"Boost" is a credit program that was started this year from one of the Big Three credit bureaus-- Experian-- to take into account utilities and telecom accounts (ie: cell phone) when calculating your FICO credit score. Normally, these types of debts are not counted in the calculation of your score.
The program works, albeit not as dramatically as they would have you believe. I have a 100% on time payment record with all of my utilities and with my telecom account(s) (AT&T), and when I allowed them to apply Boost to my score (you give them permission to scan your bank account records for consistency of payments), my score went up approximately seven points. While that is better than not going up seven points, it's not that big of a deal, unless of course you are on the line between ratings. And even then... keep reading...
As you all know, I just successfully navigated the mortgage process, and herein lies the point of this whole post: even if my score had gone up seventy-even points as opposed to seven, it would have made no difference at all, as the first thing the mortgage company did was dismiss the Boost points, saying that utilities and telecom are not "required" bills. While I don't necessarily understand their philosophy here in any great detail (I'm an English teacher, not a mortgage loan officer), I do understand that it is the philosophy practiced by the other two Big Three credit bureaus-- Trans Union and Equifax-- and apparently mortgage companies.
Consequently, until all of the credit institutions accept the premise of utility and telecom payments being applied to your credit score via Boost, don't waste your time, and don't give them access to your accounts (it's safe, but it would be even more safe if I hadn't gone there-- essentially for nothing-- in the first place).
© Ray Cattie
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