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Loqbox improves your credit score as you grow your savings
Feeling unsure about finances is pretty common. If you've been wondering about how to improve your credit score or want to understand it better— Loqbox can help!
We know how to increase your credit score the easy way. With Loqbox you can improve your credit score — just by saving!
Decide how much you want to save each month, starting at $20 a month, and we’ll issue you a 0% interest loan for the total amount over a year (e.g. $20 x 12 months). The maximum term of the loan is 12 months. Loqbox helps you to raise your credit score* by reporting your monthly payment to Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Plus, you’ll get a personalized financial plan to help with improving your credit score.
We know how to increase your credit score the easy way. With Loqbox you can improve your credit score — just by saving!
Decide how much you want to save each month, starting at $20 a month, and we’ll issue you a 0% interest loan for the total amount over a year (e.g. $20 x 12 months). The maximum term of the loan is 12 months. Loqbox helps you to raise your credit score* by reporting your monthly payment to Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Plus, you’ll get a personalized financial plan to help with improving your credit score.
Quick links
*Improvement of your credit score is not guaranteed and depends on your individual history and financial behavior. Failure to make on-time monthly loan repayments may result in those payments being reported to the credit bureaus and may negatively impact your credit history.
What is a credit score?
Credit can be confusing! And Loqbox wants to help you understand the ins and outs of it. Here’s the essential info to know:
Your credit history is a record of how you use credit (and how well you pay it back).
It's built up over a long period of time and helps contribute towards generating your credit score.
A scoring model helps businesses decide whether to lend to someone or not based on things like how reliable they’ve managed their credit commitments in the past — this is called creditworthiness.
Each lender will use its own way of measuring creditworthiness and the public doesn’t typically have a guarantee that they will be approved.
But it’s helpful to know how likely you are to be approved for credit before applying. That’s where credit scores come in. Credit scores are a way for you to get an idea of how a bank or lender may view you.
It’s based on things like your credit history (including any late payments), your personal details and even people you have joint accounts with.
In the US, there are three main credit bureaus (sometimes called credit reporting agencies) that create your credit score: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
As well as the different FICO and Vantage scoring systems, meaning you have multiple credit scores (not just one).
Your credit history is a record of how you use credit (and how well you pay it back).
It's built up over a long period of time and helps contribute towards generating your credit score.
A scoring model helps businesses decide whether to lend to someone or not based on things like how reliable they’ve managed their credit commitments in the past — this is called creditworthiness.
Each lender will use its own way of measuring creditworthiness and the public doesn’t typically have a guarantee that they will be approved.
But it’s helpful to know how likely you are to be approved for credit before applying. That’s where credit scores come in. Credit scores are a way for you to get an idea of how a bank or lender may view you.
It’s based on things like your credit history (including any late payments), your personal details and even people you have joint accounts with.
In the US, there are three main credit bureaus (sometimes called credit reporting agencies) that create your credit score: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
As well as the different FICO and Vantage scoring systems, meaning you have multiple credit scores (not just one).
Why is a credit score important?
Each of us have big financial goals for life! And even though they say ‘the best things in life are free’, the reality is that most of them cost a fair amount of money (sigh).
Whether you’re planning the wedding of the century, saving to get on the housing ladder or you can’t sleep because you’re dreaming of backpacking across Europe. Everyone is working towards a goal that can be supported by keeping their finances in order.
Credit histories are important because when you need to ask a bank or lender for help with a loan or mortgage, they’ll be looking to see if you’re a reliable bet to repay them. And if you have no evidence of using credit, then they may be wary to lend to you.
But overall, working towards having an improved credit score can save you $1,000s on the interest for loans, mortgages and credit cards in the future.
Whether you’re planning the wedding of the century, saving to get on the housing ladder or you can’t sleep because you’re dreaming of backpacking across Europe. Everyone is working towards a goal that can be supported by keeping their finances in order.
Credit histories are important because when you need to ask a bank or lender for help with a loan or mortgage, they’ll be looking to see if you’re a reliable bet to repay them. And if you have no evidence of using credit, then they may be wary to lend to you.
But overall, working towards having an improved credit score can save you $1,000s on the interest for loans, mortgages and credit cards in the future.
How to check your credit score
You may have heard of Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion. Each uses their own scoring model to generate your credit score. You’ll be issued a free report* once a year which you can access at annualcreditreport.com. Each CRA also offers paid subscriptions which provide more detailed information on your credit score.
If you’d like to check your credit report more often, you can use these links:
Credit Karma (uses Equifax and TransUnion data)
Credit.com (uses Experian data)
Credit Sesame (uses TransUnion data)
If you’d like to check your credit report more often, you can use these links:
Credit Karma (uses Equifax and TransUnion data)
Credit.com (uses Experian data)
Credit Sesame (uses TransUnion data)
What is a good credit score?
You have multiple credit scores — including scores based on the Vantage and (the very popular) FICO (Fair Isaac Corporation) scoring models. The latter is so popular that the terms ‘credit score’ and ‘FICO score’ are often used interchangeably. But it’s good to understand that ‘credit score’ is the umbrella term.
FICO scores range on a scale from 300-850. And generally speaking, between 670-739 is considered a ‘good’ score.
You can’t be sure which lender uses which scoring model, so it’s worth focusing on building up your credit scores overall. With a long history of healthy credit use, you’ll be improving your likelihood of being approved for, and getting the best rates on financial products.
What is a bad credit score?
Having a ‘poor’ credit score doesn’t automatically mean you’d be refused a mortgage, loan or financial product.
But you may not get as good a rate as someone with an ‘excellent’ score (who will typically get offers with much cheaper rates)!
If you peek at your credit scores and find you have a ‘good’ score with one bureau and a ‘poor’ score with another, it can be easy to feel downhearted about it.
It’s important to know that these numbers don’t define who you are as a person (you’re awesome). But if you want to get to work at improving your credit score, Loqbox can help.
But you may not get as good a rate as someone with an ‘excellent’ score (who will typically get offers with much cheaper rates)!
If you peek at your credit scores and find you have a ‘good’ score with one bureau and a ‘poor’ score with another, it can be easy to feel downhearted about it.
It’s important to know that these numbers don’t define who you are as a person (you’re awesome). But if you want to get to work at improving your credit score, Loqbox can help.
What affects your credit score?
Here are some helpful dos and don’ts for positively affecting your credit score:
✔ Spread out your credit applications.
Aim for no more than one ‘hard check’ every six months. ‘Soft checks’ don’t leave a mark on your file, but ‘hard checks’ do, so they may affect your credit score. It’s quite normal to see your score rise and fall. And each time you request to take out credit (i.e. get a mortgage or a new credit card) you’ll likely see a dip in your score until the lender starts to see you regularly paying them back.
✔ Keep on top of your payments.
Late payments, liens or bankruptcies can bring down your score and negatively affect your overall credit history. It becomes less important as time passes, but it’s still better to pay on time, every time, to develop a great credit score.
✔ Aim to keep your debts low, but the amount of credit you could borrow high.
Lenders like to see a low credit utilization (i.e. spending only a little of your available limit on your credit card).
✔ Build up your credit history over a long time.
It isn’t called a history for nothing. And not having used any credit historically can negatively affect your creditworthiness. So stick at it — you’ve got this!
How to improve credit score
Now you know what affects your credit score, you’ll likely have a good idea of how to improve and increase your credit score.
You can put this into action to start raising your credit score and feel good about being a step closer to your financial goals — woohoo! Here are some other ways to make improvements:
You can put this into action to start raising your credit score and feel good about being a step closer to your financial goals — woohoo! Here are some other ways to make improvements:
✔ Check your details and address history is correct.
Let Equifax, Experian or TransUnion know if something isn’t right. Especially if you notice anything that looks fraudulent! It’s best to fix errors as soon as you can.
✔ Ask to remove any old financial connections.
We mean any old roommates or exes that you previously had joint accounts with. Unfortunately, if they make poor financial decisions, then they could be bringing your score down too.
✔ Pay off your debts.
We know it’s a lot easier said than done — paying off debt can feel like you’re scaling a mountain in your slippers. But making a start will help your happiness levels improve with every checkpoint you reach. That’s a positive impact on your mental wellbeing, as well as your credit score.
✔ Get started with Loqbox
Just choose how much to save every month, make your payments responsibly and Loqbox will handle the rest! It’s quick and easy to get set up, and you’ll be on your way to a better credit score in no time with our regular reporting to the credit bureaus. Read here to learn how it works.
How long does it take to improve your credit score?
Your credit score will take some time to improve. Sadly, there isn’t an abracadabra moment that can improve your score overnight.
But the steps above can get you on the right path to an improved credit score. And the sooner you start, the sooner you’ll see improvement.
That said, we know it can be a long path to get your finances on track. So if you’re ever struggling to pay your debts, here are some government recommended credit counseling service links to help you.
But the steps above can get you on the right path to an improved credit score. And the sooner you start, the sooner you’ll see improvement.
That said, we know it can be a long path to get your finances on track. So if you’re ever struggling to pay your debts, here are some government recommended credit counseling service links to help you.
Improve your credit score with Loqbox
Save
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Starting at $20 a month, choose how much you want to save over a year. We’ll lock away that amount in your Loqbox. Like a digital piggy bank.
After activating your Save account, your credit score may see a dip as you are opening a new line of credit. However, as you make your regular payments and we report them to the CRAs, your score should begin to rise over time.
Build
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Pay your monthly payments to hit your savings goal. We’ll report these regular payments to the three main credit bureaus — growing your credit score as you go.
Unlock
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Once you’ve finished saving, open a new account with one of our partner banks** to make Loqbox free for you to use (they pay us a commission to keep it free for you). Or to withdraw into an existing account, it’s a one-off fee of $40 to cover your credit building journey.
**The partner bank accounts that are available are displayed on our system during the unlock process (when you withdraw your savings). The terms and conditions related to these accounts, including any applicable charges, will be provided by the financial institution during your sign-up process.
What our Loqbox members think
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"My score went up 243 points"
"The customer service is great, they always respond and take care of any issues I may have in a timely manner."
— Michelle
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United States
