SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Grow Credit Inc. officially announced its innovative credit building service today, lowering the barrier for millions of Americans who need to establish and build credit. Combining a small dollar loan with a virtual Mastercard, the service manages subscription payments, such as Netflix, and reports loan balances to the credit bureaus. “Small dollar loans can have a large impact on credit scores since reporting positive recurring behavior is an important credit scoring factor,” says Joe Bayen, CEO of Grow Credit.
90 million adult Americans live with a thin, or non-existent credit file at the 3 credit bureaus. This limits access to affordable essentials such as rental housing, emergency loans and car financing. Despite these challenges, Americans are hooked on affordable subscription services such as Netflix for instance, because it allows them to ‘cut the cord’ on costly cable contracts. In fact, 92% of Millennials and 79% of all adults have at least one active subscription. This excited Bayen, who comes from humble beginnings: “Being able to offer a financially inclusive and free service to build credit, has been my goal all along.”
The company is currently inviting customers to join their waitlist at www.growcredit.com. There is no credit check required. Once approved, the service automatically manages payments, essentially converting an existing habit into a healthy credit building exercise. A premium plan will also become available, with a larger starting loan and periodic balance increases. By comparison, a secured credit card requires a large up-front deposit to build credit. And the services that report on time payments for rent and utilities have a minimal impact, due to a lack of credit risk factors.
Bayen, a successful entrepreneur with prior experience in small dollar loans, has been hard at work assembling industry veterans. Nick Roberts, former CMO at Acorns who helped launch them to over 1 million customers in the first year, is the latest addition. The team also includes Bob Hughes, former President at Beneficial Bank and Mark Kapczynski, former VP Corporate Development and Strategy at Experian, among others.
About Grow Credit:
Grow Credit’s innovative credit building service lowers the barrier of entry for millions of Americans who need to establish and build credit. Combining a small dollar loan with a virtual Mastercard, the service manages subscription payments, such as Netflix, and reports loan balances to the credit bureaus. The Mastercard is issued through Sutton Bank and is exclusively designed to process subscription payments. The company is based in Santa Monica and was founded in 2018 by financial industry veterans. Learn more at www.GrowCredit.com.
