It can be irritatingly elusive to get a credit score when you are just getting started. Most lenders are hesitant to extend credit except if you already have enough credit experience. Experian, one of the major credit bureaus, wants to simplify things for beginners in credit through their free product known as Experian Boost.

Experian Boost – How It Works

Consumers who wish to use Experian Boost should give the product permission for scanning their bank account transactions in order to identify phone, utility, and streaming payments. Information regarding payments is going to show up in their credit report with Experian. It can also be used once specific credit scores have been calculated from the data.

Experian Boost only counts the positive history of payments, which means that your score won’t get hurt if you missed payments for your phone, utility, or streaming. This is different from the way credit scores often work wherein missed payments get recorded in the credit report and may lower your credit score.

In order to use Experian Boost, the consumers need to sign up for the free membership on the official website of Experian then grant permission for connecting their online bank accounts. Experian Boost will then identify phone, utility, and streaming payments. After the consumer has verified the data and confirmed that they want to add this to their credit file with Experian, an updated FICO score will then be delivered in real-time.

Experian Boost – Does It Work?

The moment a lender reviews your credit, they may retrieve your credit score or go through your credit report from all or any of the three major credit bureaus such as TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax.

Your credit scores come in different versions like the VantageScore 3 and the FICO 8, which is the score that is most commonly used.

Lenders will see the effects of Experian Boos only once they view your credit report with Experian or pull your VantageScore 4, VantageScore 3, FiCO 9, or FICO 8 credit scores with Experian data.

A possible downside of using Experian Boost is the fact that because all lenders might be unfamiliar with it. As a result, they will be able to see phone, utility, and streaming payments on your credit report then consider this as a part of your overall debt load that may affect your chances of being qualified for a credit card or loan. According to Experian, it works with the lenders to make sure they understand all the positive payments.

UltraFICO vs. Experian Boost and Other Methods for Building Credit

Experian tests yet another product together with FICO with the goal of helping the thin-file consumers. UltraFICO Score will also require bank account data access to determine financial behavior. But instead of the utility payments, your score will factor in the amount of savings you have and if your checking account incurs overdrafts.

At the moment, UltraFICO and Experian Boost influence not just your credit report with Experian and the scores built with the use of that data. Building credit will take patience and time and tracking your progress is definitely worth it.