Each rent or bill payment counts as a separate account on your credit. When we start reporting your rent payment, a new rental tradeline will appear on your Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion credit reports.
When we start reporting your bill payments — including electric, water, gas, or cell phone payments — a new tradeline will appear for each bill type on your TransUnion credit report.
Similar to when you open any new credit account, your credit score may decrease the first month your rent or bill tradelines are reported. This could be because the average length of your credit history — a major factor in your credit scores — just shortened.
But as your credit accounts age and on-time payments are reported monthly, this should change. Typically, the longer you have a rental tradeline on your credit reports, the better. And rent reporting lets you build credit history without taking on more debt.
That said, everyone’s credit profile is unique and factors outside of Self could impact your credit too.
Learn what rent and bills reporting looks like on your credit.