BuildMyCreditScore: A Credit‑builder That Actually Works
Ever wonder why your credit score feels stuck in a time‑warp? BuildMyCreditScore, a Mastercard debit card that does nothing but use your everyday spending to boost that score, has been turning numbers around at a rate that would make a calculator blush.
What the Numbers Say
- Average 52‑point lift after just three months.
- Nearly 1 in 10 users jumped more than 100 points.
- For the half of cardholders who saw the biggest jump, the average bump was a whopping 76 points.
All of this on a tiny sample of almost 800 cardholders, and the numbers look pretty good.
Why UK Bankers Need a Different Approach
- There’re 20 million people in the UK with anything from fair to awful credit scores.
- 23 % of Brits have been denied credit because of those poor scores.
- More than 4 in 10 want an easy way to improve their score without piling on new lines of credit.
The problem? Traditional credit‑builder products often require repaying loans, which can backfire if you slip. If you’re missing a payment, you risk sinking further into debt and dimming your score.
How BuildMyCreditScore Keeps Things Simple
Think of it as a regular card that’s a smidge smarter. You use it just like any other debit card, but a few days later, the money gets collected via Direct Debit by BuildMyCreditScore. In plain English: your spending habits are turned into proven credit‑worthy behaviour without you having to see a new credit line pop up on your credit report.
Backing from Innovate UK
In Q4 2023, Innovate UK awarded the start‑up a £200,000 grant to supercharge its product and improve financial inclusion. The money helped the team:
- Build a more precise affordability model.
- Use advanced machine learning and open banking to boost acceptance rates, especially for people who would usually get stuck.
The result? More people get a fair shot at building credit safely.
Everyday Use Meets Big Credit Gains
BuildMyCreditScore works with all major high‑street and digital bank accounts, and it feeds credit data straight to Experian, TransUnion and Equifax. So the card’s impact goes straight into the systems that matter.
CEO Speaks: A Voice for the Underserved
James Lynn, CEO and Co‑founder, summed it up nicely: “Millions of folks in the country have a low score and a thin credit file, leaving them stuck with fewer, less fair options to access credit. BuildMyCreditScore gives them a simple, low‑risk way to improve their score through everyday spending, without changing habits or adding new credit lines.”
The message is clear: if you want a quick, risk‑free way to climb the credit ladder, the debit‑card route might just be the one.
