Anyone try Experian score boost?

[AlDente67 558]

TV ads tout the free service by Experian to boost your score by 10 points or so for free.  Now Experian does nothing for free, but I wanted to check it out anyway.  First question on the site was a prompt for your bank account username and password, so I backed away slowly.  Bur curious if anyone has actually tried it all the way.

[JackDaWack 2,372]

14 minutes ago, AlDente67 said:

TV ads tout the free service by Experian to boost your score by 10 points or so for free.  Now Experian does nothing for free, but I wanted to check it out anyway.  First question on the site was a prompt for your bank account username and password, so I backed away slowly.  Bur curious if anyone has actually tried it all the way.

thats the point i belive. they want direct access to your accounts. 

 

more real time data instead of using reports that lag a month. could really backfire on you.. most places wont report a late payment if its made a few days late if you just forgot. not to mention those 10 points may not even stay for very long 

[AlDente67 558]

1 minute ago, JackDaWack said:

thats the point i belive. they want direct access to your accounts 

Apparently.  I thought they would take into account your payment history on things you dont see on a credit report...utilities, loan sharks, whatever.

But giving out my full banking access??  Wow.

[JackDaWack 2,372]

7 minutes ago, AlDente67 said:

Apparently.  I thought they would take into account your payment history on things you dont see on a credit report...utilities, loan sharks, whatever.

But giving out my full banking access??  Wow.

thats not really the point to  a credit score though, paying "bills" that is. it supposed to be a metric of cash assets vs debt vs available credit, and if you are meeting your obligated payments on debt. kinda over simplified there. if bills head  to the a debt collector, then that applies.. even for utilities etc,

 imo this is just a data mining operation.

 

[RUTGERS95 774]

it's fine and does boost your score.  CC cannot report late payments until 30 days plus 1.  you are safe

[10X 1,933]

6 minutes ago, JackDaWack said:

thats the point i belive. they want direct access to your accounts. 

Yeah, no.  That's not gonna happen.   I can't believe anyone would go for that--we've no basis for thinking Experian security is better than Equifax, and their competitor Equifax exposed the records of 145 million people just three years ago...and they didn't even realize it for two months.

[JackDaWack 2,372]

12 minutes ago, RUTGERS95 said:

it's fine and does boost your score.  CC cannot report late payments until 30 days plus 1.  you are safe

Would they still us the CC report? Or go off your bank account that would show a late payment? 

Its really not clear what they are doing.

[Earlswagger 4]

Sort of on topic, any use them as a credit monitor? I had Lifelock, but felt it was overpriced. thoughts?

[Sniper 5,353]

47 minutes ago, AlDente67 said:

But giving out my full banking access??  Wow.

The odds are, if you do any mobile banking on your phone, and stay logged into the site, that information has already been siphoned off your phone by all those "FREE" apps you've downloaded..

[Sniper 5,353]

26 minutes ago, Earlswagger said:

Sort of on topic, any use them as a credit monitor? I had Lifelock, but felt it was overpriced. thoughts?

I use them. I also have Lifelock. For the few bucks, hoping that one of them picks up a problem, is worth it. Although, I don't even like Lifelock having access with certain personal information. They've been hacked in the past.

I've seen alerts from one, but not from the other, so who knows what they're looking at?

[Handyman 5,662]

I'm not giving my account numbers to anyone else until that Nigerian prince that promised me $20 million ponys up the cash. 

[Bklynracer 775]

My thoughts.

Those that really need it already have it, and those that really want it will get it one way or another. we really don't have a chance if they really want it.

[Handyman 5,662]

1 minute ago, Bklynracer said:

My thoughts.

Those that really need it already have it, and those that really want it will get it one way or another. we really don't have a chance if they really want it.

Sounds like my sex life.

[Zeke 5,496]

42 minutes ago, Handyman said:

Sounds like my sex life.

Werd

[RUTGERS95 774]

you guys are funny and woefully ignorant on how account matters work.  Guys, relax, there is zero risk to using this and giving up that information.  There is literally nothing anyone can obtain with this extra service

[Sniper 5,353]

1 hour ago, Handyman said:

Sounds like my sex life.

https://tinder.com/

17 minutes ago, RUTGERS95 said:

Guys, relax, there is zero risk to using this and giving up that information.   There is literally nothing anyone can obtain with this extra service

Even when they get hacked?

https://www.zdnet.com/article/whoops-has-lifelock-been-unlocked/

https://www.zdnet.com/article/credit-rating-firm-equifax-reveals-breach-as-many-as-143-million-affected/

...."The Atlanta, Georgia-headquartered company said that hackers had between mid-May through July exploited a vulnerability on its website to access certain files.

The data includes names, social security numbers, birth dates, home addresses, and in some cases, driving license information.

It's thought to be the largest data breach reported so far this year."

[RUTGERS95 774]

Just now, Sniper said:

https://tinder.com/

Even when they get hacked?

https://www.zdnet.com/article/whoops-has-lifelock-been-unlocked/

https://www.zdnet.com/article/credit-rating-firm-equifax-reveals-breach-as-many-as-143-million-affected/

...."The Atlanta, Georgia-headquartered company said that hackers had between mid-May through July exploited a vulnerability on its website to access certain files.

The data includes names, social security numbers, birth dates, home addresses, and in some cases, driving license information.

It's thought to be the largest data breach reported so far this year."

even when they get hacked.  You guys need to do some research on how account maintenance and funds movements work.  Not to mention, the mere acct number is not all that is needed to actually derive funds in illegal transactions.  your home banking is far less trustworthy, those apps on your phone that you download and agree to let have all kinds of access to your phones and last but not least, any online purchase you make with your bank card.  

guys relax, you all sound like a bunch of dems at a trump convention    but seriously, it's nada

[Sniper 5,353]

4 minutes ago, RUTGERS95 said:

your home banking is far less trustworthy, those apps on your phone that you download and agree to let have all kinds of access to your phones and last but not least, any online purchase you make with your bank card. 

Look at that..

7 hours ago, Sniper said:

The odds are, if you do any mobile banking on your phone, and stay logged into the site, that information has already been siphoned off your phone by all those "FREE" apps you've downloaded..

Just what I said above.. unfortunately, very few even care about the data siphoned off their phones.

If I have a concern, it's more about the actual bank itself, versus an outside hacker. Insiders can cause a hell of a lot more troubles.

[Earlswagger 4]

So.... don’t bother with credit monitoring service or....?

[10X 1,933]

10 hours ago, RUTGERS95 said:

you guys are funny and woefully ignorant on how account matters work.  Guys, relax, there is zero risk to using this and giving up that information.  There is literally nothing anyone can obtain with this extra service

I'll bet you would be uncomfortable posting your username and password for your online accounts here.

I think the only difference is that posting here would make your accounts visible now, while giving Experian the information won't make them visible until the next security breach. 

[bhunted 882]

Been using it awhile now. No prob. Cost nothing. I've also tried Wallet hub. ick!
IF you are going to use anything, use Experian. Every one of the other aps use TransUnion. The worse of the worse, is usually at least 50 points less than the big 2. It will depress you.
When you apply for a loan, they are suppose to use all three agencies and if they really want your money, will use your best score or an average of the three. If you are worried about your info, they have that already.  If you want to subscribe for the full gambit, you may. If you want to really check against it, you are entitled to a full credit report once a year from all 3 companies. Suggest you do that anyway.
One more thing. I have Wells Fargo for my banking. They use Experian. They give you a free FICO score once a month. Their version is less than the actual Experian FICO Score. I called them out and the person on the other end said, not to worry, its just a number and kept repeating that every time I challenged her,. She had no answers. All I asked is why is your number less than the actual Experian number. I think I made her ears bleed and she gave up. Do I think they manipulate the numbers? YES! Is FICO just a number? YES! But it has to be a true accurate number because we require that rating to get us easily through our financial lives. 

[RUTGERS95 774]

1 hour ago, 10X said:

I'll bet you would be uncomfortable posting your username and password for your online accounts here.

I think the only difference is that posting here would make your accounts visible now, while giving Experian the information won't make them visible until the next security breach. 

Oh Jesus there is always one.  Respectfully, you need to do some research on how some of this stuff works.  It's not nearly as easy as you would be led to believe.  Hackers, even celebrated cases, get things like ss# etc etc but banks have not had hacked banking accounts via the means people are afraid of in this thread.  Fraud is done through other more efficient means. 

oh and each and every one here has their ss# on some server somewhere where it shouldn't be.  Doesn't mean you're bank account is at risk.  Identity theft is the big one and they want credit but bank accounts require traceable front and back side points so it's not what is the concern.

Use Experion boost if you need to, nothing to fear

1 hour ago, Earlswagger said:

So.... don’t bother with credit monitoring service or....?

everyone here has their information out there so yes you want that for identity fraud purposes.  Identity theft is the number one cause of concern to banks and easiest to manipulate

 

[Earlswagger 4]

Sorry, I guess my question more specific is, do you that use the monitor services use the thing Equifax offers? do you use some other monitor service you like more? or does it matter? I'm with you all on the password internet and who sees what, I am asking more about IF you guys use a service what one.

[RUTGERS95 774]

I use experion

[Kevin125 3,710]

On 8/31/2020 at 2:52 PM, Sniper said:

The odds are, if you do any mobile banking on your phone, and stay logged into the site, that information has already been siphoned off your phone by all those "FREE" apps you've downloaded..

Unless they use a keylogger, no.  What’s on your device is a session token.  So they wouldn’t have your credentials.  But they could scrape all the data you look at.

Banking on a device you don’t own is a bad idea. No one owns their iPhone or Android phone anymore.  We only think we do.

And there’s no legitimate reason they need your banking credentials.  Plus, you should use multi factor on you bank account so credentials alone are useless.  
 

And... if you want to improve your score... pay down even part of credit  card balances if you have any.  Even a couple grand will help.  Probably more than the Boost BS...  which btw way...is ignored by mortgage lenders.