Sometimes, no matter what we do to avoid it, things happen in our lives that continue to make an impact long after they immediate event has past. Our credit scores are one of the areas where this is true. Have something bad happen to your credit score and you will feel the impact for years to come. This can lead to you trying to figure out how to increase your credit score quickly, fighting to pay off debt and more. For me, that long lasting event was the end of a relationship in 2016. When the relationship ended, my credit score took a nosedive due to circumstances. Now that I’m back on my feet, it’s time to begin working on easy ways to improve my credit. That’s where this Self Lender review comes into play. It’s a newer program and I am absolutely in love!
The story behind how my credit was damaged is a long one, but the shortest way to explain it is this; I refused to pay a monthly car payment for a car I no longer had posession of. I refused to pay utilities for a home I was no longer living in. My ex apparently also refused and said car was repossessed and said utility bills went without being paid. Yes, I had requested they be shut off. Emma and I had moved and were living in a hotel full-time so there was no reason for them to be on in my name. Be very wary when someone tells you they will pay something b/c “it’s their bill.” I made the mistake of trusting him even at the end of our relationship and now I will deal with repairing my credit from that misplaced trust.
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How I Raised My Credit Score 37 Points in 30 Days – Self Lender Review
Yes, it was a rookie mistake on my part, but what is done is done. By the end of 2017, the dust had finally settled enough to see the full damage. As a result, my family spent the majority of 2018 using a crisis budget to try to pull myself out of the financial crisis I had allowed to happen. My credit score had dropped to a 495. Yikes, right?
I know, a frugal living blogger admitting to such a low credit score. Scandalous, right?
How to Increase Credit Score Quickly
Luckily for me, that low score isn’t permanent since there are several things I can do to raise my credit score quickly. Which brings us to this Self Lender loan review and my debt pay off plan so I can increase my credit score quickly. If you’ve viewed the post I did on our 2019 financial goals, you’ll know that we have some pretty lofty ones this year. If you haven’t had a chance to view that post, you can do that HERE.
While the goals listed in that original post have shifted slightly – more on that in my March 2019 budget update – they will still require that both Steve and I pay off debt and work to raise our credit score quickly. By quickly I mean, I want 750 or higher within 2 years so we can purchase our forever home.
Self Lender Reviews
Enter Self Lender. Self Lender is pretty new, but the way it works can help to raise your credit score in as little as 30 days! The way it works is pretty revolutionary and one that I can attest can raise your credit score in 30 days by a pretty significant amount. How much? Self Lender helped me improve my credit score 37 points in just 30 days! That’s insane!
Here is how Self Lender Works:
Sign up for a Self Lender account. Because you are working to improve your credit score, you will need to provide your social security number. Self Lender and any loan payments you make are fully insured by the FDIC.
Self Lender provides you a small loan in the form of a CD. Since it’s done as a CD, there is no up-front payment as with a conventional loan.
Each month, you make your monthly loan payment to Self Lender. This loan payment goes into your CD account.
Self Lender reports your loan payments to the credit bureaus. These on time Self Lender payments appear as a conventional loan on your credit report and in turn help to improve your credit score quickly.
At the end of your CD term, you receive the amount you paid in minus any fees.
Does Self Lender Work?
As you can see in the photo above, my credit score was 495 in January 2018. It stayed pretty close to that for all of 2018. We had such a hard time financially during 2018 – especially at the end of the year – that there was no room for worrying about how to become debt-free. In the words of Dave Ramsey, we were “four walls” for the majority of the year. In my own words, we felt as if we just could not get a break and it was one thing after another.
When the new year started, we were starting to be in a much better place financially. It was then that I spent some time researching reviews on the Self Lender loan. The research I did was pretty heavy because I wanted to know if Self Lender was a scam or if it was legit. I can absolutely say now that Self Lender is not only legit, but it’s totally amazing! I created my account at the end of January and my first loan payment was made mid-February.
When my credit score updated a the end of February, it had jumped to a 532! In case you aren’t familiar, that is a huge jump.
Easy Ways to Improve Credit
Because learning how to raise your credit score can be complicated, Self Lender isn’t the only method I am using to fix my own credit issues. It would be silly to think that Self Lender alone will help me get the 750 I want. Even though Self Lender helped to jump my credit score as much as it did in 30 days, that will slow down over time.
To start, while Self Lender does update my credit score, it only does so once a month. I prefer to have it updated more often. To do this, I use CreditSesame. Watching my credit carefully allows me to get on top of things if there should be an error pop up and because my score has been changing so often, it lets me know when there is an update.
Watching things so closely with CreditSesame has already allowed me to have one debt that was not mine removed, a duplicate item removed and to find out that my Mother’s social security number was attached to my own credit report. I know why it was and since she passed away last year, there was nothing to be done other than to have the association removed. Removing all of these things were super simple although the social security number thing took more time than the others.
If you’ve never used CreditSesame, it is a 100% free way to monitor your credit score. They do have a premium plan, but you are not required to use it. Your score updates a couple times a month. You can sign up for a Credit Sesame account HERE if you’re interested.
Raising my credit score quickly will also involve a plan to pay off debt quickly. To get an accurate idea of what is on my credit report -aside from the car repossession. To be honest, I do not have a ton of debt. My total debt amount is $14.186.00. That includes 5 student loans I’ve been paying on for years and the remaining balance on the repossessed car loan. My largest debt is $3882.00 and my smallest is $166.00.
The $14,000 is mixed up in around 8 different accounts – 4 of those being the student loans with balances left. To keep track of my debt payment plan, I am using these debt payment printables and this bill payment tracker. Both allow me to keep track of our monthly budget and of which debt is being worked on. For instance, that $166.00 debt will be knocked out at the end of this month once the rest of our monthly bills are paid.
I also track each of our expenses in this bill ledger. Even though I sometimes get off track with our budget, having a line for line look at our expenses helps me to understand where our money is going and why.
Becoming Debt-Free Easily
Paying off debt isn’t easy and learning how to improve your credit score is even harder. With enough work, I am confident that both Steve and I can improve our scores quickly and be ready to purchase a home when our lease is up here.
My Self Lender loan is just a piece of the puzzle but it is one amazing piece that I am so glad I found!
Credit Repair Resources Mentioned in this Post
Sign up for a Self Lender account HERE.
Sign up for a Credit Sesame account HERE.
Bill Payment Tracker Printables