1. Agreement to These Terms
These Terms & Conditions (“Terms”) govern your access to and use of the website, products, services, applications, educational materials, and other offerings made available by The Credit Builders and Next Step Credit.
By accessing our website, submitting an application, creating an account, purchasing a service, or otherwise using our services, you agree to these Terms.
If you do not agree with these Terms, you should not use the applicable website or services.
2. Our Services
The Credit Builders provides educational and credit-building services designed to help consumers and businesses understand credit and develop responsible credit-building practices.
Services may include, depending on availability and applicable eligibility requirements:
- Unsecured Credit Builder Installment Accounts.
- Secured Credit Builder Installment Accounts.
- Rent reporting services.
- Personal credit monitoring.
- Business or commercial credit monitoring.
- Credit education.
- Business credit education.
- Credit resources and educational materials.
- Financial-readiness education.
Not every service is available to every person, in every state, or at all times. Product availability may depend on eligibility, service-provider requirements, geographic availability, regulatory requirements, and other factors.
3. Eligibility
Eligibility requirements vary by product.
You agree to provide accurate information and satisfy any applicable eligibility, identity-verification, payment, authorization, or documentation requirements associated with the service you request.
We may decline an application, delay account activation, request additional information, or restrict access to a service when reasonably necessary to satisfy product requirements, prevent fraud, comply with applicable law, or protect our customers and systems.
4. Applications & Information You Provide
When submitting an application or requesting a service, you agree that information you provide will be accurate, complete, and current.
You agree not to submit information belonging to another person without authorization.
We may use information submitted through an application to evaluate and administer the requested service, perform applicable verification procedures, communicate with you, process payments, establish an account, or fulfill other legitimate business or legal purposes.
5. Credit Builder Accounts
Credit Builder Accounts are designed to provide a structured mechanism for building or establishing responsible payment history, subject to the terms of the applicable account.
Unsecured Credit Builder Installment Account
An unsecured account does not require a security deposit as part of its standard structure, subject to applicable program terms, eligibility requirements, and account documentation.
Secured Credit Builder Installment Account
A secured account may require a security deposit or other secured structure as specified in the applicable account agreement.
Account Terms
Account terms may include payment amounts, payment frequency, account duration, fees, deposit requirements, eligibility requirements, reporting conditions, and other obligations.
The specific agreement presented to you during account setup controls the applicable account terms.
6. Rent Reporting
Rent reporting services may allow qualifying rental payment information to be submitted to applicable credit reporting agencies through the reporting provider or furnishing arrangement associated with the service.
Eligibility, documentation, rental-history requirements, reporting periods, reporting frequency, fees, and participating credit reporting agencies may vary by program.
We do not guarantee that a particular rental payment, rental history, account, or reporting event will result in a particular change to a credit report or credit score.
Information submitted for reporting must be accurate and supported by appropriate documentation where required.
7. Credit Monitoring
Credit monitoring services are intended to provide visibility into applicable credit-related information and may include alerts, report access, score information, commercial credit information, or other features depending on the selected monitoring product.
Monitoring does not itself repair inaccurate information, remove negative information, guarantee score increases, or guarantee approval for credit, loans, financing, insurance, housing, or other products.
The availability, accuracy, frequency, and scope of information may depend on the applicable credit reporting agency, data provider, monitoring provider, or other third party.
8. Credit Education & Resources
The Credit Builders provides educational materials intended to help users better understand credit, credit reports, payment behavior, debt management, consumer rights, business credit, and related financial concepts.
Educational materials are provided for informational and educational purposes and are not individualized legal, tax, accounting, investment, lending, or financial advice.
Information contained in educational materials may not apply to every person's circumstances.
You should consider obtaining advice from an appropriately licensed professional when your circumstances require individualized legal, tax, financial, or other professional guidance.
9. Fees & Payments
Fees vary by product and service. Applicable pricing will be presented before or during the applicable purchase, enrollment, or account-setup process.
By submitting a payment or authorizing recurring payments, you authorize the applicable payment provider to process the payment according to the terms presented during checkout or account setup.
Certain services may use third-party payment processors such as Stripe or other payment providers.
Recurring Payments
Where a service includes recurring charges, you authorize recurring billing according to the applicable product terms until the subscription or service is canceled or otherwise terminated.
Refunds
Refund eligibility, cancellation rights, and applicable refund procedures depend on the product or service purchased and any specific terms presented at enrollment.
10. Third-Party Services
Certain services may rely on third-party companies, platforms, financial-data providers, payment processors, credit reporting agencies, identity verification services, technology providers, or other service providers.
Examples may include payment processing through Stripe or bank connection and verification services through Plaid, where applicable.
Third-party services may be governed by separate terms and privacy policies. You may be required to accept those terms before using certain features.
We are not responsible for independent actions, policies, availability, or systems operated by third-party providers.
11. Credit Results & No Guarantees
Credit outcomes depend on many factors, including payment history, existing accounts, balances, utilization, length of credit history, credit-report information, creditor policies, lender requirements, and individual financial circumstances.
Participation in a credit-building, rent-reporting, monitoring, or educational service does not guarantee that a credit reporting agency, lender, creditor, landlord, insurer, bank, or other organization will take a particular action.
12. Acceptable Use
You agree to use our website and services only for lawful purposes and in accordance with these Terms.
You may not:
- Provide false, misleading, fraudulent, or materially incomplete information.
- Impersonate another person or entity.
- Attempt to gain unauthorized access to our systems or another customer's account.
- Use our services for fraudulent, unlawful, abusive, or deceptive purposes.
- Interfere with the operation or security of our website or systems.
- Upload malicious code, malware, or other harmful material.
- Attempt to reverse engineer or improperly access restricted portions of our services.
- Use our content or services to violate another person's rights.
13. Intellectual Property
The Credit Builders name, branding, logos, website design, educational materials, graphics, text, software, content, and other materials made available through our services are owned by or licensed to Next Step Credit or its applicable licensors unless otherwise stated.
You may access and use content for your personal or authorized business purposes in connection with the services.
You may not reproduce, distribute, modify, sell, publish, sublicense, or commercially exploit protected content without appropriate authorization.
14. Communications
By requesting information or services, you agree that we may communicate with you using the contact information you provide for service-related purposes.
Communications may include application updates, account notifications, payment reminders, service announcements, security notifications, customer support, and other information related to your relationship with us.
Marketing communications may be subject to separate consent and applicable opt-out procedures.
15. Suspension & Termination
We may suspend, restrict, or terminate access to a website or service when reasonably necessary, including when:
- You violate these Terms or an applicable product agreement.
- You provide materially false or fraudulent information.
- Required payments are not made.
- We reasonably suspect fraud, abuse, or unauthorized activity.
- Required verification cannot be completed.
- Termination is necessary to comply with applicable law or third-party requirements.
- A service is discontinued or materially changed.
Termination of website access does not necessarily terminate obligations that are intended to survive termination, including payment obligations, intellectual-property provisions, disclaimers, limitations of liability, and applicable dispute provisions.
16. Disclaimers
Our website and general educational materials are provided on an “as available” and “as is” basis to the extent permitted by applicable law.
We do not guarantee that the website, content, or services will always be uninterrupted, error-free, secure, complete, current, or available.
We do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of information supplied by third-party providers or maintained by credit reporting agencies.
Nothing on our website should be interpreted as a guarantee of credit improvement, credit approval, financing, funding, or any other particular financial result.
17. Limitation of Liability
To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Next Step Credit, The Credit Builders, and their respective owners, officers, employees, contractors, affiliates, and service providers will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages arising from or related to your use of the website or services.
This may include, where permitted by law, loss of profits, loss of business opportunities, loss of data, loss of anticipated savings, or other indirect financial consequences.
Nothing in these Terms is intended to exclude or limit liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited under applicable law.
18. Indemnification
To the extent permitted by applicable law, you agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Next Step Credit, The Credit Builders, and their respective owners, officers, employees, contractors, affiliates, and service providers from claims, liabilities, damages, losses, costs, and expenses arising from:
- Your violation of these Terms.
- Your misuse of our website or services.
- Information you knowingly provide that is false or misleading.
- Your violation of another person's rights.
- Your unlawful or unauthorized use of our services.
19. Governing Law
These Terms will be governed by the applicable laws governing the relationship between you and Next Step Credit, without regard to conflict-of-law principles, except to the extent that applicable law provides otherwise.
Nothing in these Terms is intended to waive rights or protections that cannot legally be waived under applicable law.
20. Changes to These Terms
We may update these Terms from time to time to reflect changes to our services, business operations, technology, legal requirements, or other circumstances.
When changes are made, we may update the “Last Updated” date shown at the beginning of these Terms.
Continued use of applicable services after updated Terms become effective may constitute acceptance of the updated Terms to the extent permitted by applicable law.
21. Contact Us
If you have questions about these Terms, a product agreement, your account, or a service you are considering, contact us.