Am I crazy?? I need to hear some thought provoking opinions, this is a decision zone I don't want to push myself through without careful advice if at all possible. Thank you in advance, and let the rollllls begin!
So..I just got the email telling me I can use Experian Boost, and I'm going over the posts already for people who have done it. Typically a 20-25pt increase, which would put me into a better (Good) catagory. But I'm nervous about allowing any company knowing the ins and outs of my bank account. Nothing illegal or shady on my end, but the unknown of where else will that data go? LexisNexus? ChexSystems? Is this the first step into a derrivitive social credit scoring system?
If either one of those two dragnets get this information, so will every business you apply to a job, every insurance program to further calculate risk (think alcohol or anything else they can justify as extremely risky lifestyle choices), possibly even student loans or grants, and definitely Uncle Sam! If you got money Ol'Sam doesn't know about, or you owe him money and he knows you found some last weekend..he might come knock at your door! I mean why wouldn't that happen???
Then there's the scariest factor of them all. If they can deduce your eating, drinking, smoking, etc habbits, not only will health care skyrocket against your favor unless we all jump into a veggie bin and start screaming KETO-KUMBAYA at each other, but employers will have a new veil to judge behind without even knowing (or being able to prove). Just like choosing what to tell them about your ethnicity or veteran status or even more judgy..any disability you may have..but oh don't worry, they'll never consider that when deciding right? Just like everything else they have their hands on. Unethical as hell, and they do it all the time already because they can't hardly ever get caught, and this could potentially make it much worse.
I know some of that sounds crazy (I read it twice and I'm ROLF'n a little too!), but very seriously, can you really believe a successful company today will spend millions in profits and not receive something back quickly, or at least not have an alternative motive for long term gains? In this case, a government protected credit bureau (you can't even sue them for screwing up your credit, costing you thousands when it's their fault) is lowering the risk rating for every consumer (ideally) in how we are marketed to most financial sectors.
Basically they're spending money and resources that in some cases will lower profits for an untold number of lenders, and in other cases bring new customers to new markets at the edge of acceptance, creating more risk to their portfolio if accepted. And they don't want anything in return because.....? Hmmm..not buying it lol!
Aside of the unknowns, what we do know is posted on the board, there's not much in the way of official reviews.
Today a member claimed it raised their EX F8: 20+, and their Debt To Income ratio in the same swoop. The DTI doesn't hold much water when it comes to a mortgage because banks don't assess those bills except as a buffer zone for things like your electric, gas, etc..as they change every month, but the score increase is great.
Some people see zero changes because they're already on a different track paying bills with a credit card and paying it off monthly to gain the rewards they're setup for.
Anything else different from those types of scenarios, I'm not aware of.
I still have a lot to learn, but I'm interested to hear some good opinions!!
Also,
My Experian is F8: 662, V3.0: 681, as of this morning.
