Brigit is an app that offers several features including the following.
Budgeting ToolsCash Advances up to $250Automatic Advances to Avoid OverdraftCredit Builder Loans
This review will focus on the credit-building feature, but you’ll want to be aware of the other options as well. They are included in the package and will influence your decision on the total value of the package.
Brigit offers you an interest-free Credit Builder Loan. You pay just $1 monthly and Brigit reports your payments to all three credit bureaus.
Brigit Credit Builder Review & Reviews
Brigit Credit Builder places an installment loan on your credit record. The money you borrow is placed in a blocked savings account. Brigit then uses your payments and the money in the account to repay the loan and reports the payments to all three credit bureaus.
Pros
Reports to all 3 credit bureaus
cons
First dip in credit score
How Brigit Credit Builder Works
You start by creating an account with Brigit. The account costs $9.99 per month. That amount covers all Brigit’s services.
Brigit will assign you a “Brigit Score” based on your bank account activity. There is no credit check.
If you decide to use the app’s credit-building feature, Brigit will create an installment loan and deposit the money into an account with Coastal Community Bank. Brigit determines the amount of the loan, based on your Brigit score.
You pay off the loan. This is done in two parts:
You pay an amount you select, ranging from $1 to $50. The rest of your payment is made from your deposit account where your loan is held. That loan has been placed with Coastal Community Bank. Brigit reports your monthly payments to the three major credit bureaus. When the loan has been repaid in full, you will get all your contributions to the payments back.
Suppose your loan is $600, payable in 12 equal installments of $50 per month. You choose to pay $20 per month. The other $30 per month comes from the Coastal Community Bank account.
At the end of 12 months there is $240 in the account. You will get that amount back.
There is no interest on the loan. You simply pay the $9.99 monthly fee. You also have access to Brigit’s other services.
Brigit Credit Builder Subscription Details
Brigit Credit Builder is a single plan. You subscribe to the app and pay $9.99 per month. Then you can sign up for the Credit Builder program.
Brigit decides, based on your Brigit score, whether you should have a 12-month or 24-month payment plan. Brigit also determines the amount of the loan.
💡 Tip: Larger loans can have a greater impact on your credit, although there are many variables. In general, the impact of a credit-building loan will be greatest if you have a thin credit file with a limited number of registrations.
⚠️ A payment that is more than 30 days late will be reported as a late payment, which can seriously damage your credit score. If you are unable to pay, please contact Brigit to review your options.
If you are concerned about your ability to make payments, select the most affordable payment option. With monthly payments of only $1, there is no reason to make late payments.
Qualifying for a Brigit Credit Builder Account and Loan
To be eligible for the Brigit credit builder loan you must have:
A bank account that has been open for at least 60 days. You must link your bank account to Brigit. You need to have activity in your bank account 2 out of 10 days so Brigit knows it’s an active account. Your personal checking account works best for this.
customer reviews
Customer reviews of Brigit are generally positive. The app has an average of 4.8 out of 5 stars out of 158.4k ratings in the Apple App Store and 4.5 out of 5 stars out of 67k ratings in Google Play Store.
Positive reviews usually indicate that the service is functioning well. For instance:
Negative reviews are mainly focused on customer support and unclear reasons for a person’s inability to qualify.
While the overall impression of the reviews is positive, be aware that some customers report customer service issues and others.
Brigit Credit Builder Alternatives
How does Brigit Credit Builder compare to competitors? There is no other service offering that is exactly what Brigit offers, so we will compare the service to a range of other credit-building loans. To learn more about the other options, see our review of the best credit-building loans.
AppPlansFeesMonthly PaymentReports to Credit InstitutionsInterest ChargeLoan TermBrigit Credit Builder1$9.99/month for all Brigit servicesSelect from $1 to $50Experian, Equifax, TransUnionNo12 or 24 monthsSelf4$9 Setup Fee$25 to $150Experian, Equifax, TransUnion15,92,65% or up to Strong $8.95 to $25 start up fee $15 to $110Experian, Equifax, TransUnion 5.85% to 14.89%12 months to 10 yearsMoneyLion1$19.95/month for all MoneyLion servicesVaries with loan amountExperian, Equifax, TransUnion5.99 % to 29.99%Up to 12 monthsSeedFiUnspecified$1 /month$10 to $40Experian, Equifax, TransUnion4.03% to 5.26%7 to 27 monthsDigital Federal Credit UnionUnspecifiedNoneVaries with loan amountExperian, Equifax, TransUnion5%12 to 24 months
Keep in mind that comparing total costs can be difficult. Brigit only charges a monthly fee. Some credit-building loans charge a fee plus interest, others may charge interest only. If the loan charges interest, your total borrowing costs will depend on the amount you borrow and the term of the loan.
Brigit and MoneyLion – the most similar service to those reviewed above – also bundle other services with their monthly fee.
One difference between Brigit and other lenders we’ve reviewed is that Brigit will pay a portion of your loan from the proceeds of the loan. On the plus side, this makes for very low monthly payment options. On the negative side, it limits the lump sum available to you at the end of the loan term.
With other credit-building loans, you repay the entire amount borrowed and that amount, less interest, is available to you at the end of the term. At Brigit you pay less than the total loan amount because part of the loan payment is made from the loan proceeds. The amount that is available to you at the end of the term is equal to the payments that you have actually made. If you have selected a low payment amount, this amount can be quite small.
👉 If your priority is building credit with the lowest possible monthly payment, Brigit is an attractive option. Trying to save a fixed amount at the same time may seem less appealing, although you can choose to pay the full monthly payment and take the fixed amount at the end of the loan.
The verdict
Brigit places a new installment loan on your credit record with minimal risk. Your charges are $9.99 per month and you can cancel at any time without penalty. Since you can only pay $1 per month, your obligation is small and late payments are easy to avoid. You never have to upgrade, because there is only one subscription.
👉 Brigit is most effective for individuals who do not have a credit record or do not have enough information in their credit record to generate a credit score.
Because Brigit Credit Builder places an installment loan on your account, it is ideally combined with a secured credit card, which places a revolving account on your account and improves your credit mix.
Your decision about the Brigit Credit-Builder loan program also depends on whether you plan to use Brigit’s other services. Your $9.99 per month gets you optional cash advances up to $250 (depending on your Brigit score), budget tools, identity theft insurance, and other services.
If you expect to use all or most of these services, you’ll probably consider the fee good value. If you are solely looking for a lender loan and you will not be using the other services, you may be better off with a standalone credit building loan.
How we rated Brigit Credit Builder
We evaluate credit building products by comparing their key features to those of comparable products. Credit apps differ in features, so you need to compare carefully to determine what best suits your needs.
These are the criteria we used.
effectiveness
A person with few bills on the credit report will benefit the most. That’s because Credit Builder’s loan will represent a larger portion of the debt. Brigit can be effective because it reports to all three credit bureaus and because late payments are unlikely, but not impossible.
Easy to use
There have been some outages and miscommunications. However, some rave about the ease of use. We dropped points for Brigit Credit builder due to customer-reported issues with the app’s performance.
Cost
Brigit’s Credit Builder Loan does not charge interest, but there is a monthly fee. Users should weigh up the value of the service to see if it impacts the credit score enough to justify the fee. Be sure to factor in the value of Brigit’s other services when assessing the value!
support
Support scores are based on reported user experiences. Reviews of the Brigit experience are generally good, but there are customer reports pointing to support issues.
Editor’s Note: The editorial content on this page is not provided or commissioned by any financial institution or other entity. All opinions, analysis, reviews, statements or recommendations in this article are those of the author only and may not have been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities prior to publication.
This post Brigit Credit Builder Review (2022)
was original published at “https://finmasters.com/brigit-credit-builder-review/”
