StellarFi Review: Features, Pricing, and User Feedback

• Overview of StellarFi
• Key Features of StellarFi
• StellarFi Credit Builder Pros and Cons
• How StellarFi Compares
• Who Is StellarFi Credit Builder For?
• FAQ

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Like it or not, modern Americans are increasingly defined by their credit score — despite the paradox that getting credit often requires having credit.

Adding to the already confusing equation is the fact that credit scores among marginalized groups — from immigrants and low-income individuals to BIPOC Americans and those who identify as LGBTQ — are statistically lower, which leads to disparities that can be difficult to overcome via traditional credit-building methods. 

StellarFi offers a solution for accessing credit based on paying monthly bills. Read our StellarFi review to determine if this service fits your financial needs.

$4.99 per month

• Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. Tri-bureau reporting
• Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. Dynamic score projections for reporting with StellarFi

• con icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. Only reports up to $500 of monthly bills
• con icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. No free trials
• con icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. No mobile app

StellarFi offers a solution for accessing credit based on paying monthly bills. With tri-bureau reporting and competitive pricing, StellarFi is one of the best rent and utility reporting services on the market.

Overview of StellarFi

Since 2021, StellarFi has been helping individuals improve their credit scores by paying their bills. In fact, the company (founded as a Public Benefit Corporation) is mission-driven to disrupt the poverty cycle by enabling financial equity through credit building. 

Introduction to StellarFi

StellarFi helps individuals build their credit by doing something we all have to do anyway: pay monthly bills. Most credit bureaus are on the lookout for consistent, on-time payments and proper credit usage — both of which StellarFi reports (after "paying" your bills via their virtual credit card connected to your personal bank account) — to all three of the major credit bureaus each month. 

Consumers in all 50 states can build credit quickly by paying their monthly bills — from cell phones and streaming services to utilities and rent — regularly and on time. In addition to affordable membership rates, the company boasts zero minimum income requirements, credit checks, interest, or deposits. 

While rent and utilities reporting services usually work as the middleman, chaperoning the payment information from its source to the credit bureaus, StellarFi operates a little differently. StellarFi actually pays off your bills on your behalf, then you pay the company back. 

Unfortunately, this does mean that if you cannot make a payment, StellarFi will report your missed payments to the credit bureaus as delinquent, undermining any efforts to build credit. This also means those reported payments on your credit report are shown as one tradeline under StellarFi instead of multiple different accounts. If you aren't confident that you can pay your monthly bills on time, StellarFi probably isn't the best service for you.

User reviews and ratings

StellarFi has been reviewed favorably by its customers, receiving an average of 4.5 stars out of 5 in over 59 reviews on its Trustpilot page. It also sports fairly responsive customer support, featuring live agents reachable on StellarFi's website.

Key Features of StellarFi

StellarFi currently offers two membership tiers — lite and prime — with a third coming soon. The two currently available memberships cap monthly bill reporting at $500 and $25,000 respectively. As a result, lite is more of a utilities reporting service while premium has a high enough cap for rent reporting.

Both plans offer tri-bureau reporting, meaning it reports payments to the three major credit bureaus that supply potential creditors with your credit report. This is a crucial feature for a rent reporting service, but it's surprisingly absent from many of them. 

StellarFi offers two memberships, with a third coming soon, for different credit-building needs: 

Lite ($4.99 per month) helps individuals with less than $500 in total monthly bills build credit quickly and effortlessly.

Prime ($9.99 per month) helps individuals automatically build credit even faster by reporting up to $25,000 in total monthly bills.

Premium ($19.99 per month) is coming soon as a means of automatically building credit with all monthly bills and the added convenience of flexible payment dates and ACH transfer.

StellarFi Credit Builder Pros and Cons

Unlike others in the industry, StellarFi offers neither quick fixes nor hidden gimmicks. It offers a holistic, long-term approach to getting consumers' credit back on track. 

StellarFi Credit Builder Pros 

• Tri-bureau reporting: StellarFi offers payment reporting to all three credit bureaus on all plans. This is of the most important aspects of a credit builder product, but is surprisingly uncommon.
• One-on-one live credit coaching: Members of all tiers gain access to a credit coach. 
• 30-day free trial: Only offered for the Prime tier, StellarFi offers a 30-day free trial to users, which automatically rolls into its full-price premium plan when it ends.

StellarFi Credit Builder Cons

• No retroactive reporting:  Some rent and utilities reporting services can report up to 24 months of payment history prior to signing up. Unfortunately, StellarFi does not have this feature.
• Potential to miss payments: Most rent reporting services are just reporting payments made to your landlord, while StellarFi is paying your landlord and expecting payments in return. This means that when you cannot pay your rent, what that actually means is you cannot pay StellarFi back — and StellarFi will report that to the credit bureaus. This may result in a delinquency on your credit report, dropping your credit score.

How StellarFi Compares to Its Competition

StellarFi holds its own against the best rent reporting services, reporting to all three credit bureaus at an affordable rate. That said, StellarFi's method of reporting rent opens its users up to issues that other rent reporting services do not, which is the possibility of missed payments that can result in credit-injuring delinquencies. 

Here's how StellarFi stacks up against its competition:

Who Is StellarFi Credit Builder For?

StellarFi was designed for individuals — in particular those from marginalized groups — who have struggled to access credit or increase their access to credit as a means of establishing and growing credit over time. Its membership plans are also suitable for those individuals whose credit history needs to be repaired. No credit score is needed to sign up; all that's required is your name; email address, bank account, routing number, and Social Security number. 

While this is a great way for people without prior credit history to build credit with transactions they're already making, it's a risky product for people who aren't sure if they can pay all their utilities and rent consistently, as missing a payment can result in a delinquency. If you can't reliably cover your monthly costs, you may need to find a different rent reporting service.

StellarFi Credit Builder Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

StellarFi can increase your credit score by targeting the two most crucial credit-building factors: payment history and credit utilization. By reporting a higher credit limit, StellarFi optimizes your credit usage (which can reduce your credit utilization) and increase your credit score — which may jump as soon as the StellarFi account is added to your credit report. 

StellarFi helps with budgeting by providing comprehensive budgeting tools and real-time financial monitoring to assist users.

StellarFi ensures your account is secure by using advanced security measures to protect the user. 

You can contact StellarFi customer service by email at support@stellarfi.com or on the StellarFi Support website.

• Credit scores
• Credit history
• Credit reports
• Budgeting
• Saving 
• Housing 
• Retirement
• The economy
• Financial trends

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