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Experian Boost Review: Potentially Useful if You Have Limited Credit History

Review Updated
Brittney Myers
Author: Brittney Myers
Brittney Myers
Brittney Myers
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Brittney started her writing career in the world of science, putting her physics degree to good use. Her journey into finance started with building her personal credit, but soon grew into a borderline obsession with credit cards and travel rewards. For the last 7 years, she has enjoyed the ability to share her expertise with readers, as well as the opportunity to interview companies and individuals making an impact on our financial lives. She wholly believe most problems can be solved with the right research -- and a good spreadsheet -- and she specializes in translating complex financial topics into actionable advice to help educate and empower readers.

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Eric McWhinnie
Fact Checked: Eric McWhinnie
Eric McWhinnie
Eric McWhinnie

Eric McWhinnie has been writing and editing digital content since 2010. He specializes in personal finance and investing. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in Finance.

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Experian Boost is a service offered by the Experian credit bureau that can help people with thin credit files increase their Experian credits scores. No more, no less. If you have good credit already, or zero credit at all, this service probably won't help you. 

Read our complete review for the full story on how it works and who can benefit.

What is Experian Boost?

Typically, credit scores are based almost entirely on credit lines like loans and credit cards. You could pay your power bill and cellphone service on time every month for decades and still not have good credit -- or any credit score at all.

Experian Boost is trying to change that by using your banking history to track all of those utility payments and service bills that have gone unrecognized. That positive bill payment history then gets factored into your Experian credit reports, potentially boosting your credit scores.

How does Experian Boost work?

Here's how to use Experian Boost:

  1. Go to the Experian website to create an account.
  2. Provide your bank account information and give Experian permission to scan your payment history.
  3. Verify and confirm the information you want added to your credit report.

Your Experian credit scores will update as soon as you complete your sign-up for Experian Boost. According to the company, the average user received an increase of 13 points to their FICO® Score 8.

Which bills qualify for Experian Boost?

Unfortunately, only select rent payments are included; you need to pay rent online to an eligible property management company for the data to be accessible by Experian. But Experian Boost can find and include a variety of other bills, such as home utilities and communication services:

  • Water
  • Gas
  • Electric
  • Cable
  • Trash
  • Internet
  • Landlines
  • Cellphones
  • Streaming services

Yes, you read that last one right. Several major streaming services work with Experian Boost, including Netflix, Max, Hulu, and Disney+.

Positive payment history going back up to two years can be included. However, you'll need to have made at least three payments to the account within the last six months, and at least one payment in the last three months.

At a glance: Pros and cons

Pros

  • Can boost your Experian credit score an average of 13 points
  • Never includes negative data so it won't hurt your score
  • It's a free service you can use online

Cons

  • It's only effective for a small demographic of users
  • It only applies to your Experian credit scores, not the other bureaus

What we like about Experian Boost

Increase your Experian credit score an average of 13 points

According to Experian, the average user sees a credit score improvement of 13 points. You'll get the best results from Experian Boost if you have limited or troubled credit history:

  • If you have limited credit history: Adding extra on-time payments could pad your history and increase your Experian credit score.
  • If you have a troubled credit history: Adding positive payment history with on-time bill payments could help offset mistakes from your credit past, increasing your Experian credit score.

However, as credit scores increase, the benefits of Experian Boost decrease. People who already have a good credit score will likely see little to no benefit.

Experian Boost never includes negative data

Arguably, the best thing about Experian Boost is that there isn't any risk to your credit scores because Experian Boost only ever uses positive payment history.

That bill you paid a week late last summer? It's not going to haunt you here.

Anything negative gets left behind. Since Experian Boost is only adding positive payment history, there's no risk of something negative biting your score in the figurative behind.

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What could be improved

Little to no impact for people with good credit (or no credit)

Experian Boost is intended for people with limited credit who can benefit from extra payment history. Experian says Boost improved the scores of 75% of people with a FICO® Score below 680. 

If your credit score is higher than this already, then your potential benefit from Experian Boost is much lower.

At the other end of the spectrum, Experian Boost won't work if you have zero credit, so you'll still need to meet minimum FICO® Score requirements:

  • Have at least one active account on your credit report that is at least six months old.
  • Have at least one account on your credit report that has been updated within the last six months.
  • You are not listed as "deceased" on your credit report (if this is the case, you may have bigger problems!).

Boost only works with Experian scores

One thing to note is that Experian Boost only works with your Experian credit report and scores. You have credit reports from the two other consumer credit bureaus: TransUnion and Equifax. 

Experian Boost data won't have any impact on your other credit reports or scores. It's hard to predict which credit bureau a lender will query. If a lender pulls your credit history and score from TransUnion or Equifax, the Experian Boost data will not help you.

On the plus side, Experian Boost data will apply to most credit scoring models that use your Experian credit report. This includes your basic FICO® Score, as well as more specific scores like FICO® Bankcard Scores and FICO® Auto Scores.

How much does Experian Boost cost?

There is no fee to use Experian Boost. It's a free service offered by Experian.

Experian Boost online ratings

Online opinions of Experian Boost are about as mixed as I expected given that the target demographic is very specific. The people who had good results were positive about the service, and I saw posts from folks saying they had significant (20-plus points) score improvements.

Many of the negative comments considered it a waste of time and effort. Others criticized the limited scope (it only works for Experian scores) and were skeptical about the data privacy.

Is Experian Boost safe?

Even if it doesn't help your credit score, Experian Boost won't hurt your score. There are two reasons for this:

  1. Experian Boost looks at your banking data, not your credit history. This means there is no credit inquiry of any kind.
  2. Experian Boost only includes on-time payments, which add positive payment history. Any late payments or other negatives won't be included.

In other words, the absolute worst thing Experian Boost can do to your credit is nothing.

Experian Boost might be right for you if:

  • You have a credit history but it's limited.
  • You have eligible bills you've paid on time every month for at least six months.
  • A lender is going to be checking your Experian credit scores.

If you can say "yes" to all three, Experian Boost could help. If not, then it likely won't do you all that much good. Either way, it won't do you any harm, so you can always give it a try if you think it might be useful.

Other ways to build credit

No matter how well Experian Boost works for you, it isn't a complete solution for building or repairing your credit. Even with this tool, you won't go from having no credit score to having an excellent credit score just from paying your utility bills on time.

The best way to build your credit history is to use credit responsibly over time.

You need credit to build credit, though. If you're struggling to get started, there are a few methods you can use.

Open a no annual fee credit card

Credit cards are often the easiest type of credit to get, so long as you get the right kind for your credit situation. Stick with no annual fee options to keep things simple.

Get a credit-builder loan

Credit-builder loans are specifically designed for people who need to establish credit or rebuild bad credit. Unlike a regular personal loan, a credit-builder loan doesn't give you money upfront. Instead, when you take out a credit-building loan, the money goes into a locked savings account.

Then, you'll make monthly loan payments (including interest) for the length of the loan term. As long as you pay the loan in full, you'll get access to the money in the account at the end of the loan term. The loan -- and your payments -- will be reported to the credit bureaus every month. If you make your payments on time, you'll build credit and improve your credit scores.

Become an authorized user

If you're added as an authorized user to an existing account in good standing, that positive payment history could help boost your own credit score. If you have no or limited credit, this could be the fastest way to boost your score.

Authorized users are sort of like invited guests, but for credit cards. The user gets a card with their name on it, linked to the account. They can make purchases as if the account is their own -- but it isn't.

The other side of the coin is that the authorized user could cause problems for the account owner. If the user overspends, the primary cardholder is the one who pays -- literally. The account owner is the one who is legally and financially responsible for paying the debt.

FAQs

  • How well Experian Boost works will depend on your existing credit history. If you have limited credit history, you could see a substantial impact from Boost. However, if you already have good credit, you will likely see a much smaller -- or no -- impact.

  • Most major utility and communication companies are recognized by Experian Boost. However, if a bill isn't recognized, you have options. Boost will take you through a Q&A form to identify the reason the account isn't recognized. If you still believe the account should qualify, you can submit the account information to Experian for internal review.

  • There is generally no way to predict which credit bureau a lender will use when it checks your credit history. Lenders could use any of the three major bureaus, or any combination of bureaus. Some lenders may even use all three credit bureaus when checking your credit.