Seven Questions to Ask Any Credit-Building Company Before You Pay Them

This industry contains legitimate products, useless ones, and a few that are actively predatory. They market in nearly identical language. These questions separate them, and every one has a factual answer.

We have answered each one for Feodis.co underneath, in the same place you are reading the question. If you are comparing us against somebody else, ask them the same seven and see whether the answers come as readily.

1. Which Bureaus Do You Report To?

Equifax, Experian, TransUnion — which, specifically? "The credit bureaus" is not an answer. Reporting to one is worth much less than three, and it is a fact the company knows precisely.

Feodis.co: all three. Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. We name them because the question deserves a name, and because a company that answers this one with a vague plural is usually avoiding the number.

2. What Does It Cost per Year, in Total?

Not the monthly figure. Multiply it out and add any setup or annual fee, so you are comparing one number against another rather than a monthly price against a lump sum.

Feodis.co: from $7.99 a month, and that is the whole number. No setup fee, no annual fee, no activation charge. Multiply it by twelve yourself — we would rather you did.

3. What Do I Get If I Stop?

A secured card returns your deposit. A credit-builder loan pays out the savings. A subscription returns nothing. None of those is wrong, but they are very different propositions and the marketing rarely distinguishes them.

Feodis.co: no deposit goes in, so no deposit comes back — and what you were actually building stays. We are a subscription. You are paying for an account to exist in your name and be reported to all three bureaus each month, not into savings.

Be careful how you weigh this one, because the products that "give it back" are giving back money you had to have in the first place. A secured card returns a deposit you funded; a builder loan returns savings you funded. Neither of those built anything the reporting did not. What Feodis.co costs is $7.99 a month and no lump sum at all, and the thing you came for — reported payment history on your file — stays on your report either way. That part is yours, and it does not disappear when you stop paying us.

4. How Do I Cancel?

Ask specifically: is there a form, or do I have to phone? Is there a fee? A notice period? Companies that make cancellation difficult have decided their retention depends on friction rather than on the product.

Feodis.co: one page, no fee, no notice period, and nobody rings you. There is a cancellation page on this site. You do not have to email us, you do not have to explain yourself, and there is no retention call — we decided against building one. If the product is not worth keeping, a phone call from us is not going to make it worth keeping.

5. What Appears on My Report If I Miss a Payment?

The honest answer is "the missed payment, reported the same way the on-time ones are." Reporting is not selective. A company that avoids this question is selling the upside of reporting while hiding the downside.

Feodis.co: nothing is reported against you. Ask this of everyone and note how few can say that. On most products in this category the honest answer is the one above — a secured card, a builder loan and a reported subscription all furnish the miss.

Ours works differently, and the reason is worth understanding rather than taking on trust: you pay ahead. Each month is paid before it is reported, so you can never fall behind on it. If a payment stops, the membership simply ends and the account stops reporting. There is no missed month, because there was never an unpaid one, and everything already reported stays on your file.

That is the practical difference. With most of this category, a year you cannot finish leaves a mark. Here, it leaves what you built and nothing else.

6. Do You Promise a Score Increase?

The correct answer is no, and a good company will say so plainly. Nobody can promise this — outcomes depend on the rest of your file — and a specific promise ("+40 points guaranteed") is the clearest signal available that you should stop.

Feodis.co: no. We have written a whole piece on why, because it is the thing every competitor implies and none of them can support. Your score comes out of your entire file; a reported account is one input among many. Anyone quoting you a number of points does not have information we lack. They are guessing.

7. Is This Credit Repair?

Credit repair is a distinct, regulated activity: disputing items on your behalf. It is governed by the Credit Repair Organizations Act, which requires specific disclosures and a three-day right to cancel, and prohibits charging before services are performed. If a company is doing that, those protections apply. If it is not, it should not describe itself in those terms.

Feodis.co: no, and we are careful about the distinction. We do not dispute anything on your behalf and we do not remove anything from your file. Nobody can remove accurate negative information, whatever they charge for trying. What we do is narrower and easier to check: an account in your name, and the payment on it reported to all three bureaus each month.

And One for Yourself

Can I afford this every month for a year?

This is the question that matters most and the one nobody asks. These products only work through consistency. Signing up for something you cannot sustain produces a missed payment reported to the bureaus — which is worse than never having started.

We would rather you answered this one honestly and did not buy from us than answered it optimistically and did. The first costs us a sale. The second costs you a late payment on your credit report, and we would have caused it.