Experian® vs SoFi Coach: Credit Score Comparison Guide

What Is SoFi Coach?

SoFi Coach is a money tracker with an AI-powered financial assistant. It lives within the SoFi app and gives users tools to help them organize their money, with a focus on budgeting, financial planning, saving, investing, and overall financial knowledge. Created with input from human financial planners, SoFi Coach’s AI function, Coach Chat, helps users track a wide variety of financial factors and answers questions about anything from getting out of debt to saving for a house.

Users can securely connect accounts from more than 12,000 financial institutions, so Coach isn’t just looking at SoFi accounts. The tool can track spending, help users make a plan to pay down debt, assist in planning for major life goals, and help users take action with personalized, tailored advice.

As part of SoFi Coach’s credit score monitoring offerings, users can see their VantageScore® 3.0 credit score for free, with weekly credit score updates. This is a soft pull that won’t negatively affect the credit score.

Benefits of SoFi Coach

SoFi Coach offers more than just credit monitoring; it’s a spending app that helps you budget and set aside money for specific goals, create spending targets, and get more helpful insights, all in one place. The AI can even move money between SoFi accounts and identify upcoming subscription renewals so you can consider whether you want to continue paying for them.

You can use the AI advisor to learn more about how to build credit and what affects your credit score. For example, if you are carrying a balance on multiple credit accounts, you might ask SoFi Coach Chat which account you should try to pay off first.

What Is Experian?

Experian is a data and technology company that, among other things, compiles information about consumer behavior that is used to create credit reports. You can check your credit report anytime if you sign up for a free Experian account. (Learn more about your FICO® Score vs credit score.)

Your credit report may include the following:

•   Personal information

•   Your payment history submitted by creditors

•   The amount of credit you have and use

•   Information from debt collectors

•   Hard inquiries (from creditors who requested your credit reports) and soft inquiries (shown when you request a copy of your credit report)

You can get a free Experian credit report and credit score when you sign in. Monitoring your credit report will alert you when changes occur. You can identify possible signs of fraud, factors that affect your credit, and the metrics lenders evaluate when you apply for a loan. You can also freeze your credit via Experian, an extra layer of protection for your profile.

Another aspect of Experian’s offerings, Experian Boost®, helps users raise their credit score for bills paid. When you connect your bank accounts, the free service detects bills with on-time payments to add to your Experian credit file. You can find out right away if they will help your credit score increase. However, it’s important to understand that Boost is only affiliated with Experian, so the benefits of Boost don’t extend to the other two credit bureaus, Equifax® and TransUnion®. (You can also get an estimate of how much your credit score might go up with diligent on-time payments by using a credit score calculator.)

Recommended: How Long Does it Take to Build Credit?

Benefits of Experian

Experian can help you stay on top of your credit, monitor your spending, and track your credit score. Doing so can help you identify where to improve your credit profile, if and when you’ve been a victim of identity theft, and inaccuracies in your credit reports. And you can build your score by allowing bill payments to count toward your credit; eligible bills include phone, internet, cable, rent, utilities, insurance, video streaming services, and more.

Experian offers more than just credit monitoring. The company also offers identity protection through its paid plans, such as monthly privacy scans, three-bureau credit monitoring, various alerts (such as dark web surveillance), fraud resolution support, and more.

SoFi Coach vs Experian for Credit Scores

Take a look at the table below for some basic comparisons between SoFi Coach and Experian.

	SoFi Coach	Experian
Best for	Those who want a complete overview of their financial life, with an AI financial advisor, help managing accounts, and subscription management	Those who want free credit monitoring; the potential to improve their FICO score; and identity-protection services
How to access	SoFi app or website: available on Google Play for Android or the Apple App Store for iPhone	Experian app or website: available on Google Play for Android or the Apple App Store for iPhone
Cost	Free for SoFi users	Experian credit report, FICO score, credit monitoring, and Experian Boost are free; a monthly $24.99 Premium plan and a $34.99 Family plan provide scores from all three credit agencies plus identity monitoring and protection services.
VantageScore or FICO?	VantageScore 3.0	FICO Score 8
Choose it if	You want a broader group of financial services beyond just a free credit score check, including a comprehensive dashboard for your finances, including non-SoFi bank, investment, and credit accounts; AI-assisted SoFi account management; AI financial advice; subscription management tools.	You just want to check your credit score without paying or you want identity-protection services. Experian Boost may also help some users improve FICO scores by establishing a history of timely bill payments.

SoFi Coach Advantages

SoFi Coach offers a free credit score check, but it also provides step-by-step guidance in chat format to help members save, budget, and invest. The major advantage is that it allows you to do all of this in one place. You can link external accounts and you’ll have an easy-to-use way to drive your financial life from one major control center.

Recommended: Why Did My Credit Score Drop After a Dispute?

Tips to Maximize SoFi Coach Benefits

Here’s what you can do to maximize SoFi Coach benefits:

•   Connect your accounts: SoFi Coach can connect up to 12,000 financial institutions, so don’t miss your opportunity to connect all the accounts available to you.

•   Check out trends: SoFi Coach insights can help you learn about trends related to your finances, such as where you’re spending money regularly.

•   Ask questions: Challenge the app with any stubborn issues you have. For example, if you have questions about how to reduce debt or save for a first home, or other aspects of your financial life, SoFi Coach Chat, the built-in AI assistant, can offer guidance. (Trying asking it, “What is the starting credit score?” Once you understand the basics, move on to learning how to lower credit card utilization, which can positively impact your credit score.)

The Takeaway

When you look closely at Experian vs. SoFi Coach, you will quickly see that while both offer free credit-score checks, the two are quite different. SoFi Coach offers a wider opportunity to track all aspects of your financial life compared to Experian. Experian offers identity monitoring and protection services, at the paid level, that SoFi doesn’t provide. Some users might need both apps, while others will want to consider their end goal in determining which tool best fits the bill.

Take control of your finances with SoFi Coach. You can easily view all of your accounts in one convenient dashboard: bank and investment balances, current debts, spending breakdowns, and credit score. Easily set up budgets and spot upcoming bills. And get personalized insights on everyday money questions and take action with Coach chat, the AI guide that’s powered by the playbooks of SoFi Financial Planners, so its guidance comes from expert knowledge.

Meet SoFi Coach, your smart personal guide to getting your money right.

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