Getting a good credit score can save you money, make you eligible for new credit, and help you secure better interest rates on loans and credit cards. A high score can also help you qualify for more affordable credit products and avoid having to pay a security deposit on utility accounts. If you are not sure what your score is, you can check it for free with your Experian credit report. You can also take advantage of free credit counseling and credit monitoring offered by nonprofit credit counseling agencies.
Experian Boost is a free credit score raising feature that allows consumers to boost their credit scores in minutes. The process involves connecting their bank and credit card accounts to their Experian report and then adding bills and payments to their credit report. Once they have completed the process, they will see an immediate increase in their score.
The process takes about five minutes. Experian Boost will look for eligible on-time payments and add them to your credit file. However, it is not applicable to all payments. Most credit scoring models require you to make at least one payment for three to six months before your score is calculated.
Experian Boost is aimed at the consumer who has a thin file. The thin file is a credit history that is made up of fewer than five accounts. Experian Boost is designed to help consumers with thin files move to a higher score range by adding accounts to their credit report. For example, consumers who are in a low credit score range may find that their score improves after they add a few credit cards and make on-time payments. In addition, Experian Boost can help consumers increase their scores by adding phone and utility payments to their credit report.
Experian Boost has helped millions of consumers raise their credit scores. In fact, research shows that 70 percent of consumers who have a low FICO(r) Score raise their score with Experian Boost. The process takes just a few minutes and can help consumers increase their credit score by as much as 13 points. As Experian Boost continues to evolve, it will become even easier for consumers to add accounts to their credit reports and increase their FICO(r) Scores.
According to Experian, the process of boosting a FICO(r) Score with Experian Boost will impact most common versions of the FICO(r) Score. In the most simple form, Boost will add up to two credit cards to your report and search for eligible on-time payments. In a more complex version of the process, users can choose which payments to add to their Experian credit report. Boost has been designed to help consumers build their credit history, which is important in establishing a strong credit history that can improve their credit scores and get them approved for credit cards and loans.
Aside from helping consumers raise their credit scores, Experian Boost also helps them determine the thickness of their credit report. When Boost adds new accounts to their credit report, they are calculated using the newly added payment information.