by _Raspootin_
I just saw a commercial for Experian’s boost which is a product of theirs that raises your credit score by adding your bank account and things like utility bills being paid on that account will boost your score.
www.cnbc.com/select/experian-boost-adds-hulu-disney-plus-hbo-starz-to-eligible-streaming-services/
Well now they have it where having a streaming service such as Netflix, Hulu, etc will also boost your score.
While this may not sound like a bad idea at first, utility bills are usually unavoidable while a streaming service is something in addition to pay for.
While some of you may disagree, this quite literally sounds like paying money to raise your score.
I also see some conflict of interests and possible legal issues as well.
First, many banks are still not supported by boost. My Credit Union has many locations across the state and they are not on their list. I emailed them when boost launched over 2 years ago to add them, and it’s apparent they do not care.
So who you bank with is being preferred. IF you do not bank with one of their accepted banks, no boost for you.
Second, like I mentioned earlier this sounds like paying to raise your score. Because they are advertising that by subscribing to a streaming service, which has no indication whatsoever of your credit worthiness, your credit score will raise.
It is entirely possible that Experian is receiving a kickback of some sort from streaming providers by literally advertising that purchasing a streaming service will be of benefit to your credit score.
What’s keeping them from expanding on this and saying a membership to Planet Fitness or AAA will also raise your score? Again, purchasing these products do not show credit worthiness and the only benefit of Experian doing something like this would be a financial incentive from those mentioned companies.
I’ve also been a firm believer that if something is free, then the product is you. You are giving this company open access to your bank account and you cannot tell me they aren’t keeping this data somewhere. Companies would be willing to pay big bucks to see the financial purchases and spending habits of consumers.
Also, if using boost can raise your score by an average of 13 points (their data), then this also creates bias because the other two credit bureaus (Transunion, Equifax) do not have such a program.
As we all know, having a higher score means lower interest rates, so if the loan product or credit card you use is not based on Experian, well sucks to be you I guess.
I’m sorry, but this is going entirely above and beyond the scope of what a credit bureau should be doing, especially when paying for a non-essential service is now increasing of your supposed credit worthiness and I think this is going to become a problem in the next few years without some oversight.
Disclaimer: This content does not necessarily represent the views of IWB.