The monthly bill that could save — or destroy — your credit score
One of the easiest ways to repair your credit history is to pay your bills on time. Every bill, every time.
But the biggest bill in many households — and one that people are likely to prioritize when money runs low – is often left out of the equation: the monthly rental payment.
Most property managers don’t report rental payments to credit bureaus, partly because there is no national standard for how and when that information should be included, says Mike Doherty, head of the rental screening business for TransUnion, one of the three major credit reporting bureaus. Now some in the industry are trying to change that.
Experian has started including positive rental payments in its credit reports and TransUnion recently rolled out a tool that would make it easier for property managers to report payments to credit bureaus. Equifax says it doesn’t track rental payments and doesn’t have any programs in the works.
In the rare instances that rental payments are included, some people with subprime credit benefit from having more evidence that they are good about paying their bills on time, Doherty says. But by the same token, people who pay late because of financial struggles could end up with yet another scar on their credit reports.
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