Repairing your credit score, or establishing it in the first place, can be a daunting task. It’s hard to know where to start. New credit score assisting programs like Experian Boost and Ultra FICO are amazing new resources available to help raise those FICO score numbers fast. Here is what you need to know about the two new services and how they can help.
Experian Boost
Experian Boost has been available since early 2019 and has already helped millions of people increase their scores dramatically. This new service allows you to link your bank account giving access to information about your positive payment history helping to increase your FICO score. Experian Boost gives credit to consumers whenever they make an on time payment on utility bills, telecom bills, and even some streaming services including Netflix. Normally these types of payments do not affect your credit score as they are much smaller amounts and they do not require a lender to open. When you add these accounts, showing their positive on time payments, to your credit file it can help to build up your positive payment history; causing a big leap in your score. Increased payment history, being the most important factor when calculating a credit score, is a huge benefit. These types off bills are easier to pay seeing as they are essential to have in our daily lives and are normally a smaller monthly amount. The best part about this amazing new service is that only your positive payments are added to your accounts history. That means you don’t have to worry if your payment was late last month, they won’t count it against you. This is a great resource for those who are trying to establish credit who currently don’t have any because it gives you a jump start without feeling the need to open a bunch of different accounts. This lowers your risk of forgetting to pay one of those multiple accounts, thus establishing good habits which will in the long run be beneficial to your score. Experian Boost is completely free to use and will not penalize you if you choose to opt out for any reason.
UltraFICO
This is a new service that helps leverage your money management skills to improve your credit score. It’s different from Experian Boost because it is actually a new scoring model that is partnered with FICO, Finicity, and Experian. Ultra FICO connects to your bank accounts, giving them access to see your savings, checking, and money marketing accounts and monitor your bank accounts transactions and balances. It takes into account your bank accounts age, consistent usage, consistent savings, on time bill payments, and cash on hand balances. It uses data that isn’t normally reported to CRA’s giving you an opportunity to have a better score. It is important to note that this score comes into play if your FICO score gets denied. You can ask the financial institution to pull this Ultra FICO score instead, which will be higher due to the extra information it took from your bank account showing your money management skills; giving you easier access to credit. Ultra FICO is now in the final stages of their pilot program and is currently only available through a small group of lenders as of May 2020. This service is more for those who are trying to repair their low score while still being able to have access to credit when they need it. Just like Experian Boost, these services are completely free to use and they do not penalize you for opting out if you find it is not for you.
In the past, repairing your low credit score was a constant uphill battle. It still will take effort and discipline but with either of these two new services, it makes it seem a whole lot more achievable and even quicker than ever. Experian Boost does just as the name implies, boosting your score and putting you on a fast track to good credit. Ultra FICO gives you a sort of second chance by giving you a new scoring model to have lenders pull. Today, repairing or establishing credit is a very attainable reality for all.