- Is your credit reference for lenders, employers, insurance companies and others
- Maintains a member dashboard that keeps you in total control of your account at all times.
- Updates you via text alerts and automated calls to your cellphone or landline.
- Can report up to 24 months of previous rental payment history.
- Guarantees satisfaction. Cancel anytime.
January 2012 A new way to help boost your credit history and score: Factor in your rent.
Last December, credit-reporting company Experian started including rent-payment history in its credit reports, says Brannan Johnston, vice president and managing director of Experian RentBureau, which collects updated rental histories from property-management companies.
Property managers can upload positive rental data, which means payment information for individuals meeting their lease obligations in the last 24 months. That information is then factored into the VantageScore credit score used by Experian.
"Individuals [can] build and rebuild their credit by paying rent responsibly," says Mr. Johnston, adding that 45% of consumers who don't have a credit score or fall in the lowest VantageScore level can up their score at least 100 points.
Consumers can ask their landlords if they are submitting the information to Experian or ask them to start doing so.
Here's another option: RentReporters.com, a website launched last fall, which collects rent and lease data from renters, verifies it with landlords and then makes it available to any of the credit-reporting companies.
But the service isn't free. Account setup is $39 and there's a $5.95 monthly fee, according to Crispin Luna IV, the site's president. (The money is returned if the landlord opts not to participate, he adds.) Some landlords will cover the cost as an incentive for tenants to pay on time, Mr. Luna says.
Young adults, college students and military members have benefited greatly from using RentReporters as a credit reference for a home or auto loan, he says, since they may not have a strong credit history or score.
September 2011 Numbers can drive you nuts. Some folks don't like the digits that reveal their ages, others get frustrated by the ones that make up their bank balances. Some parents can't figure out the "new math," and some of us are still a little shaky on the old math. But one number nearly everyone would agree they'd like to raise is their credit score.
In these times when credit is still tight, money is short, and jobs are hard to come by, the benchmark of your credit score carries more weight than ever.
In a sense, your credit score is a crystal ball that's meant to reveal your character, and building a credit history is key to making that picture clear. Traditionally, that meant taking on debt that you could then pay off, like a mortgage, car loan or credit cards. But in terms of your credit history, paying your rent on time meant nothing.
Now, there's an option for the nation's more than 100 million renters -- the newly launched RentReporters.com, which verifies your rent payments with your landlord and securely provides the information to Payment Reporting Builds Credit, which then can be included in a FICO Expansion Score.
Experian announced earlier this year that it would accept rent payment data as a traditional credit item on its national credit reports.
"Having been where many of our customers are now, I know firsthand the economic circumstances that can result in a poor credit score," said Crispin Luna IV, founder and president of RentReporters.com, in a prepared statement. "RentReporters.com allows essentially every renter in the U.S. to take one step closer to homeownership and leverage their rental payments towards a better credit profile."
September 2011 RentReporters.com, a new online service that verifies individual residential rental payments and empowers over 100 million American renters to show their true credit worthiness launched today. The rent verification service securely and seamlessly verifies rental payment activity for individuals or groups of renters, and transmits the data for inclusion onto a consumer's credit report. Reporting of a consumer's rental data can help improve the credit profiles for aspiring homeowners and renters looking for financial credibility.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are more than 100 million renters in America. This number is rapidly increasing in the wake of the nation's housing-market collapse and inability for most American consumers to afford a home. In fact, 2010 U.S. Census data shows that 3 million homeowners have become renters in the last several years and by 2015, another 3 million will join the ranks.
The surging rental market, national credit contraction and Experian's announcement earlier this year to accept rent payment data as a traditional credit item on their national credit reports has set the stage for the launch of RentReporters.com. The company is the first to streamline the verification process of rental payment activity directly from the landlords and deliver this data to the credit bureau for credit report inclusion. RentReporters.com serves as a credit verification platform for those renters looking to show their true credit worthiness.
"Having been where many of our customers are now, I know first-hand the economic circumstances that can result in a poor credit score," says Crispin Luna IV, founder and president, RentReporters.com. "RentReporters.com allows essentially every renter in the U.S. to take one step closer to homeownership and leverage their rental payments towards a better credit profile."
