It’s estimated that more than 70 million Americans subscribe to Netflix in the United States. And now, presuming that they’re paying their bill on time, subscribing and binging content on Netflix could actually be helping tens of millions of Americans improve their credit score.
That’s right… while you Netflix and chill, you could also be helping your credit score – and it’s all thanks to a new offering from Experian, one of the three major credit reporting bureaus. Specifically, the new feature is available via Experian Boost, a service designed to help consumers improve their credit scores. While the Boost service has been around for about a year, it started incorporating Netflix payments into its algorithm on Monday, July 27.
As a reminder, about 35 percent of your FICO score is based on your payment history. But up until now, this payment history has consisted primarily of things like utility bills, cell phone bills, auto loans, mortgage loans and credit card payments. Now, at least one credit bureau is taking smaller things into consideration, like Netflix. This also reinforces our credit building tip of committing to paying all of your bills on time – regardless of what you need to do to make sure you’re hitting deadlines. Setting up automatic payments and creating alerts on your phone to serve as reminders can help.
In times of economic uncertainty, it’s arguably more important than ever to keep your credit score in good shape – and services like Experian Boost can help. In the year the platform has been around, it has helped boost the scores of its 4 million users by a cumulative 29 million points. And now that it’s tracking Netflix payments, there’s reason to believe that such scores will increase even more.
Experian Boost is a relatively simple concept that lets consumers focus on their positive credit. For instance, after signing up for the service, users are instructed to connect their bank accounts and then select the positive payment data that they want reflected on their file to contribute toward an updated, revised credit score. You can backdate the positive data you want included by as much as 2 years. Experian says that the average consumer sees a 13-point increase in their credit scores after using the service. Additional benefits of using Boost include the likes of credit monitoring, alerts, and updates on any changes to your account.
Experian also says that it’s likely to add more streaming services as options consumers can add, so in addition to Netflix, users may soon see a score boost from paying Hulu, Disney+, Amazon Video and HBO Max subscription fees on time.
Payment history is important in determining your credit score. In fact, it’s the most heavily weighed category, accounting for about 35 percent of your score’s overall makeup. Experian Boost just made it easier to help establish more favorable history.
