Improve your credit score for free: Experian Boost review

(CNN) –

CNN underlined checks financial products such as credit cards and bank accounts based on their total value. We may receive a commission from Experian if you sign up for Experian Boost using the links on this page. However, our reporting is always independent and objective.

Good credit is important because having good credit will give you access to the best credit, mortgage, and credit cards. But what if your credit score isn’t very good? Or do you have a limited history with credit? Lenders may be reluctant to approve new credit cards or loans to people with poor credit scores, making it even more difficult to build or rebuild your credit history.

While there are many “credit repair companies” that claim to fix your credit, they can be expensive and it is not always clear which companies have less than outstanding track records. However, there is a relatively new way to increase your credit scores in minutes – and it’s free.

The feature is called Experian Boost ™ * and it is definitely legitimate. In fact, Experian® is one of the top three credit bureaus in the United States and has been in business for over 20 years. Therefore, Experian® has a lot of experience with credit scores. But does Experian Boost actually improve your FICO® Score **, which is used by 90% of the top lenders? Let’s take a look.

Experian Boost is designed to provide credit to people where credit is due. By providing Experian with your information, you can receive credits for on-time payments that are usually not part of your credit history, such as: B. Payments for utilities, telecommunications, cable, and some streaming services.

On-time payments make up 35% of your FICO® Score. So when you’ve paid your utility bills, phone bills, and even your Netflix® streaming service payments every month, you can add them to your credit report and potentially boost your FICO score ***.

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When you access Experian Boost, you can link your checking, savings, and other bank or credit card accounts that you use to pay your monthly bills so that your payment history can be added to your Experian credit card.

As long as you have at least three consecutive months of payment from the same account within the last six months, Experian Boost will record positive payment activity and add it to your Experian credit card. Best of all, no negative payments are reported – only those that were paid on time.

Click Here To Increase Your Credit Scores With Experian Boost For Free.

The boost process is quite simple and only takes a few minutes. After you’ve created an Experian account, link your financial institutions where you manage your check, savings, or other bank or credit card accounts that you use to pay your bills, and enter your credentials to seamlessly link them.

If you have multiple accounts with the same financial institution, Experian lets you choose which accounts to include and just add the accounts that you will use to pay your bills.

Once you’ve linked your accounts, Experian will automatically go through all of your recent transactions and identify payments that are qualified for inclusion on your Experian credit record, such as: B. Electricity bills. You will then see a list of eligible invoices and choose which ones to add to your report.

Make your selection and within a few moments Experian Boost will take the new information into account and show you your new (hopefully improved) FICO® Score. Because Experian Boost does not include missed payments, your FICO score will not go down, but it may not change if either there isn’t enough information from the accounts you added or if your FICO score is already relatively high.

While it doesn’t make a difference to your FICO® Score, the process is as simple as it sounds and literally costs nothing. Once you’ve got everything set up, Experian Boost will continue to monitor your payments and can increase your credit score if future payments make a difference.

Use your on-time payments to improve your credit scores with Experian Boost.

It depends on whether. According to Experian, US users increased their FICO® scores by nearly 45 million points, and the average FICO score increased 12 points using Experian Boost. Those with little to no credit and those with very bad to fair credit generally see the largest spikes in FICO scores.

We tried Experian Boost ourselves and found the process very straightforward, but we didn’t see any increase in our credit scores. This is likely because the CNN underscored reviewers who tried it are already paying their bills on time and have high credit scores to begin with.

But people who pay their bills through their bank account and don’t have a long credit card or credit history can see greater impact. This is because you are beginning to fill in your Payment History component of your FICO® Score. This is one of the most important factors in a credit score.

There are no real downsides to Experian Boost – the worst that can happen is that it doesn’t change your FICO® Score. It doesn’t cost anything and doesn’t damage your credit. The only thing you could lose is a few minutes of your time setting it up. With Experian membership, you will also receive your FICO score free of charge on an ongoing basis. This is helpful when you are working on improving your credit score.

However, there are some restrictions to be aware of. First, Experian Boost only adds these positive payments to your Experian credit report. Information cannot be added to reports from other credit agencies such as Equifax or TransUnion. So if you apply for a credit card and the lender pulls your credit report from another office, the lender will not see increased credit scores.

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You will also find that the tool will not work for invoices that are not on your behalf, even if you contribute. For example, if you live with roommates and send your portion of the gas bill to your roommate through Venmo or PayPal, or give them a check or cash, Experian Boost will not take those payments.

After all, some people are uncomfortable with giving their bank login to a third party. According to Experian, when using Experian Boost, Experian will only use your banking information to track your ongoing positive payments and identify potential new boosts.

For added protection, Experian also ensures that your bank account name and address match that of your Experian membership profile. However, if you are concerned about privacy, you can decide that the Experian Boost benefit is not worth sharing your personal information with.

Frankly, yes, especially if your credit scores could use some help. Not every FICO® Score increases with Experian Boost, but the service is free and it only takes a few minutes to enter your information and link your accounts. There are very few drawbacks to using this feature and you can always remove the added payment history from your Experian credit file if you want.

The best way to permanently improve your credit scores is to methodically reduce your debt by paying your loans, mortgages, and credit card bills on time each month. However, this process can take some time. So in the meantime, try giving your credit scores a little boost with Experian Boost for free.

Learn more about improving your credit scores with Experian Boost.

* Results may vary. Some may not see improved scores or approval ratings. Not all lenders use Experian credit files, and not all lenders use Experian Boost influenced scores.

** Credit score calculated based on the FICO® Score 8 model. Your lender or insurer may use a different FICO score than FICO 8, or some other type of overall credit score. Learn more.

*** Experian and the Experian trademarks used herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Experian and its affiliates. The use of any other trade name, copyright or other brand is for identification and reference purposes only and does not imply any association with the author or brand owner of their product or brand. Other product and company names mentioned here are the property of their respective owners.