Credit Building Services In Canada, A Comparison

A good credit score has many perks and tends to set you up for a better financial future as it gives you access to a wider range of credit products at more affordable rates. This is why credit health is such an important factor in the financial lives of all Canadians. If you’ve been struggling to build better credit or aren’t sure how to start your credit improvement journey, here are four popular credit building products in Canada.

Climb – Accelerator Plan

What Is The Climb Accelerator Plan?

Climb’s Accelerator Plan is a financial program that helps Canadians build their credit and save money. This program is particularly dedicated to helping Canadians who have recently completed a consumer proposal or are in the midst of completing one. However, anyone who wants to build credit and save money can apply. It is a responsible way to save money, build credit and get your financial situation back on track.

How Does The Accelerator Plan Work?

Building your credit after a consumer proposal is difficult as most banks and lenders are unwilling to provide you with new credit. To help you in this endeavour, Climb’s Accelerator Plan provides clients with a short term secured savings loans so that they have a chance to build their credit history. However, unlike a traditional loan, you do not receive the cash outright, rather it is held in a federally regulated bank account (that does not accumulate interest) while you make payments. Once you’ve paid off the loan, the money is released to you. The twist is, each payment you make gets reported to the credit bureaus which helps build your credit.

The Accelerator plan is simple and can be explained in 3 steps:

Choose how much you want to save (and how fast you’d like to finish your consumer proposal)
Set up automatic payments, so that you don’t miss any payments and continue to build credit.
When you end the program get back all your payments and enjoy the credit score boost from your payments.

Spring Financial – Spring Savings Loan

What Is Spring Financial’s Spring Savings Loan

If you want to build your credit so you can be approved for better credit products, the Spring Savings Loan can help you. It helps Canadians build credit so that they may get better credit product offers, lower interest rates, and a higher chance of approval for mortgages. Whether you have a thin credit file or a bad one, Spring Financial can help you establish a good credit score.

How Does The Spring Savings Loan Work?

The loan you are approved for will be held in a secure trust account. In order to access the funds, you will make payments to Spring Financials, which are reported to the credit bureaus. Once you’ve paid off the “loan”, the money will be deposited into your bank account. By the end of the program, you would have built your credit score and have a decent amount of money saved. Moreover, if you complete 18 on-time payments with Spring Financial, you will be eligible for a $2,500 unsecured loan with an APR of 29.8% or less.

Refresh Financial – Credit Builder Loan

What Is The Refresh Financial Credit Builder Loan

The Credit Builder Loan is designed to help Canadians* build their credit so that they can get approved for loans at better rates. It is a safe and easy way to ensure your credit score grows while saving money.

How Does The Refresh Financial Credit Builder Loan Work?

Like the other two credit builder products, the Credit Builder Loan involves holding your loan in secure trust. Similarly, you will make payments to Refresh Financial who will report the payment as an “installment loan” to the credit bureaus. This action will be key to building your credit score. Once the “loan” has been repaid, you will be able to use all the money saved for whatever you want.

*Not available in Saskatchewan or Quebec.

Marble – MyMarble Premium

What Is Marble Premium?

MyMarble Premium is a credit improvement tool that guides you through the process of managing your credit score efficiently with AI and Point Deduction Technology. Its software analyzes your credit report, uses your own data from your connected bank account and provides you with personalized recommendations to help you improve your bottom line.

In addition, MyMarble Premium includes Point Deduction Technology which allow you to use the points and budget simulators. These tools allow you to work towards a specific credit score, within your desired budget.

How Does MyMarble Premium Work?

MyMarble Premium uses innovative software that analyzes your banking inform to determine how many credits score points you can gain or lose based on a particular action such as a payment on your car loan. This unique feature allows Canadians to track their credit-building progress on a point-by-point basis.

Moreover, MyMarble Premium allows you to track your progression and provides you with recommendations on how to get more points. MyMarble Premium’s Point Deduction Technology® can also help create a credit-improvement strategy based on your credit score goal. It will provide information on which debts to pay first and how you can gain more credit points. You can also simulate any action using the Points and Budget Simulators to determine how many points you can earn. If you’re looking for a product that does more than monitor your credit, MyMarble Premium is the way to go

Marble – Fast-Track Consumer Proposal Exit Loan

What Is Marble’s Fast-Track Loan?

Completing a consumer proposal the traditional way can take up to 5 years. Meaning, you won’t be able to build your credit for 5 years. Moreover, having a consumer proposal on your credit report makes it difficult to get approved for low-interest credit products. Often, you’ll be forced to choose payday loans and high-interest credit products to cover the cost of your needs, which increases your chance of falling back into debt. But, with Marble’s Fast Track consumer proposal exit loan, you can pay off your consumer proposal early and start building your credit right away.

How Does The Fast-Track Loan Work?

The Marble’s Fast-Track consumer proposal exit loan works by meeting with your Licensed Insolvency Trustee (LIT) to pay off your consumer proposal debt right away, using the loan you receive from Marble. Once paid off, you will create a new affordable repayment plan with Marble to pay off your debt. However, unlike the payments you make to LIT for your consumer proposal, these payments will be reported to the credit bureaus so that you can build your credit score. The Fast-Track loan lets you start rebuilding your credit right away, instead of having to wait until you complete your proposal, which can take up to five years. Depending on your financial habits, by the time you finish paying off the Fast-Track loan, your credit score could be several hundred points higher.

	MyMarble Premium	Climb	Refresh Financial	Spring Financial	Marble – Fast-Track
Reports payments to the credit bureaus	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Saves you money	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Charges interest	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Can track credit score increase	Yes	No	No	No	No

Bottom Line

Given that a credit score is an important financial tool in life, it is recommended that you put in effort into establishing a good credit score. It will provide the necessary relief you need in times of uncertainty. If you have a thin or bad credit score, either one of these credit products can help you achieve a better financial future.

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Priyanka Correia

Priyanka is a personal finance expert at Loans Canada. She is passionate about money management and educating Canadian consumers about how to take control of their financial lives. She has taken financial control of her life by using Mint to budget and track her expenses while growing her wealth by investing through Wealthsimple. She also believes in having an emergency fund, so she keeps a good sum of money in an easily accessible high-interest savings account. She also uses the American Express Cobalt Card to earn points on all her purchases, further fueling her savings goal. She also uses Loans Canada’s lender directory whenever she wants to compare rates from different lenders.