Information
About lender
Grain is a fintech company. The main product of the company is a mobile application that gives access to the revolving line of credit. This credit line is available without issuing a credit card. The owner of the Grain account owns a virtual credit card. The company's client has access to a universal budget control tool that helps build credit.
The company's main and only office is located in Oakland, CA. Grain customers can receive services and seek help from Grain technical support online using a mobile application. Grain employees have more than 20 years of combined experience in finance and loans. The experience of the application developers allowed them to create a function that allows users to track changes in their credit scores very accurately to help clients who build сredit. The Grain mobile app also sends customer payment reports to credit bureaus.
Carl-Alain Memnon, Christian-Robert Joseph, and Patrick De Suza founded Grain Technology in 2017 in Oakland, CA. Grain's main goal is to help people get access to a quick and simple emergency loan, which is sometimes needed by a large number of Americans. Also, the founders of Grain understood the importance of building credit for borrowers with poor or absent credit history. Moreover, the credit limit of the account does not depend on the credit score but on the user's income, so the credit line from Grain is suitable for borrowers with any credit score.
Pros and cons
Pros
It is possible to connect the bank accounts of more than 10,000 banks.
Payment reports are sent to 3 credit bureaus, so the user can track changes in the credit score.
It is possible to reduce the interest charge by enabling the Auto-Pay function.
The user does not need to have a physical credit card.
Grain does not make a credit check since it is aimed at helping to build credit. A borrower can be eligible to open an account with any credit score.
There is a possibility of increasing the credit limit.
Cons
A borrower with insufficient cash flow must make a security deposit to use the account.
Transfer fees of 1% for standard transfer and 1.5% for instant transfer.
The borrower can use only 20% of the credit limit without damage to the process of building credit.
Conclusion
An account in the Grain mobile application is a good choice for people who want to build credit or who need a cash advance of a small amount. On-time payments can improve the borrower's credit score for obtaining loans or credit cards in the future. The Grain mobile application allows users to track changes in credit score, as all reports on the borrower's payments are sent to credit bureaus automatically. On the one hand, Grain offers cash advances with a low-interest charge, especially with automatic payments enabled. Moreover, although transfer fees are present, they are not too high. Even if the borrower is not eligible to receive an unsecured credit line, they will be able to receive a secured credit line. On the other hand, the borrower who is building credit should remember that it is not recommended to take large amounts in order not to damage the credit.
Terms and conditions
An account in the Grain mobile app offers users a credit line with a limit of $1,000 without issuing a credit card. However, using more than 20% of the credit limit raises the credit utilization rate above 20%, which will lower the borrower's credit score. Therefore, the borrower can only use $200 without damage to the process of building credit.
Reports on the payment behavior of the account owner who is building credit are sent to 3 credit bureaus every month. These credit bureaus are Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. It is possible to connect the checking account of more than 10,000 banks to the Grain account.
If the borrower's income is insufficient to receive an unsecured credit limit, then they receive a secured credit line. Before opening a Grain account to start building credit, a borrower with insufficient cash flow needs to make a security deposit. The deposit amount is individual for each such user.
The standard interest charge for a Grain account is an APR of 17.99%. If the user enables the Custom Auto-Pay function, the interest charge is reduced to an APR of 15%.
Funding a loan
To open a Grain account, the client needs to connect to a checking account of any US bank. The borrower can get an instant transfer to their account by paying a fee of 1.5% or get a standard transfer by paying a fee of 1%.
