Self Financial Public Community (2024)

FAQs

Is self-financial legit? ›

BBB files indicate Self Financial Inc. has a pattern of complaints concerning contract and credit reporting issues. Specifically, consumer complaints allege objections about debts listed on their credit report including questions regarding liability for debts from Self Financial and/or Lead Bank.

Your minimum payment is past due.

The card balance is over the credit limit. Log in and pay the card balance down below the credit limit to use your card again. It may take up to 5 business days for your available credit to update and your card to unlock.

Overview of Self Credit Builder

Self claims that the average customer raises their credit score by 49 points. Self's credit builder loan is one of the few credit-builder loans available in all 50 states. Self offers four payment plans that cost $25 - $150 monthly, all of which take 24 months to complete.

Seen in Public Community. Many people who are young, new to the U.S., or those who have never applied for a loan or credit card do not have a credit score. If you do not see a credit score in your Self dashboard, then it could mean you are one of the 26 million “credit invisible” adults in the U.S.

Drawbacks of Self-Financing

While self-financing has many benefits, it also has some drawbacks, including: Limited access to capital, which can limit the company's growth potential. Increased risk, as the company is solely responsible for funding its operations and growth.

(If you need access to money immediately, consider getting a personal loan instead.) Once you finish your account, it takes up to 3 weeks for your money to arrive, depending on the payout method you chose.

The maximum secured credit limit you'll be able to get with the Self Visa credit card is $3,000. That means the maximum amount of money you're allowed to move from your Credit Builder CD to your Self Visa is $3,000.

Since the Self Visa ® Credit Card is a credit card, not a debit card, and does not provide cash advances, it is not set up for you to withdraw cash from an ATM. Instead, buy something directly using your Self card anywhere in the U.S. Visa is accepted, then pay your credit card balance by the due date.

Your card may be declined for a number of reasons: the card has expired; you're over your credit limit; the card issuer sees suspicious activity that could be a sign of fraud; or a hotel, rental car company, or other business placed a block (or hold) on your card for its estimated total of your bill.

Can I end my self-loan early? ›

After all payments are made, you get access to the money minus the finance charges (the administrative fee and the interest you are charged). If you decide to close your account before it's paid off, you can access the money in the CD, minus fees and interest, and the amount you still owe.

Choose a payment plan that's right for your budget

With the Self Credit Builder Account, you can typically choose to deposit $25, $35, $48 or $150 per month over a 24-month term (length may vary). However, taking on a larger loan doesn't necessarily mean you'll build or rebuild your credit faster.

Credit isn't a one-and-done thing, so if you finish your Self account and don't keep building credit after, your credit score may take a hit.

How Fast Could Self Build Your Credit Score? It generally takes at least six months to build your credit score from scratch. This is the amount of time FICO needs to calculate your credit score.

Since the Self Visa Credit Card account is separate from the Credit Builder Account, we report it as a separate tradeline to the 3 major credit bureaus — Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion.

Self helps you to build or rebuild your credit by reporting your timely payments to all three credit bureaus, but it reports late payments, as well. If you're not careful, you may find yourself in a situation where you're paying fees and interest to build your credit, only to find your credit score plummeting.

After all payments are made, you get access to the money minus the finance charges (the administrative fee and the interest you are charged). If you decide to close your account before it's paid off, you can access the money in the CD, minus fees and interest, and the amount you still owe.

Self reports on-time payments to the three major consumer credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, which makes its credit-builder loan a good way to build credit — as long as you make payments on time and in full.

Key takeaways. The Self – Credit Builder Account with Secured Visa® Credit Card is a good tool for building credit when you have bad or no credit history and don't yet have enough money for a security deposit, but it's not for everyone.