Reporting your rent to the credit bureaus creates a new tradeline on your credit report with positive reporting.
Here’s a little known fact: For most people, their rent payment doesn’t impact their credit at all.
Why? It’s because the major bureaus who keep track of your credit profile don’t know about your rent payments! It has to first be reported. Most landlords do not report rent payments to the bureaus.
Consumers now have the ability to change that. LevelCredit by Self makes it easy to get your rent payments added to your credit report with Experian, TransUnion and Equifax without involving your landlord.
With LevelCredit by Self, your rent will show up as a new “tradeline” which is simply another name for an open account on your credit report. A rental tradeline will only add positive data on your credit report, which means more positive on-time payments added to your track record.
It makes a BIG difference for consumers who are starting out with no credit, a thin credit record or a low score. However, please keep in mind that any kind of collections or delinquencies already on your credit profile may also hinder from seeing any credit score increases. LevelCredit by Self does not determine how the bureaus chooses to calculate the scores and depending on the scoring model you are checking, scores will vary. If you'd like to learn more about the different scoring models check out our other FAQ article here.
So, how much can a person expect their low score to increase from rent reporting? Well, on average, someone starting out with a score of 579 or below would see an increase of 45 points after 1 year — and 65 points after 2 years. That is an average and is subjective depending on the individual's credit profile. Since everyone's credit file is different this number of increase will vary from person to person.