Is Your Renting History on Your Credit Report?
Looking to add some positive growth to your credit report? A healthy rental pattern could be give your credit score a boost, at least through one bureau. Experian, one of the credit reporting bureaus that supplies information about consumer credit that helps determine people’s credit scores, has started including information about rental payments for some Americans, according to recent post on WalletPop.com.
Here’s what you need to know about how this move could affect you now and down the line, and how your credit could be affected.
Renting Reports Helpful to Credit Beginners
The move to report rental payment information was apparently triggered by Experian’s recent acquisition of RentBureau, a company that collects information about rental payment history.
- Only positive information reported (for now): In the first months of reporting rental information, it seems that Experian will only be including positive credit information. That is, if you pay your rent on time, that will be included in your credit report; if not, it will have no effect.
- Move to all rental information: After a grace period, though, Experian will be including all collected rental information in its reports – good and bad.
- Affected groups: The inclusion of rent payments will most likely help those with limited or shaky credit histories, including young people, students and recent immigrants. Including rent payments could help these people build their credit without the acquisition credit cards or other types of debt.
- Type of credit: In Experian’s reports, rent payment will apparently be reported as an installment loan (the same category as a car loan) because leases have fixed terms.
- Limited reach:If you’re hoping to reap some benefit from sending your rent check in on time, don’t rejoice just yet. At this point, the program reportedly only includes rental information for about eight million renters (not a huge slice of the approximately 96 million Americans who currently rent). But as it takes hold, there’s a chance that more renters will be positively affected.
How Does My Credit Report Affect My Life?
If you’re considering a bankruptcy filing or recovering from bankruptcy, you’re likely familiar with the concept of a credit report, but if you’re new to the idea, here’s a quick summary of the basics:
- What it is: A credit report is a compilation of information about your relationship with credit. It includes information about loans you have, payment history, age of accounts, type of accounts and more.
- Where it is: Every American citizen is entitled to a free check of his or her credit report every year (to check yours, visit www.annualcreditreport.com).
- Why it matters: The information in your credit report is then used by lenders to calculate something called a credit score (which is a number between 300 and 850). This number, in turn, determines what kind of loan terms lenders are willing to offer you – higher scores make you eligible for more attractive loan terms like lower interest rates.
Similar Posts:
- Remove late payments from credit report?
- Credit Cards After Bankruptcy
- Can Western Union Improve my Credit Score? Not…
- Credit Report Checks Online: The Most Convenient Way of Knowing Your Credit Record Status
- Don’t Fall for these Credit Score Myths
