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Unless you already have an excellent credit score, you'd probably jump at the chance to easily improve your credit score for free. After all, the higher your credit score, the better your options for savings, favorable interest rates, credit cards, and more.
Experian Boost is a service that can raise your FICO score instantly. It's a free service from Experian, one of the three major credit bureaus. Business Insider's personal finance team compared Experian Boost to our best credit builder loans and found it to be a strong offering based on its ease of use and the fact that it's free. Read on to see how it works and exactly what it can and can't do.
$0
- Builds payment history
- Free of charge
- Doesn’t report late payments
- You have to pay your bills online
- Only helps Experian credit score
- You need to already have a credit file
- Get credit for the bills like utilities, video streaming services and rent by connecting the bank or credit card account you use to pay
- Access your Experian credit report and FICO® Score for free
- Includes Experian credit monitoring and alerts
- Experian will look through 2 years of payment history for qualifying bills that have at least 3 payments in the last 6 months (including 1 payment within the last 3 months), and after you verify the information, Experian will add them to your Experian credit file
Experian Boost Overview
Experian Boost is a free credit-building product offered by Experian, one of the three major credit bureaus. It reports various on-time payments to your Experian credit report, such as utility payments, phone bills, streaming service subscription fees, and monthly rent.
By reporting these monthly payments, Experian Boost builds up the "payment history" portion of your credit report. Payment history is the most important factor considered by credit scoring algorithms from data companies FICO and VantageScore, making up 35% and 40% of your overall score, respectively.
How Experian Boost Works
To start with Experian Boost, you first need an Experian account. This account, on its own, gives you access to several free tools, including your FICO Score 8 credit score. Experian's free credit monitoring service is also included in our guide to the best credit monitoring services.
With your Experian account activated, you can navigate to Experian Boost through the Credit Tools tab. You'll be prompted to add any bank accounts and credit cards for utilities reporting. Note that Experian doesn't store login credentials and gains read-only access to your statements, so it cannot make any changes.
Experian Boost scans your bank and credit card accounts for eligible reoccurring charges. You can choose which accounts to connect and which to exclude. You must have paid a bill for three months within a six-month timeframe for it to be eligible for reporting.
Once you've approved each payment, Experian will recalculate your credit score on the spot so you can see any credit score improvements as a result of your additional payment history. It will continue to track eligible payments and update your credit report.
Experian Boost does not report late payments to your credit report, so the service won't hold any missed payments against you. The same can't be said for the people you're making those payments to. They may report your payments as delinquent when they're 30 days late, so it's best to keep up with those payments.
What Bills Qualify For Experian Boost?
Experian Boost will report a wide range of monthly payments. You can select which payments you want to be reported and opt in or out at any point.
- Mobile and landline phone
- Internet
- Cable, satellite, and television bills
- Streaming services (Netflix, HBO, Hulu, Disney+)
- Utilities
- Insurance
- Residential rent with online payments
Experian Boost Pros and Cons
Experian Boost Pros
Experian Boost offers a great opportunity for building payment history. The average FICO score increase is 13 points per user, and Experian says many have jumped into a new score range.
Experian Boost is free: Not only is Experian Boost a free service, but it allows you to build credit on payments you're already making. Meanwhile, credit-building products like credit builder loans or secured credit cards grant you new lines of credit that you must pay off.
Experian Boost doesn't report late payments: With no late payments reported, Experian Boost can't hurt your credit score. On the other hand, missed payments on secured credit cards are often reported to the credit bureaus, which will lower your credit score.
Experian Boost Cons
Experian Boost is a free service that can help your credit, but there's only so much it can do.
Doesn't repair negative information: Experian Boost can't fix damaged credit or reduce the impact of an excessive level of debt. Nor will it have any effect on previous bankruptcies or foreclosures. You can find our guide to the best credit repair companies.
Experian Boost only boosts Experian score: Experian Boost doesn't affect your credit reports from the other two credit bureaus, Equifax and TransUnion. Any benefit gained from Experian Boost will be negated if your lender happens to pull your credit report from one of those other two credit bureaus.
You need a pre-existing credit file: In order to report payments on your credit report, you need to have a report in the first place. This means you'll need to have already taken out a line of credit previously. Alternatively, you can use another of Experian's services, Experian Go, to create a credit file.
Doesn't affect mortgage scores: Credit scoring models have multiple versions for different uses. While Experian Boost will add information to your credit report, it won't impact credit scores often used by mortgage lenders.
Requires access to your bank account information: You will have to allow Experian Boost access to your bank account and the service will continue to monitor it for eligible payments.
Who Should Use Experian Boost?
Experian Boost is most helpful for people with very little credit history. Because you need to have an existing credit report to use Experian Boost, it isn't useful for building credit from scratch.
Additionally, Experian Boost only helps your Experian credit report and credit score. There are rent reporting services that report payments to all three credit bureaus. Some of the best rent reporting services are free to use.
Experian Boost is a free service that can't hurt your credit score, so there's no harm in trying it. Chances are that some of your most commonly used credit scores will improve, but there's no guarantee. If you understand exactly what Experian Boost can and can't do, the results won't disappoint you.
Experian Boost Alternatives
Secured credit cards: Secured credit cards are an option for building credit, but they are not free and require a deposit to set your credit limit.
Credit builder loans: Credit builder loans are also an option but are also not free. You will make a monthly payment just like any other loan.
Frequently Asked Questions About Experian Boost
Yes, Experian Boost is safe. Experian Boost gains read-only access to your bank statements for payment reporting purposes, so it doesn't store login credentials.
Experian Boost updates your Experian credit report and credit score every 30 days.
Yes, you can remove Experian Boost from your credit report. If you disconnect your bank account from Experian Boost, Experian will no longer receive payment history for that account. This could result in the loss of any credit score increases you received from Experian Boost.
Methodology: How We Reviewed Experian Boost
The most important factors influencing our review of Experian Boost were availability, flexibility, and affordability.
- Availability: by state, and whether the company reports your payments to all three credit bureaus
- Flexibility: the types of plans the lender offers, including limits, monthly payments, and payment periods, as well as the borrower's ability to pay off their loans early or cancel their account before their loan is fully paid off
- Affordability: how much money you spend to build credit, in the form of interest paid, origination fees, or additional costs such as membership fees and early cancellation fees
See a full explanation on how we rate credit builder accounts.
*Disclaimer: Results may vary. See website for detail. **Credit score calculated based on FICO® Score 8 model. Your lender or insurer may use a different FICO® Score than FICO® Score 8, or another type of credit score altogether. Learn more.
