Unless this is something different I think most people want to generate that information -- "look I'm a trustworthy borrower, give me good credit score!"
Like the credit score system is dumb, sure, but I don't make the rules and playing the game can save me about a hundred thousand bucks off my mortgage.
But they do generate that information - they just don't have a choice to decrease their score, as they can't be behind their payments (thus "isn't all that useful for lenders") - right? That's the whole schtick behind "credit builder cards", use them to build up your credit score, isn't it?
The cited part in the article "mourns" that part, that consumers get better scores even though they didn't have an "actual" credit card, doesn't it?
The author's criticism of these cards is not that they don't build an individual's credit record, but that they reduce the decision-making power of the credit scoring system as a whole. Given the unpleasant and coercive nature of the credit scoring system, that seems like a good thing
Yeah it benefits the users, by in some sense artificially inflating their credit scores.
Also benefits society in general -- injecting junk into the credit agencies data should reduce the viability of their parasitic business model (although unfortunately it is only a tiny amount of junk).
Like the credit score system is dumb, sure, but I don't make the rules and playing the game can save me about a hundred thousand bucks off my mortgage.