $40 a month on the four smaller plans | Renews every year | Only the optional savings you add. The plan price is not returned |
| Instal | A $1,010 installment loan | $28 a month plus a $15 activation fee, 15.61% APR | 48 months | $1,010. The finance charge is $349 |
| MAGNUM | An installment loan of $1,000 to $25,000 | $16 to $310 a month plus a $25 administrative fee, 8.53% to 15.45% APR | Up to 120 months | The principal you have paid, less interest and fees |
| CS Business | A business installment loan of $5,000 to $50,000 at 0% interest | $100 to $2,000 a month plus a one-time fee of $349 to $999 | 25 or 50 months | Every monthly payment, as savings. The one-time fee is the cost |
Prices, terms and rates are from Credit Strong’s plan pages and schedules at this update. All personal plans report to Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.
Revolv: a credit line you cannot spend
Revolv is a revolving line of credit with a 0% APR and no card attached. Nothing is lent to you and there is nothing to swipe. Its whole job is to show up on your reports as available credit with a zero balance, which pulls down your utilization ratio. Credit Strong says it reports a new Revolv account to the bureaus within 15 days of your subscription payment.
| Revolv plan | Credit line reported | Paid monthly | Paid yearly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $1,000 | $15 a month | $99 |
| Plus | $2,500 | $25 a month | $199 |
| Max | $3,500 | $30 a month | $249 |
| Pro | $5,000 | $40 a month | $299 |
| Pro Plus | $7,500 | Yearly only | $349 |
| Pro Max | $10,000 | Yearly only | $399 |
Pay yearly if you can. Starter is $99 for the year, or $180 if you pay $15 a month. The plan price is a subscription that renews every year and is not returned.
You can add an optional monthly savings payment on top. All of it goes into your savings and comes back to you, and Credit Strong says on-time savings payments are reported and can raise your credit line. One warning: once you switch that payment on, treat it like a bill. Credit Strong only lets you set it back to $0 while the account is current.
Revolv helps most when high credit card balances are dragging your score down. If you are new to credit, Credit Strong points you to Instal instead.
Instal: the entry-level loan
Instal is a $1,010 credit builder loan. You pay a $15 activation fee today, then $28 a month for 48 months, at a 15.61% APR. The loan sits in a locked savings account while you pay it down, and the $1,010 is released to you at the end.
By Credit Strong’s own numbers, you pay $1,359 in total and get $1,010 back, a finance charge of $349. Its schedule shows what leaving early looks like too. After 12 payments you have paid $351 with the fee and built $199.83 in savings. After 24, it is $687 paid and $431.30 saved.
MAGNUM: big numbers, long commitment
MAGNUM reports an installment loan of $1,000 to $25,000. Credit Strong’s pitch is that a large loan paid on time builds a stronger credit profile. The trade is time. Every MAGNUM plan carries a $25 administrative fee, and at the minimum payment each one runs 120 months.
| MAGNUM plan | Minimum payment | APR | Paid over 120 months | Returned at the end | Interest plus fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $1,000 | $16 a month | 15.45% | $1,920 | $1,000 | $945 |
| $2,000 | $30 a month | 13.44% | $3,600 | $2,000 | $1,625 |
| $4,000 | $55 a month | 11.11% | $6,600 | $4,000 | $2,625 |
| $10,000 (XL) | $135 a month | 10.57% | $16,200 | $10,000 | $6,225 |
| $25,000 (XL) | $310 a month | 8.53% | $37,200 | $25,000 | $12,225 |
Payments, rates and payouts are from Credit Strong’s own MAGNUM plan schedules at this update. The last column is our math: total payments plus the $25 fee, minus what is returned.
The early years are almost all interest. On the $1,000 plan, $12.32 of your first $16 payment is interest and $3.68 goes to savings. After a full year you have paid $192 and built $47.30. Close the account then and that, less any interest or fees owed, is what comes back.
Credit Strong is upfront about who should pass. Its MAGNUM page says the account may not be right for you if you might need to close it within 24 months, cannot make the payment on time every month, or plan to apply for a mortgage or a large personal loan in the next 12 months. It also says MAGNUM is not designed to build savings, and that a new account may need 90 days and three payments before it shows on your reports.
You can shorten the term by paying extra. Credit Strong’s schedule shows the $1,000 plan paid off in 40 months at $32 a month, which cuts the interest from about $920 to about $270.
CS Business: for a company, not a person
CS Business builds credit under your company’s EIN, and it works differently from the personal plans because there is no interest. You pay a one-time fee of $349 to $999, then make 25 or 50 monthly payments that all come back as savings. Plans report $5,000 to $50,000 of credit to Equifax, Experian, PayNet and SBFE. It is open to LLCs, S corporations, C corporations and general partnerships, and Credit Strong says there is no hard pull on your personal or business credit.
How Credit Strong works, step by step
Signing up takes a few minutes online. There is no credit check, no minimum score and no income requirement.
Before you start Have your Social Security number or ITIN, your phone and a checking account ready. Pay from checking if you can, because Credit Strong adds a convenience fee to debit card payments.
You need to be 18 or older and a permanent U.S. resident with a physical U.S. address. Credit Strong is not available in Vermont or Wisconsin. With no credit check, the usual reasons for a denial are an identity it cannot verify, a first payment that fails, or past banking problems.
Installment accounts usually appear on your credit reports 30 to 60 days after your first payment. Do not panic if your score dips at first. Credit Strong notes that a new account can cause a small, temporary drop because it lowers the average age of your credit. You also get a free FICO Score 8 in your dashboard each month, so you can watch the trend without paying for monitoring.
What happens if you miss a payment
This is the part that decides whether Credit Strong helps you or hurts you. You get a 14-day grace period after the due date. At 15 days late, Credit Strong charges a late fee of 4% of the missed payment, which is $1.12 on a $28 Instal payment. Once a loan payment is more than 30 days late, it is reported to the credit bureaus.
The fee is small. The late mark is not. Negative information can generally stay on a credit report for seven years, and one late payment on a credit builder loan can undo the reason you opened it. Set up autopay from a checking account. If you know you cannot pay, close the account before day 30.
Canceling and getting your money back
You can close any Credit Strong account at any time, by chat or by phone at 833-850-0850, with no cancellation penalty. On an installment plan, Credit Strong uses the locked loan funds to pay off the balance, reports the loan as paid and closed, and sends you whatever savings are left.
What you do not get back is the interest you have paid, the activation or administrative fee, or a Revolv subscription. That is why leaving early feels like a bad deal. Most of each early payment was interest, so the savings balance is smaller than the total you paid in.
What a credit builder loan can and cannot do
A credit builder loan does one thing well. It puts a real account on your reports and adds an on-time payment every month. Payment history is the biggest piece of a FICO Score, at 35%, and your mix of account types counts for another 10%. If your file is thin, that is exactly what it is missing.
It cannot erase anything. Credit Strong says plainly that it is not a credit repair service and does not remove negative history, so old collections and late payments stay where they are. If those are your problem, read what credit repair costs and what it can actually fix.
It also cannot promise a number. Credit Strong advertises an average first-year FICO Score 8 increase of 88 points, and the footnote matters. That figure is for users who signed up in 2024, started with a score below 550 and made 12 successful monthly payments. If you start higher, or you miss a payment, it does not describe you. Credit Strong’s own disclosure says no credit score increase is guaranteed and individual results will vary.
So set your expectations by where you are starting. The lower and thinner your file, the more a new on-time account can move it. If you already have a few accounts in good standing, the same loan adds little and the interest buys you less. Not sure where you stand? Our guide to credit score ranges shows what each tier means to a lender.
MoreHow to improve your credit score
What customers say about Credit Strong
Credit Strong’s site is full of five-star testimonials. The independent picture is rougher. When we checked for this update, it scored 1.5 out of 5 on Trustpilot from 108 reviews, and 77% of those were one star. The Better Business Bureau rated it B minus, had not accredited it, and listed 64 complaints, one of them unresolved.
Some context is fair. Trustpilot itself notes that Credit Strong has not been inviting customers to leave reviews, so the page skews toward people with a problem. Even so, the same two complaints come up again and again.
- Getting back less than they paid in. Customers who close early are surprised by how little savings they have built. The schedules above show why: early payments are mostly interest.
- Being reported late. Customers who fell behind found a late payment on their credit reports. That is how any loan works, but it stings more on a product you bought to build credit.
Neither is a scam. Both are the product working as written, and both are avoidable if you pick a short plan, automate the payment and close the account before you ever go 30 days late. One more gap: there is no Credit Strong mobile app yet. Its site says one is coming for iOS and Android, and for now you manage the account in a browser.
Credit Strong pros and cons
- Run by an FDIC member bank, not a middleman app
- No credit check and no hard pull to open
- Reports to Experian, Equifax and TransUnion
- Instal returns $1,010 after 48 payments
- Close any time with no cancellation penalty
- Free FICO Score 8 every month
- MAGNUM runs 10 years and early payments are mostly interest
- Close early and you get back less than you paid in
- Revolv’s yearly price is never returned
- A late mark after 30 days can undo your progress
- No mobile app yet
- Trustpilot score of 1.5 out of 5 from 108 reviews
Who Credit Strong is right for
- You have no credit or a thin file and want a bank installment loan on your reports
- You can put $28 a month on autopay and leave it there for the full 48 months
- High card balances are holding your score down and a $99 a year Revolv line would lower your utilization
- Money is tight enough that a missed payment is likely, because a late mark hurts more than the account helps
- You want the cheapest route, since Self’s $25 plan costs $89 over 24 months and Kikoff is $5 a month
- You are eyeing MAGNUM but may apply for a mortgage in the next year or close the account within two
How Credit Strong compares
Credit Strong’s edge is that a bank runs it and one account can report for four years or longer. Its weakness is cost. These three do the same core job, a monthly payment reported to the credit bureaus with no hard pull, and each beats Credit Strong on price or flexibility.
| Credit builder | Payment | You get back | Net cost | Reports to | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Credit Strong Instal | $28 a month for 48 months, plus $15 | $1,010 | $349 | Experian, Equifax, TransUnion | See plans |
 Self | $25 a month for 24 months | $511 | $89 | Experian, Equifax, TransUnion | Get started |
 Kikoff | $5 a month, no set term | Nothing | $60 a year | Equifax, Experian, TransUnion | Get started |
 Kovo | $10 a month for 24 months | Nothing | $240 | TransUnion, Equifax, Experian, Innovis | Apply now |
Prices and terms are from each company’s own site at this update. Net cost is our math from those published figures: what you pay in minus what comes back. App Store ratings in the cards below are as shown at this update. None of these products can guarantee a higher score.
Self
Closest match, at a lower costCompared with Credit Strong The same idea as Instal in half the time. On the $25 plan you pay $600 over 24 months and get $511 back, a finance charge of $89 at a 15.92% APR, with no hard pull. Self lists no activation fee. It is rated 4.8 on the App Store from about 334,000 ratings.
The catch You get 24 months of history, not 48, and a late payment is reported the same way. Self is not a bank. Its accounts are made by partner banks that are FDIC members. Our Self review has the full breakdown.
Kikoff
Cheapest way to startCompared with Credit Strong No loan, no interest and no long commitment. The $5 Basic plan reports a $750 tradeline to Equifax, Experian and TransUnion with no credit check. That is $60 a year, against about $87 a year for Instal. It is rated 4.9 on the App Store from about 274,000 ratings.
The catch Nothing comes back, because you are paying for a service and not into savings. The bigger tradelines cost more, at $20 a month for $2,500 and $35 a month for $3,500. See our Kikoff review before you pick a tier.
Kovo
Reports to a fourth bureauCompared with Credit Strong One flat plan: $10 a month for 24 months, with no hard pull and an instant decision. Kovo reports to TransUnion, Equifax, Experian and Innovis, a fourth bureau the others skip. It is rated 4.9 on the App Store from more than 12,000 ratings.
The catch Like Kikoff, there are no savings at the end. The $240 pays for the installment plan, ID monitoring and learning tools. Kovo says approval depends on identity and income checks. Our Kovo review covers how it works.
If rent is your biggest monthly bill, getting it reported is another way to add payment history without a loan, and our list of rent reporting services compares the options. Want more than these three? Our best credit building apps roundup covers the whole category.
How to get started with Credit Strong
If Credit Strong fits, opening an account is quick.
Before you start Decide on the plan before you click. Instal is where most people should start, and you can add Revolv later. Credit Strong allows up to two installment accounts and two Revolv accounts at a time.
Put the due date in your calendar anyway. Autopay fails when the linked account is short, and a failed payment is still a missed payment.
The bottom line on Credit Strong
Credit Strong is a real credit builder from a real bank. It reports to all three bureaus, skips the hard pull and lets you leave whenever you want. For someone with no credit or a damaged file who can commit to $28 a month, Instal is a reasonable way to buy four years of on-time payment history for $349.
We rate it 4 stars. It loses a star for the 10-year MAGNUM plans, where interest eats most of the early payments, and for customer ratings that show too many people signed up without understanding that.
Start with Credit Strong’s plans if you want the long history, and pick Instal. If you would rather spend less, Self does a similar loan in 24 months for $89, and Kikoff is $5 a month with a 45-day guarantee.
Credit Strong FAQs
It can be, on the right plan. The Instal account at Credit Strong costs $28 a month for 48 months plus a $15 fee and returns $1,010, so four years of reported payments cost $349. The 10-year MAGNUM plans are much more expensive: the $1,000 plan returns $1,000 after you pay in $1,945. If low cost matters most, Self runs a 24-month plan that costs $89, and Kikoff is $5 a month.
Yes. Credit Strong is a division of Austin Capital Bank SSB, a Texas state savings bank that the FDIC lists as active and insured since January 2006. It reports to Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, and it does not run a hard credit check. Customer ratings are low, at 1.5 out of 5 on Trustpilot from 108 reviews at this update, mostly from people who closed early and got back less than they expected or who were reported late.
It returns the principal, not the interest or fees. On Instal you get $1,010 back after 48 payments. If you close early, Credit Strong pays off the loan with the locked funds and sends you the savings you have built, which is less than the total you paid in because early payments are mostly interest. Its schedule shows $199.83 in savings after the first 12 Instal payments. A Revolv subscription is not returned.
Revolv costs $99 to $399 a year depending on the credit line, or $15 to $40 a month on the four smaller plans. Instal costs a $15 activation fee and $28 a month for 48 months at a 15.61% APR, a total finance charge of $349. MAGNUM costs a $25 administrative fee and $16 to $310 a month for up to 120 months, at APRs from 8.53% to 15.45%. A late payment adds a fee of 4% of the missed payment after a 14-day grace period.
No. Credit Strong says it does not use a credit report to decide eligibility, so there is no hard inquiry and no minimum score. You can still be denied if it cannot verify your identity, if your first fee payment fails, or over past banking behavior.
Credit Strong says Revolv accounts are reported within 15 days of your subscription payment and installment accounts typically within 30 to 60 days of your first payment. MAGNUM can take longer. Credit Strong says the account may need to be open for 90 days with three payments made before it is reported. Each bureau updates on its own schedule.
You have a 14-day grace period. At 15 days past due, Credit Strong charges a late fee of 4% of the missed payment. If a loan payment is more than 30 days late, it is reported to the credit bureaus, which can lower your score. If you cannot pay, Credit Strong suggests closing the account before that point.
Yes. You can close an account by chat or by calling 833-850-0850, and there is no early cancellation penalty. On an installment plan the locked funds pay off the loan and any savings left over are sent to you. Fees and interest already paid are not refunded, and a Revolv subscription covers the full year.
Revolv is a revolving credit line with a 0% APR that lowers your credit utilization. Instal is a $1,010 installment loan paid over 48 months. MAGNUM is a larger installment loan, from $1,000 to $25,000, paid over up to 10 years. You can hold Revolv and an installment plan together to cover both account types.
