Table Of Content
What Is Experian Boost?
Experian Boost is a credit building tool designed to increase your FICO score instantly. There is no charge for this service and it can be used in conjunction with Experian’s credit monitoring services to improve your overall financial health.
Two of the most important factors when calculating your credit score are your history of making on time payments and your credit utilization. Experian Boost allows you to add additional on time payments to your credit report when you link your bank account.
These additional payments added to your history can help to increase your credit score. You can choose the positive payment histories that you can add to your Experian credit report and you may see an instant boost in your credit history.
Experian Boost offers the best impact for those who have a thin credit history. If you don’t have many accounts reporting on time payments, adding further accounts can help you to build your credit history and increase your chances of being approved for credit products.
How Does Experian Boost Work?
With Experian Boost you can add positive payment history listings to your credit report. Essentially, this means that you can use phone bills, utility bills, rent payments and even the payments to your streaming services to “boost” your credit report.
- You will need to sign up and connect your bank account that you pay your bills from. You can then select which bills you want to use and confirm adding these transactions to your Experian Boost. Experian will then use this information to reassess your credit score.
- Using this platform, Experian can access data from your accounts and add transactions up to 24 months old to your credit profile. This means there is the potential for up to two years of positive payments to be added to your credit report payment history in one go.
- Just bear in mind that there needs to be a minimum of three months payments within a timeframe of six months for Boost to be able to perform its task.
This is a great feature for those who don’t have traditional credit accounts, such as credit cards and bank loans to create a payment history. While you may have been paying your phone bill every month on time for years, in most cases, this will not appear on your credit report and therefore, it will not help you to qualify for credit.
If you’ve linked your bank account to Experian Boost, these payments can demonstrate your financial responsibility and improve your chances of getting credit.
How to Use Experian Boost
In order to use Experian Boost, you will need to have an Experian account. This is free to sign up for on the main Experian website. After you have your experience account, you can click through to Experian Boost and use the feature with a few simple steps.
- Connect Your Accounts: Since setting up your Experian account involves providing your personal details, you don’t need to re enter these, simply follow the instructions to connect your bank accounts. You can connect multiple bank accounts, but you don’t need to reveal your bank log in details.
- Scanning: During the next step, Experian Boost will scan your linked accounts for the previous 24 months of activity for examples of any “good payment trends”. Just bear in mind that your final score will be based on the previous 12 months of activity.
- Information Processing: Experiean will now process your information and calculate an aggregate score of up to 101 points. This points boost is then added to your Experian credit score, providing the potential to increase your score to a maximum of 999 or a perfect score.
- Enjoy Your New Score: Your new credit score will be available for lenders when you apply for any new credit products. You can then have the option to remain signed up for Experian Boost, which means that you will be alerted if there are further opportunities for a score boost.
Does Experian Boost Work?
Whether Experian Boost will work for you will depend on your circumstances. If you have few bills over the last year or two that could be added to your credit report, you’re not likely to see much benefit.
Additionally, you need to bear in mind that when a lender checks your credit, they may use Experian or they may pull your Equifax or TransUnion report. In this case, Experian Boost is not likely to work for you.
According to Experian, Boost can help you improve your FICO and VantageScore, but lenders will only see Boost results if they pull your Experian credit report or pull credit scores generated using Experian data.
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When Experian Boost May Be A Good Idea?
If you already have a very good or excellent score, you are not likely to need an extra couple of points. However, if you have a marginal score, or are on the cusp of moving up to excellent or very good, those extra points could make a massive difference to you.
Boost can be very beneficial when you’re on the border between two of the credit categories, as it could help you get over the line and improve your approval chances or provide access to more advantageous rates.
Boost can also be a good idea if you have a thin credit file. If you have a minimal credit file, it can be a red flag for potential lenders who will not be able to gauge how you can handle new credit responsibilities. Boost can help you to add more tradelines, so you can demonstrate to potential lenders your great financial behavior.
Is Experian Boost Safe?
While there are no guarantees that Experian Boost will help your credit score, it certainly will not hurt your score.
You can choose to add transactions which highlight your positive payment track record, it will only include your on time payments. If you have had a late payment 23 months ago, it will not be included. so you should see either no improvement or an improvement on your score.
Additionally, Experian Boost will only look at your banking data rather than your credit history, so there is no credit inquiry recorded on your credit report.
What Bills Qualify for Experian Boost?
After you sign up for Experian Boost, you’ll have the option to decide which of your service provider payments will be included in your credit history. These include:
- Landline and Mobile Phones: You can include payments for both of these phone bills in your credit profile. So, if you have had your mobile for a while, you could include a year of your on time payments.
- Internet: If you pay the bills for your internet service provider via your bank account, you can include them with Experian Boost. If you bundle the internet with other services, it is likely that your entire monthly payment will qualify for Experian Boost.
- Satellite and Cable: If you have satellite or cable services, or you’re subscribed to streaming services, you can use these monthly payments to help to improve your credit score.
- Utilities: You can also include your electric and gas bills with Experian Boost.
- Rent: FInally, you can include your residential rent payments. However, it needs to be remitted to a property management company or to your landlord via select rent payment platforms. If you pay your rent in cash, by personal check or via PayPal, Zelle or Venmo, these payments are not eligible.
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FAQs
Can Experian Boost hurt your credit?
No, Experian Boost only includes positive payments and there is no credit inquiry, so it will not hurt your credit.
How do you add bills to Experian Boost?
You’ll need to connect the bank account which you use to pay your bills. Experian Boost will then allow you to choose and verify your positive payment history for the relevant bills.
Does Experian Boost cost money?
Noת Experian Boost is a free-of-charge service.
Does TransUnion have a boost like Experian?
TransUnion has a similar feature called eCredable Lift, which works like Experian Boost.
Can Experian Boost help with credit cards?
Yes, if you improve your score, you can improve your chances of credit card approval, and you may qualify for lower rates.
How do you add Cash App to Experian Boost?
Unfortunately, Cash App does not currently work with Experian Boost.
How do you cancel an Experian Boost membership?
If you want to cancel Experian Boost, you should call the Experian helpline and a representative can guide you through the cancellation process. You can also email the customer support team and request cancellation.
