Kind-of-Lost

I’ve had enough credit cards open at once that my wallet stopped functioning as a wallet. At one point I was running eleven cards simultaneously for tradeline purposes — and the one thing that constant card management teaches you is how credit dynamics actually work. So when people ask me about the best credit card for buying a car, I have opinions. Not just about which cards have good rewards, but about what actually happens to your credit score when you put a large purchase on a card — which most guides skip over entirely.

Continue reading “Best Credit Card for Buying a Car (What Actually Works)”

People trying to rebuild their credit sometimes ask me whether the BNPL services they’re already using — Zip, Afterpay, Klarna — are helping their score. It’s a fair assumption: you’re making payments, you’re paying on time, shouldn’t that count for something? The answer for Zip specifically is no — and understanding why explains a lot about how credit reporting actually works. Phone financing runs on similar logic — I looked at whether financing a phone builds credit.

Continue reading “Does Zip Report to Credit Bureaus? (The Short Answer Is No)”

Buyers who come to me about tradelines sometimes mention they’ve been using Sezzle for months, paying on time, and wondering why their credit score hasn’t moved. The answer is usually the same: standard Sezzle doesn’t report to credit bureaus. Your on-time payment record exists in Sezzle’s system, but Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion have no idea it’s happening. There is a version of Sezzle that changes this — but it requires opting in, and most users don’t know it exists.

Continue reading “Does Sezzle Build Credit? It Depends on Which Version You’re Using”