Credit glossary
Experian Boost
A free Experian feature that adds on-time utility, phone, streaming, insurance and some rent payments from your bank account to your Experian file.
You link a bank account and choose which bills to add. Only your Experian file changes, so scores built on Equifax or TransUnion data don't move. Experian's product page says the Boost score is calculated on FICO Score 8, and its blog lists some other versions too. Not every lender uses a score that Boost affects, so a higher number in the app may not follow you into an application.
Boost helps most on a thin file with few accounts, where added positive history carries more weight. It does less for someone with plenty of accounts and a payment problem. Experian describes it as adding on-time payments, so it's designed to help rather than hurt. Treat any increase as specific to Experian-based scores, and ask what a lender will actually pull.
Guides that go deeper
- Experian Boost, UltraFICO and cash-flow data: what lenders seeExperian Boost edits one bureau's file and some scores. UltraFICO needs a lender to offer it. See which scores each one touches and when to use it.
- Do rent and utility payments count toward your credit score?Paying rent and utilities on time usually builds nothing, but missing them can hurt. Where these bills show up, which scores count them, and how to opt in.
- Rent reporting: which scores count it and which bureaus see itReported rent helps only in scores that read it, at bureaus that receive it. Which scores use rent, how it gets reported, and what a service costs.
Sources
- Experian Boost, Experian
- What Is Experian Boost?, Experian
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