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When you enroll in Experian Boost®ø, you decide which bill payment information to share, and you can add or remove bills anytime you choose. Adding payment history to your credit report by using Experian Boost can help lift the credit scores calculated using your Experian credit report.
How Does Experian Boost Work?
Experian Boost lets you augment your Experian credit report by sharing your history of paying recurring expenses such as cellphone and utility bills, streaming subscriptions and even rent if you pay it online. These payments aren't traditionally reported to credit bureaus, and their inclusion in your Experian credit report can increase FICO® Scores☉ based on Experian data.
How to Add Bills to Experian Boost
Adding accounts to Experian Boost is easy:
- To sign up for Experian Boost, begin by enrolling in a free Experian account (if you don't have one already). In addition to Experian Boost access, this account provides access to your Experian credit report and FICO® Scores based on Experian data for free, enables you to lock and unlock your Experian credit report, and entitles you to a free scan for the presence of your personal data on the hidden dark web.
- Scroll down to the "Explore other actions" box on your account's dashboard page and click the "Add bills to Experian Boost" button.
- On the Experian Boost landing page, identify the checking or credit card account(s) you use to pay the recurring bills you want added to your credit report. Eligible bills include cellphone and utility bills, streaming subscriptions and rent that you pay online. Then use the encrypted form to provide the username(s) and password(s) you use to log in to their online accounts.
- Confirm that you want to add the eligible expenses Boost identifies and their payment histories to your Experian Boost list. Once these accounts are added, Experian Boost will indicate the number of points the account has added to your credit score, if any.
How to Remove Accounts From Experian Boost
Removing an account from Experian Boost is also easy.
Each entry in your Experian Boost account list includes a filled-in checkbox. To remove an account, click its checkbox to deselect it and confirm your instruction to remove the account.
It makes sense to remove an account if it's no longer active, but if you're still making payments, you can still stand to benefit from them. If you make a late payment to one of the accounts in your Experian Boost list, for instance, that will not directly hurt your credit scores since Boost only considers on-time payments and ignores late payments.
If you fall delinquent on an account and the creditor sends it to a collection department or agency that reports to the credit bureaus, however, that will hurt your scores. This is true whether or not you choose to add the account to Experian Boost.
The Bottom Line
Experian Boost makes it quick and easy to increase your FICO® Score based on Experian data by recognizing your history of paying recurring expenses such as phone and utility bills, streaming service subscriptions and online rent payments. Experian makes it just as quick and easy to remove an account anytime you wish.