Kikoff Review – Kicking Off a Better Credit Score
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If you’ve just started to monitor your credit and FICO score, boosting your credit with a platform like Kikoff can be quite advantageous.
9/10
Cost
9/10
Features
8.5/10
Ease of use
9/10
Services
8.5/10
Although many people in finance negatively talk about credit cards, building your credit score is relatively important if you plan to live life to its fullest as an adult. This is because your credit history has more to do with your life than just being analyzed for a credit limit when you open a new line of credit. Beyond being used when applying for a personal loan or credit card, your credit report may also come into play when applying for a new job or renting an apartment.
In these situations, a credit check is used to evaluate your trustworthiness and reliability as much as anything else. As a result, if you have bad credit (or no credit at all), you must find a way to build credit and improve your score. Many people choose to open a secured credit card in these situations; however, if you want a more focused way to approach credit building, a service named Kikoff may be up your alley.
Kikoff allows you to open and access a credit line with no fees, making it a unique credit builder in the financial sector. Learn more about the ins and outs of Kikoff — and if it’s right for you — in this service overview.
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What is Kikoff?
Founded in San Francisco by Cynthia Chen and Christophe Chong, Kikoff gives users access to a $750 revolving credit line. One of the biggest draws of the service for poor or no credit is that it doesn’t require a credit check, and you can get approved incredibly quickly. This means that folks who want to get the ball rolling right away can begin their credit repair journey the second they sign up for Kikoff.
It’s important to note that although you can only get a $750 credit line, it helps boost your credit in a few key ways. For starters, any purchase can be split up into a series of monthly payments. Since payment history is a major factor in your overall credit score, making on-time payments means that each of the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) will find a favorable history of payments when they monitor your Kikoff credit.
Kikoff also doesn’t expire, so once you have completely paid off your account, you can keep it open to add to your length of credit and the number of accounts open. Account age and credit utilization are two other major components of your credit score, so keeping your Kikoff credit line active and using it for small purchases from time to time should improve your credit.
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Kikoff store
Speaking of small purchases, Kikoff differs from a traditional credit line or loan because you never get the loan funds linked to your bank account. Instead, your credit line must be used for purchases in the Kikoff store and then paid off. It’s similar to any other alternative payment method you might select when checking out at another online retailer.
While having a limited array of products to choose from might seem like a bit of a drag, the fact that most of Kikoff’s products are $10 to $20 means you’ll have no problem paying them off. Additionally, many of the products are wellness or personal finance e-books, meaning that you may learn a thing or two and grow in your knowledge thanks to the platform. Especially when you consider that a $10 or $20 purchase means that you’re only going to need to make minimum payments of about $2 a month, it’s nice to know that you won’t struggle to boost your payment history or credit utilization due to the offerings for sale.
How does Kikoff work?
Signing up for Kikoff is incredibly simple and straightforward. You’ll start by navigating to its website (kikoff.com). You’ll see a place to enter your email address and click on the “Get Started” button on the home page.
You’ll then create your account by confirming your email address and password. It’s important to note that although your social security number is used for approval, a credit check or pull isn’t required to apply. From there, all that’s needed is personal information to get things rolling. This includes your full legal name (including your middle name), phone number, birthday, address, and SSN. All of this data is encrypted and kept secure with bank-level security.
How much does Kikoff cost?
Annual fee
One of the biggest selling points about Kikoff is its lack of fees, which starts with annual fees. You pay $0 to open and utilize a Kikoff credit account. Many secured credit cards have annual fees or minimum deposits, meaning Kikoff is a much more affordable option since it’s free!
But Kikoff also offers a credit builder loan to customers with positive payment behavior on Kikoff products. The loan is a one-year savings plan that costs $10 per month.
Other fees
With no annual fee, you might ask yourself, “What’s the catch?” Kikoff truly aims to be the market's most affordable credit builder loan. While credit cards may have strings attached in balance transfer fees, late fees, overdraft fees, and interest charges, Kikoff is a lender with no interest rate. You won’t even pay administration fees with Kikoff.
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Kikoff features
Kikoff is a pretty simplified option for building your credit, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a few unique features worth discussing. Here’s a brief overview of what makes Kikoff special.
Streamlined application
Kikoff's goal is to provide easy pathways to meeting your financial goals. Everything about how it has designed its platform aligns with that mission, including how quickly and easily it is to apply for an account. This means you can get your account running in less than three minutes.
No interest rate
If you’re choosing a secured credit card to build your credit, you should worry about APR and interest rates. That’s not part of the calculus with a Kikoff line of credit, which may be worth forgoing credit card perks like cash rewards for the added safety net.
Smartphone app
Thanks to the simplicity of the Kikoff platform, it’s easy to monitor your account activity, purchases, and payments from the Kikoff app. If you care about a truly streamlined credit-building experience that you can take with you wherever you go, Kikoff is it.
Who is Kikoff best for?
Consumers with no credit. The fact that Kikoff doesn’t perform a credit check makes it easy to qualify for a Kikoff line of credit even if you don’t have a score yet. As such, if you’re looking to start building your credit responsibly and gradually make minimal payments back towards usage that doesn’t negatively impact your credit utilization, Kikoff is a great fit.
People who want to improve their credit. If you have bad or poor credit, Kikoff is great for you, too. While it may take a few weeks to appear on your credit history, the lack of an interest rate, annual fee, or credit check means it’s among the most affordable options for building credit. No interest or late fees are a big deal, especially if you’ve struggled with credit cards.
Who shouldn’t use Kikoff?
People with good credit. If you trust yourself to use your credit lines responsibly and have good credit already, Kikoff doesn’t make much sense for you. You’d be much better off picking a product not explicitly designed to help people build credit since you’d have more options and flexibility with other loans and credit cards.
Consumers who need to use their credit line on everyday purchases. A secured credit card will make more sense if you want to put something small like your Netflix subscription on a single credit card to build up your credit. Since Kikoff requires you to shop for products from the Kikoff store, it isn’t a good option for folks who want to build credit while using it for everyday purchases.
Pros & cons
Pros
- Builds credit. You'll improve your credit score if you make on-time payments over about 12 months on your Kikoff purchases.
- Pricing. Kikoff is virtually free! No late fees, annual fees, or administrative fees make this one of the cheapest credit-building options!
- No interest. If you’re looking at other personal loans or secured credit cards to build your credit, you’ll have to contend with interest rates that could bite you. Kikoff has 0% interest, so you don’t need to worry about that.
Cons
- Can only make purchases in Kikoff store. While the products in the Kikoff store are fairly priced and make for small minimum payments that you’ll assuredly be able to stay on top of, you may not be legitimately interested in what the store has to offer — and Kikoff is relatively secretive about the ebooks and other materials for sale there until you’ve made an account.
- Line of credit limited to $750. With Kikoff, your only option for a line of credit is $750. While this small, manageable amount is nice for starting out, it won’t ultimately add much to your overall available credit in the grand scheme of things.
Kikoff vs. competitors
Credit Card | APR | Fee | Credit/loan amount |
Kikoff | 0% | $0 or $10 per month | $750 |
Self | Up to 15.92% | A one-time admin fee of $9 and plans ranging from $25/month to $150/month | $600 to $1,800, or $520 to $1,663 after deductions |
Brigit | 0% | $0 to $8.99 per month | Upto $250 |
Self
The Self lender product is similar to Brigit and Kikoff, offering a small installment loan that you pay back over a year to build up your credit. It offers four different plans to choose from. Self provides a more extensive range regarding the loan amount; however, you’ll pay administrative fees when you create your account and have to deal with interest rates and APR using the service. This makes Kikoff more friendly from a pricing standpoint.
Brigit
With Brigit, you have an annual fee of $8.99 monthly to use this service, making it more expensive than Kikoff. Additionally, the loan amount you get is less than what Kikoff offers. While Brigit is the second-least expensive option on the above list compared to Self, Kikoff is a much more affordable option for most individuals. It accomplishes a way to build your credit similarly.
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FAQs
What devices is the Kikoff app available on?
Whether you’re on an iPhone or Android smartphone, you’ll be able to find the Kikoff app in the App Store or Play Store. You’ll just need to search for “Kikoff,” and you should be able to find it quite quickly.
Will a Kikoff application impact your credit score?
No. A credit pull is not required to qualify for a Kikoff line of credit.
How does Kikoff build credit?
When it comes to your credit score, the three most significant factors that credit bureaus look at are your account age, credit utilization, and payment history. Combined, these three elements make up about 75% of your credit score, with payment history accounting for 35% of your score. Kikoff helps you build credit by offering a credit line that doesn’t expire (which helps your account age) and small purchases compared to your overall credit limit (which helps your credit utilization). When you make minimum payments on time each month, these are reported to the credit bureaus, further improving your credit by illustrating your timeliness and consistent payment history.
Is Kikoff legit?
If you’ve just started to monitor your credit and FICO score using a website like Credit Karma or Chase Credit Journey, boosting your credit with a platform like Kikoff can be quite advantageous. It’s practically risk-free, thanks to the fact that you don’t have to pay any annual fees or interest rates — plus, you don’t even need to undergo a credit check to get your line of credit opened. It comes with an easy-to-use app in the app store, which makes it even more accessible for anyone looking to build their credit.
Although there are a lot of perks associated with Kikoff, there are still a few reasons you might want to give the product some thought before jumping in with two feet. For example, depending on your state, you may not qualify for Kikoff’s credit line. At the same time, if you’re not interested in what Kikoff has to sell in its online marketplace, you might also want to consider a different option. Even so, for those who are focused on building their credit score and don’t need a loan in the form of a cash advance before payday, Kikoff is well worth considering.
In the end, Kikoff is primarily useful to a niche group of consumers looking to improve their credit score gradually over a year or two. While this makes it less desirable for some individuals, that doesn’t detract from the overall value Kikoff offers those who can use it. There is a lot to like about the platform, especially when you factor in Kikoff’s low costs compared to similar credit-building websites. Suppose you see a lot of potential value in the product and believe you won’t struggle to make minimum payments using a debit card or direct deposit. In that case, it’s worth looking into Kikoff as a lender and credit builder.
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Writer
Brent Ervin-Eickhoff is a Chicago-based writer, stage director, and filmmaker with a background in digital marketing and content creation. In addition to Joy Wallet, Brent has written for Complex, Volkswagen, HowlRound, Picture this Post, and Third Coast Review, among others. He currently serves as the Associate Director of Marketing for Content Creation at Court Theatre at the University of Chicago. Brent graduated from Ball State University with Academic Honors in Writing.
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