A CreditStrong Business credit builder account is the combination of a cash secured commercial installment loan and a commercial savings bank account. At origination, the funds from the loan are deposited into the savings account as collateral for the loan and a lock is placed on the savings account for the life of the loan. The loan and payment activity for the loan are reported to commercial credit bureaus, building the credit profile for your business.
During the life of your loan a lock is placed on the commercial savings account to secure the loan and the money in the savings account is not available for withdrawal. At maturity of the loan, or when the loan is closed and paid off, the lock is removed and the funds in the savings account are available to you.
A financial tradeline is an extension of credit from a bank or financing company. For example, a business loan from a bank, commercial credit card, or equipment lease financing.
A vendor tradeline is an extension of credit from one company to another company for the purchase of goods or services. Vendor tradelines can have a variety of names, such as merchant tradeline, supplier tradeline, vendor tradeline, trade credit, vendor account, or even a corporate tradeline. An example of a vendor tradeline is an office supply company extending net-30 terms to a customer to pay an invoice for a delivery of office supplies.
A Credit Strong Business credit builder accounts report up to a $10,000 installment loan financial tradeline to commercial credit bureaus. We report to Equifax, PayNet & SBFE, with plans to expand commercial credit reporting to Experian and Dun & Bradstreet in the future.
No. We do not perform a hard credit inquiry on you or your company, so there is no negative impact on your personal or business credit.
To open a CreditStrong Business credit builder account, you must meet both business and individual requirements:
Business Requirements. The company must:
– have a registered EIN (Employer Identification Number issued by the IRS)
– be at least 3 months old
– be a LLC, Partnership, or Corporation
– be located in the United States and have a physical U.S. address place of business
Individual Requirements. You must:
– own at least 25% of the business
– have no co-owner(s) that individually own 25% or more of the business
– be at least 18 years old and be a permanent U.S. resident
– have a physical U.S residence (Address)
– have a valid social security number (SSN) or individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN)
– have a valid Identification document (Driver license, State ID, Passport or Permanent Resident Card- aka “Green Card”)
We need to be able to positively identify both you personally and your business. Your business must also not be involved in a ‘prohibited industry or activity’ (see our Terms & Conditions). We do not perform a hard credit inquiry on you personally or on the business, i.e. we don’t pull credit for you or the business.
No. There is no hard credit pull or inquiry when you apply for a CreditStrong Business credit builder account.
Currently CreditStrong credit builder accounts are reported to Equifax, PayNet, Experian and SBFE.
You may cancel or close your CreditStrong Business credit builder account at any time with no prepayment or early termination fee. You have two options to close your account, i) pay any outstanding interest and loan balance using your linked payment method, ii) contact our support team.
Use the Live Chat feature on our Contacts Us page or call our customer support team at (833) 850-0850 from Monday- Friday, 8 am to 5 pm Central Time, excluding holidays. Any submissions outside of business hours will be answered during the next business day.
Please note that any payments received more than 30 days late will be reported as ‘late’ to the credit bureaus and if you use the collateral funds locked in the commercial savings account to payoff the loan, instead of paying off the outstanding loan balance, that the loan will be reported as ‘paid out of collateral’ when closed.
No – there is no fee for canceling or closing your account early. You may close your CreditStrong Business credit builder account at any time with no prepayment or early termination fee.
To close your account, you will need to pay any outstanding interest and loan balance using your linked payment method.
Please note i) payments more than 30 days late will be reported as ‘late’ to credit bureaus; ii) using funds from a locked business account to payoff a credit builder loan, will result in the loan being reported as ‘paid out of collateral’ when closed.
To cancel your account, please call our Customer Service team at (833) 850-0850.
To close your Credit Strong Business credit builder account, please contact our customer support team for assistance at (833) 850-0850 Monday through Friday 8am to 5pm Central Time. You may also use our Live Chat feature on our website at www.CreditStrong.com/contact-us.
No. You cannot suspend or temporarily make your account inactive. If your company is unable to make the required monthly payments on time please contact us as soon as possible to discuss the specific circumstances.
You may terminate your CreditStrong Business credit builder account at any time with no prepayment or early termination fee. To close your account, you will need to pay any outstanding interest and loan balance using your linked payment method.
Please note i) payments more than 30 days late will be reported as ‘late’ to credit bureaus; ii) using funds from a locked business account to payoff a credit builder loan, will result in the loan being reported as ‘paid out of collateral’ when closed.
CreditStrong is a division of Austin Capital Bank, a FDIC insured bank. As a federally insured US bank, Austin Capital Bank is held to the strictest standards and protocols for protecting your personal and business information and money. As part of a bank, all CreditStrong accounts are fully insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) up to the highest allowable FDIC insurance limits.
All CreditStrong products are built on Austin Capital Bank’s proprietary Trident technology platform. The Trident Technology Platform encrypts sensitive personal and financial information at multiple levels in its databases and application as well as using a HTTPS/SSL 256 bit encryption layer with your web browser to protect your information while in transit between your web browser and the Trident Technology Platform.
In addition to the Bank’s security protocols, Austin Capital Bank and the Trident Technology Platform are subject to regular IT audits and penetration testing by both Federal and State Agencies as well as expert third-party information security firms.
All employees of Austin Capital Bank are subject to criminal background and credit checks before they are eligible to join the bank.
You are obligated to notify Austin Capital Bank of the following changes in ownership:
– Any other individual increases ownership of the business to 25% or greater
– Your ownership decreases below 25% of the business
– The business is sold
If any of the changes in ownership above occur and you do not notify us, we reserve the right to immediately close the account and remove the reported tradeline from all credit bureaus.
Contact our support team using the Live Chat feature on our Contacts Us page or call our customer support team at (833) 850-0850 from Monday- Friday, 8 am to 5 pm CDT, excluding holidays. Any submissions outside of business hours will be answered during the next business day.
You are able to update your personal information by logging into customer portal. Once logged in, go to the personal information tab to update your information there. Currently you will only be able to update your personal address, email address, and phone number.
To update other business information, please call our customer service team at (833) 850-0850 between the hours of 8am – 5pm Central Time, Monday through Friday.
Once any outstanding interest and loan balance has been paid off and your account is closed, there is a 6 business day processing period before your savings account is unlocked. You can choose between keeping the funds in the account or submit a request with our customer support team to transfer of the funds.
Once the savings account is closed any funds remaining after paying off both interest and loan balance are sent via direct deposit to the payment method on file. There can be a 3-4 business day processing time on your bank’s end for the funds to appear in your account. If a request is received for the funds in the account be transferred to an account that is different from the account that was the source of the funds, there may be additional time required for the bank to complete a fraud review for your protection.
Use the Live Chat feature on our Contacts Us page or call our customer support team at (833) 850-0850 from Monday- Friday, 8 am to 5 pm Central Time, excluding holidays. Any submissions outside of business hours will be answered during the next business day.
To share a testimonial about your experience with CreditStrong don’t hesitate to contact our marketing team! Send us an email with the subject line “Testimonial” and a brief description of your experience with CreditStrong’s credit builder products.
If you have a suggestion, please contact us and let us know your ideas by submitting a secure message through our online chat or by using the form at creditstrong.com/business/contact-us.
We love to hear about what would make CreditStrong better for you, and take customer feedback into account as we continue working to improve our product. We’d love to hear what you think could make your experience even better.
Bugs happen, help us catch them! Please contact us immediately with a description of the bug or error by submitting a secure message through our online chat or by using the form at creditstrong.com/business/contact-us.
While we strive to offer a bug free platform and have a rigorous quality assurance and testing in place before releasing both software and updates, sometimes the unexpected happens in the real world and you know, humans make mistakes. TLDR: thank you for bringing any possible bugs/errors to our attention.
If you have a concern about a product, service, or your account, please contact us so we can make it right:
Use the Live Chat feature on our Contacts Us page or call our customer support team at (833) 850-0850 from Monday- Friday, 8 am to 5 pm Central Time, excluding holidays. Any submissions outside of business hours will be answered during the next business day.
To file a complaint:
We strive to provide exceptional products and customer service and apologize that your experience has not met your expectations.
To file a complaint about a product or service you have received, you may submit your complaint in any of the following ways:
Use the Live Chat or submission form on our Contacts Us page. We’re open from Monday- Friday, 8 am to 5 pm Central Time, excluding holidays. Any submissions outside of business hours will be answered during the next business day. You can also send us a letter to CreditStrong, 8100 Shoal Creek Blvd., Austin, Texas 78757.
To file a formal complaint about our parent company, Austin Capital Bank SSB, you may follow the process below:
Consumer Complaint Notice
HOW TO FILE A COMPLAINT
Austin Capital Bank SSB is chartered under the laws of the State of Texas and by state law is subject to regulatory oversight by the Department of Savings and Mortgage Lending. Any consumer wishing to file a complaint against Austin Capital Bank SSB should contact the Department of Savings and Mortgage Lending through one of the means indicated below:
In-person or by U.S. Mail:
2601 North Lamar Boulevard, Suite 201, Austin, TX 78705-4294 Telephone: (877) 276-5550, Fax: (512) 936-2003, or electronic submission via the Department’s website: http://www.sml.texas.gov
Suite 201
Austin, Texas 78705-4294
Telephone Number: (877) 276-5550
Fax Number: (512) 936-2003
Electronic submission via the Department’s website:
https://www.sml.texas.gov/consumerinformation/tdsml_consumer_complaints.html*
*Please be advised that by clicking the link above you will leave CreditStrong’s website. The link is provided only as a courtesy. CreditStrong does not endorse or control the content of third party websites.
Every plan is no risk.
- No credit score required
- No upfront security deposit
- No credit check – easy approval
- Cancel any time at no cost
- No hard credit inquiry
You can select a plan during the application.