I have privacy concerns with Experian Boost and UltraFico... Be honest im not sure quite how it works (Do they maintain the connection to the linked account or is it a one use only).. And on other notes.. What do they do with the data they get being directly in your checking account....
Do they trade/sell it to say... I dunno Lexis/Nexis..... or one of the secondary CRAs... Sagestream? Others.... Also of the opinion this may actually hurt certain types of customers... not help them... esp if your self-employed/seasonal/or similar situation where you have more income at certain times and less at others ....... But thats just me... I do like control over my privacy... Even though I know complete privacy is nonexistant....
Just some food for thought..
-J
I have not tried it.
It seems like a marketing stunt to me, not something that will be useful in most situations.
If all three credit bureaus did the same thing in a consistent way, that's fine, but since they don't, I think this will simply result in EX scores being less trusted, or at least, being looked at differently than EQ and TU scores.
This is something I will never use, the CRAs cannot handle their jobs properly with what they have done for the last 5 decades or so. Giving them further access into ones private financial affairs is well...... Too much data can be a killer just like too little can be.
It worked for me - they were only able to add my electric bill, but that was enough to boost my score (at the time) from 613 to 629. A 16 point gain, enough to cross my score from no-mortgage-for-you territory into mortgage-qualification territory, which could be a big deal for some people. Good way to add some free last-minute points if you plan on applying for credit soon, if you can stomach the thought of giving Experian your bank login info. You can literally add points to your Exp. FICO instantly, from your phone, while you're sitting in the financing office of a car dealership. The re-score happens in seconds.
It only affects your Experian score, by the way. It doesn't do anything for the other Bureaus. And I'm not sure which scoring models it affects - I know it works for Fico8, but I don't know about the other FICO scores or the FAKOs.
The nice thing about it is that you can instantly reverse it if you don't like the results. If it inadvertantly drops your score instead of boosting it, you can immediately undo it. Also, I believe they ONLY report positive payment history for the accounts it adds, I believe they do not report any negative payment info for those accounts.
Total Loan Balance: $43k / $65k
@coreysw12 wrote:It worked for me - they were only able to add my electric bill, but that was enough to boost my score (at the time) from 613 to 629. A 16 point gain, enough to cross my score from no-mortgage-for-you territory into mortgage-qualification territory, which could be a big deal for some people. Good way to add some free last-minute points if you plan on applying for credit soon, if you can stomach the thought of giving Experian your bank login info. You can literally add points to your Exp. FICO instantly, from your phone, while you're sitting in the financing office of a car dealership. The re-score happens in seconds.
It only affects your Experian score, by the way. It doesn't do anything for the other Bureaus. And I'm not sure which scoring models it affects - I know it works for Fico8, but I don't know about the other FICO scores or the FAKOs.
The nice thing about it is that you can instantly reverse it if you don't like the results. If it inadvertantly drops your score instead of boosting it, you can immediately undo it. Also, I believe they ONLY report positive payment history for the accounts it adds, I believe they do not report any negative payment info for those accounts.
I'm glad it worked for you, but the concern I have is, pretty much all the positives you listed. They only report good stuff from utility bills and you can reverse it if you don't like what you see? Put yourself in a lender's shoes. Not the guy across the desk trying to get you a mortgage, he'll be as happy as you. The guy at the loan origination office. You have a policy not to grant mortgages to X score for a reason. How are you going to feel when you realize that Experian has sabotaged your system? If it were me, I'd issue a new rule: stop using Experian. I think they're playing with fire on this. Also, it could lead to a bit of an arms race, where lenders who stick with Experian (like Amex) assume everyone is boosting their score this way, so people with an unboosted score will be at a disadvantage.
I think counting utilities is fair, I just think it needs to be consistent, or it's going to lead to an adjustment of some kind, at some point.
I have been using this feature, for my light bill, it comes in handy, it went up 8 points! 
@KJinNC wrote:I'm glad it worked for you, but the concern I have is, pretty much all the positives you listed. They only report good stuff from utility bills and you can reverse it if you don't like what you see? Put yourself in a lender's shoes. Not the guy across the desk trying to get you a mortgage, he'll be as happy as you. The guy at the loan origination office. You have a policy not to grant mortgages to X score for a reason. How are you going to feel when you realize that Experian has sabotaged your system? If it were me, I'd issue a new rule: stop using Experian. I think they're playing with fire on this. Also, it could lead to a bit of an arms race, where lenders who stick with Experian (like Amex) assume everyone is boosting their score this way, so people with an unboosted score will be at a disadvantage.
I think counting utilities is fair, I just think it needs to be consistent, or it's going to lead to an adjustment of some kind, at some point.
I 100% agree with that.
The whole concept is flawed and a bad idea, and degrades the quality of the FICO scoring model... but the fact is that, like you said, if you don't take advantage of it then it puts you at a sort of disadvantage.
It reminds me of the $8k first-time homebuyer tax credit the feds offered back in 2010, when I bought my first home. I disagreed wholeheartedly with the premise and concept of it, but I'll be danged if I'm not going to take it when it's offered to me. Unfortunately, like it or not, it's there for the taking and if you don't take it, you're potentially at a disadvantage.
Look at the bright side, at least we're not giving our bank info to Equifax Kidding, sort of
