Experian Boost and Open Banking (2024)

FAQs

Why does Experian Boost need my bank account? ›

When you connect your bank or credit card, we'll look for bills with positive history that you can add to your Experian credit file. It could also instantly raise your FICO^® Score!

Ultimately, open banking does not have a direct impact on your credit score. This is because open banking allows you to securely share your data with third-party suppliers, like lenders and financial service providers.

Experian uses bank-level encryption and a trusted third-party service to link your bank accounts. The links power the Experian Boost and Personal Finances tools, and they're generally safe and secure.

Customers with an Experian account, such as CreditExpert, can share Open Banking data (information about their bank account transactions) with Experian. This can be used to try and improve their likelihood of being accepted for credit or to support financial management.

Experian Boost works best for those with no credit, bad credit or thin credit files. The main drawback is that it only works for your Experian credit report and has no effect on our Equifax and Transunion reports.

When you log into your Experian account, you'll see a field titled Connected Accounts at the bottom right of your screen. Simply click 'disconnect' to begin the process of disconnecting your bank account.

Most of the time, opening a checking account does not affect your credit score. If the bank pulls your credit before opening your account, it will likely make a soft inquiry. The bank could make a hard inquiry, which would lower your score slightly, but that's unusual.

For the most part, bank accounts don't help you build credit, because deposit accounts—which include checking, savings, certificates of deposit and money market accounts—are not reported as accounts to the credit bureaus.

Will having two or more current accounts damage my credit score? Not necessarily, no. However, having two or more current accounts won't necessarily damage your credit score, but it could have a negative impact if you start dipping into multiple overdrafts – making it look as if your finances are becoming stretched.

We will use your information to process payment for our services. In the case of bank details, we will use your information to process the payment/s you commit to when signing up to our services and for the collection of any future payments or overdue amounts for those services.

How trustworthy is Experian? ›

Experian has a solid reputation and over 125 years of industry experience. It's recognized globally for various credit-related services and currently serves consumers in 30 countries.

While some banks prefer a specific credit bureau, others utilize multiple bureaus to establish a comprehensive assessment of an applicant's credit profile. Capital One is notorious for pulling credit from all three bureaus, while American Express and Chase largely rely on Experian for most of their credit decisions.

Linking bank accounts is as safe as any other banking activity. The level of security provided depends on your bank or credit union. For example, some banks allow you to set up multifactor authentication or biometric login (fingerprint or facial recognition) when logging in to your mobile banking app.

How Do We Protect Your Information? We restrict access to nonpublic personal information about you to those employees who need to know that information to provide products or services to you. We maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect your nonpublic personal information.

Checking account linking is generally safe when you use the right investment platforms. Do your research before sharing your credentials! Know the investment platform is safe and that you are protected. If they share information with third parties or don't use bank-level encryption, look elsewhere.