topic Re: Experian Boost in General Credit Topics

Experian Boost

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Apr 2020 17:46:51 GMT

I tried searching, but couldn't find a real answer for this, apologies if there's a thread for this elsewhere!

I'm struggling to understand the Experian Boost. I know what it is, but it's just...not...boosting?

I pay all my utilities on time, every time, every month. The same ones. For years. Cell phone, cable/internet, water, electric, etc. I figured at the very least the electric would boost. Nada. I even submitted a ticket on it. Nope, nothing.

My name is on the credit union account, and the bill account is in my name.

Could the issue be the credit union account also has my partner as a joint owner?

Could the issue be the credit union is Navy Federal? Does Boost work better with certain banks?

I'm grasping at straws here!

Re: Experian Boost

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Apr 2020 18:17:54 GMT

Do you already have a good mix of accounts and history of on time payments? If so, you probably won't get a boost in your score.

Is your issue the fact that these accounts are not being found by the boost?

Either way, IMO experian boost is kind of useless even if it does boost your score. It will cause all of those bills to be figured into your DTI which hurts more than it helps.

Re: Experian Boost

CreditobsessedinFL — Fri, 10 Apr 2020 20:02:58 GMT

I think the general consensus is it's useless, most creditors disregard it. I disconnected it for my daughter.

Re: Experian Boost

Anonymous — Sat, 11 Apr 2020 03:29:27 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I tried searching, but couldn't find a real answer for this, apologies if there's a thread for this elsewhere!

I'm struggling to understand the Experian Boost. I know what it is, but it's just...not...boosting?

I pay all my utilities on time, every time, every month. The same ones. For years. Cell phone, cable/internet, water, electric, etc. I figured at the very least the electric would boost. Nada. I even submitted a ticket on it. Nope, nothing.

My name is on the credit union account, and the bill account is in my name.

Could the issue be the credit union account also has my partner as a joint owner?

Could the issue be the credit union is Navy Federal? Does Boost work better with certain banks?

I'm grasping at straws here!

Yeah, I saw some troubleshooting stuff on the Experian website regarding joint accounts. I truly think it is a ploy to access your bank accounts and view your spending patterns and take that data and share with creditors. I believe the understanding is it is more of a boost that does little for you.

Re: Experian Boost

M_Smart007 — Sat, 11 Apr 2020 04:47:23 GMT

@CreditobsessedinFL wrote:
I think the general consensus is it's useless, most creditors disregard it. I disconnected it for my daughter.

+1 This ^^^^^^^^^^^^

Re: Experian Boost

ridgebackpilot — Sat, 11 Apr 2020 05:20:27 GMT

Anyone with a relatively thick credit file won't get a boost from Experian Boost. I certainly didn't.

And I agree that no one should give a credit bureau access to their banking information. Could do a lot more harm than good.

Experian Boost is for those with thin files who have good records of paying their utility bills on time...it's not going to help anyone else.

Re: Experian Boost

Anonymous — Sat, 11 Apr 2020 19:27:47 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I tried searching, but couldn't find a real answer for this, apologies if there's a thread for this elsewhere!

I'm struggling to understand the Experian Boost. I know what it is, but it's just...not...boosting?

I pay all my utilities on time, every time, every month. The same ones. For years. Cell phone, cable/internet, water, electric, etc. I figured at the very least the electric would boost. Nada. I even submitted a ticket on it. Nope, nothing.

My name is on the credit union account, and the bill account is in my name.

Could the issue be the credit union account also has my partner as a joint owner?

Could the issue be the credit union is Navy Federal? Does Boost work better with certain banks?

I'm grasping at straws here!

Late to the party here but here are my two cents. Boost is essentially a feel good tool and nothing more.

If you look at scores that Experian connected lenders use: you will notice your boosted score is disregarded. For eg; my American Express score has never ever been the same as my Experian. It's always 8 points behind and that was the score boost I got when I linked all my accounts.

I recently disconnected my boost and saw an 8 pt drop. And I'm ok with that. Sure I want to see a higher score but what's the point if it's not universally accepted as a standard?

I'm sure some lenders take it into account. None of mine care for it.

Hopefully this helped a bit.

Re: Experian Boost

Iusedtolurk — Sun, 12 Apr 2020 02:56:52 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I tried searching, but couldn't find a real answer for this, apologies if there's a thread for this elsewhere!

I'm struggling to understand the Experian Boost. I know what it is, but it's just...not...boosting?

I pay all my utilities on time, every time, every month. The same ones. For years. Cell phone, cable/internet, water, electric, etc. I figured at the very least the electric would boost. Nada. I even submitted a ticket on it. Nope, nothing.

My name is on the credit union account, and the bill account is in my name.

Could the issue be the credit union account also has my partner as a joint owner?

Could the issue be the credit union is Navy Federal? Does Boost work better with certain banks?

I'm grasping at straws here!

Imho if experian had a credit card experian boost may help you have a better score with them but since they don't experian boost only serves a purpose of you feeling better about a score with a few more points on it.

Digging through your bank account for all your deposits, bills and spending patterns seems way to invasive to me to allow a credit reporting agency to have that kind of access for a measly few points that creditors probably ignore.

Re: Experian Boost

Trudy — Sun, 12 Apr 2020 03:53:49 GMT

I'm of the same thought that it's too much info to give up although CB have lots of info, but not your personal banking accounts. Also I believe it may be a feel good because from those I know, few, who have used it they have been denied and the score provided was not the Boosted score. So it seems to support most lenders don't see those points and your score without the Boost is what they use.

However, I know one person who applied for credit through a furniture rental store who used the Boost score. But the interest didn't seem to support a "better" score. I guess just the approval for that type of lender. But consider the lender they probably would have been approved anyway. I don't know. Just my 19 cents.

I personally dont' think there's quick fix other than than the hard work to fix past missteps, not repeating those missteps and time. I personally was not willing to provide that extra personal information but I understand their targeted market.

Re: Experian Boost

DisputeQueen — Sat, 30 May 2020 04:58:13 GMT

I input all of my normal utilities and it did boost my score a little bit, which was great. But to be honest it's stupid. It says my score is 624, but when I just went to go buy a car it says my score is 594 there. I feel like it give you a false sense of having a better score than you really do because the companies that I wanted to have a better score didn't see the boost.

I am actually going to remove my acounts now.

Re: Experian Boost

Iusedtolurk — Sat, 30 May 2020 10:05:00 GMT

@DisputeQueen wrote:
I input all of my normal utilities and it did boost my score a little bit, which was great. But to be honest it's stupid. It says my score is 624, but when I just went to go buy a car it says my score is 594 there. I feel like it give you a false sense of having a better score than you really do because the companies that I wanted to have a better score didn't see the boost.

I am actually going to remove my acounts now.

Welcome to the forums. I noticed you are a new member and are now placed into the position where a whole new world of understanding the nuances of credit awaits you.

As a new member I was surprised to find out that along with different credit scores being generated by different bureaus there are also different credit score classifications used by creditors.

There are the basic scores we generally see but there are bank scores used by credit card issuers, auto scores used by auto creditors, mortgage scores used by mortgage companies and these scores are generally different from the base scores we usually reference as our score.

There is a possibility you were looking at your base score (624) and the auto place pulled your auto score (594) .

You can find out more about the scores by searching Understanding Fico Scores in the forum.

Experian boost with most things will have its pros and cons which will differ for individuals.

Re: Experian Boost

Anonymous — Sat, 30 May 2020 13:35:40 GMT

@Iusedtolurk wrote:
@DisputeQueen wrote:
I input all of my normal utilities and it did boost my score a little bit, which was great. But to be honest it's stupid. It says my score is 624, but when I just went to go buy a car it says my score is 594 there. I feel like it give you a false sense of having a better score than you really do because the companies that I wanted to have a better score didn't see the boost.

I am actually going to remove my acounts now.

Welcome to the forums. I noticed you are a new member and are now placed into the position where a whole new world of understanding the nuances of credit awaits you.

As a new member I was surprised to find out that along with different credit scores being generated by different bureaus there are also different credit score classifications used by creditors.

There are the basic scores we generally see but there are bank scores used by credit card issuers, auto scores used by auto creditors, mortgage scores used by mortgage companies and these scores are generally different from the base scores we usually reference as our score.

There is a possibility you were looking at your base score (624) and the auto place pulled your auto score (594) .
You can find out more about the scores by searching Understanding Fico Scores in the forum.

Experian boost with most things will have its pros and cons which will differ for individuals.

What a great response.

Re: Experian Boost

Anonymous — Sun, 31 May 2020 08:37:12 GMT

@DisputeQueen wrote:
I input all of my normal utilities and it did boost my score a little bit, which was great. But to be honest it's stupid. It says my score is 624, but when I just went to go buy a car it says my score is 594 there. I feel like it give you a false sense of having a better score than you really do because the companies that I wanted to have a better score didn't see the boost.

I am actually going to remove my acounts now.

Boost has been a scam to me since day 1 for the following reasons:

It doesnt boost any of the scores that REALLY matter. your mortgage scores, Auto scores, or bankcard scores. And even if your Experian Fico2 got a boost, a lender only counts your middle score for a mortgage anyhow, so that inflated experian score doesnt help so much.
You are opening yourself to a TON of scrutiny by allowing them access to your bank account info. that time you got hit with an overdraft fee because the bank did something dumb. that shows. that time you had under $100 balance because you had an unexpectec car issue you needed to throw money at? that shows. Your ratio of money spent on bills/essentials vs non essentials. that shows. It gives them more data as well to re-calculate your DTI, which as of now doesnt include utilities and such. which is good for the consumer
They are likely tracking your spending habits and selling your data to advertizers. and if they arent now they soon will, since that is an enormous cash cow. they stand to make potentially billions doing that, and they will. which is bad for 2 reasons. 1 your privacy and 2 it turns an unbiased entity that scores our credit into something that morphs more into a for profit data mining company that who knows if they start being influenced by a big advertizer money. i mean this is america.
It is not a matter of "if" but "when" experian will be hacked and your linked accounts are potentially exposed. which is bad. like catastrophically bad. unlike credit cards, bank account funds are typically only insured up to like 100,000. and the banks are going to be banks and placing blame on you and the hack when if your funds are stolen via breach through experian. We have already seen equifax hacked and many other major players.

Experian, Credit Karma, and other sites are already targeting you with credit card and loan offerns. they i am sure are making money off that. it wont be long before they start doing more of this once they know your spending habits

Re: Experian Boost

Iusedtolurk — Sun, 31 May 2020 13:01:59 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@DisputeQueen wrote:
I input all of my normal utilities and it did boost my score a little bit, which was great. But to be honest it's stupid. It says my score is 624, but when I just went to go buy a car it says my score is 594 there. I feel like it give you a false sense of having a better score than you really do because the companies that I wanted to have a better score didn't see the boost.

I am actually going to remove my acounts now.

Boost has been a scam to me since day 1 for the following reasons:

It doesnt boost any of the scores that REALLY matter. your mortgage scores, Auto scores, or bankcard scores. And even if your Experian Fico2 got a boost, a lender only counts your middle score for a mortgage anyhow, so that inflated experian score doesnt help so much.
You are opening yourself to a TON of scrutiny by allowing them access to your bank account info. that time you got hit with an overdraft fee because the bank did something dumb. that shows. that time you had under $100 balance because you had an unexpectec car issue you needed to throw money at? that shows. Your ratio of money spent on bills/essentials vs non essentials. that shows. It gives them more data as well to re-calculate your DTI, which as of now doesnt include utilities and such. which is good for the consumer
They are likely tracking your spending habits and selling your data to advertizers. and if they arent now they soon will, since that is an enormous cash cow. they stand to make potentially billions doing that, and they will. which is bad for 2 reasons. 1 your privacy and 2 it turns an unbiased entity that scores our credit into something that morphs more into a for profit data mining company that who knows if they start being influenced by a big advertizer money. i mean this is america.
It is not a matter of "if" but "when" experian will be hacked and your linked accounts are potentially exposed. which is bad. like catastrophically bad. unlike credit cards, bank account funds are typically only insured up to like 100,000. and the banks are going to be banks and placing blame on you and the hack when if your funds are stolen via breach through experian. We have already seen equifax hacked and many other major players.
Experian, Credit Karma, and other sites are already targeting you with credit card and loan offerns. they i am sure are making money off that. it wont be long before they start doing more of this once they know your spending habits

+1 Pretty much of the same thoughts that crossed my mind concerning Boost. Risk vs Rewards are a little unbalanced to say the least.

Experian BOOST....boosted me into the 700 club!!!

Anonymous — Mon, 08 Jun 2020 23:34:59 GMT

I was just able to finally connect my bank (chime) to Experian and use the Experian Boost to boost my credit score and it gave me an additional 14 point which has launched me into the 700 club with Experian now I have to get EQ into gear and I'm super excited since I've been able to start back seriously working on my goal of the 700 club now my new goal is 750.

Re: Experian BOOST....boosted me into the 700 club!!!

Anonymous — Mon, 08 Jun 2020 23:40:02 GMT

Congrats on getting into the 700 club!

Re: Experian BOOST....boosted me into the 700 club!!!

Rebuild2019 — Tue, 09 Jun 2020 00:56:23 GMT

Congrats on your progress.

Re: Experian BOOST....boosted me into the 700 club!!!

AllZero — Tue, 09 Jun 2020 01:02:49 GMT

Congratulations on your success!

Re: Experian BOOST....boosted me into the 700 club!!!

cyrusvalentino — Tue, 09 Jun 2020 01:51:12 GMT

Congratulations on the boost to 700, truly is a huge accomplishment.

While not trying to pop your bubble by any means just want to share what I have learned. This only effects your Fico 8 or higher score. Most credit card, mortgage, and automobile companies do not use Fico 8 or higher therefore it's true effect is very minimal unless you find a company who uses Fico 8 for whatever you applying for. Also ensure the bills are paid timely, because if there are gaps reported in payments I have several friends who have been questioned about these self reported accounts when applying for mortgages. Ultimately I removed my Experian Boost although it gave me a 32 point jump because it ultimately was fictious and just made me feel better about myself when in reality it did nothing for the things I would actually use my credit for, and in fact may actually raise concerns or questions if they see something in those they do not like.

Re: Experian Boost

Anonymous — Sat, 13 Jun 2020 21:07:59 GMT

Ridge,

You said it exactly, experian boost they need access to all your utility accounts, bank accounts, etc. To me this is just asking for trouble and no way will i give any organization my banking account. So if you did this whats the most you get 40 points, not worth the risk imo.

@ridgebackpilot wrote:
Anyone with a relatively thick credit file won't get a boost from Experian Boost. I certainly didn't.

And I agree that no one should give a credit bureau access to their banking information. Could do a lot more harm than good.

Experian Boost is for those with thin files who have good records of paying their utility bills on time...it's not going to help anyone else.