The simple answer is: No. Not automatically. While having a Gabriel Money Secured Card is an excellent first step, simply owning the card does not guarantee that you are building credit. Building Credit depends on how you use your card and other responsible financial behaviors over time.
What the Gabriel Money Secured Card does help you is to build credit history, in an easy and responsible way!
With the Gabriel Money Secured Card, you will:
✅ Make on-time payments every month - payment history is the #1 factor in your credit score.
✅ Be able to control and keep your balance low relative to your credit limit - aim for a utilization rate below 30%. Use the Score Guardian functionality to send you tailored alerts and make additional deposits to keep your credit utilization under control.
✅ Use the card regularly and responsibly - inactivity may not help your score.
✅ Avoid missed payments or overdrafts - these can harm your score or even lead to fees. The Gabriel Money Secured Card has no overdraft or missed payment: your limit is your deposit balance and even if you don’t set up the auto-pay (which is ideal), we will still help you avoid missed payments by clawing back the amount spent in the month from your deposit account and reporting payment ontime to the bureaus.
✅ Check your credit reports regularly to ensure your card activity is being reported to the credit bureaus.
Owning a secured card is like owning a gym membership - just having it won’t build muscle unless you actually work out. The same logic applies to your credit score.
🔗 Want a full guide on how credit history and scores work?