Apartment rent Transunion reporting

[Anonymous]

I've noticed that on the account to pay my apartment rent there is a box one can check to have your payment reported to Transunion.  

What's the upside/downside to doing this? Does it make a difference either way.  We're never late with rent or anything.  Would checking this box show our rent payment on our CRs and show lenders what our total amount is, which includes things like reserved parking and extras that we never report on credit applications?

[Anonymous]

This piece by FICO seems to say quite clearly that rent payments are not considered by FICO 8 but are considered by FICO 9:

Rent Payments. With FICO® Score 9, rental payment history is factored into the score when a landlord reports the payments to one (or all) of the credit bureaus. This formula change can be helpful for those who have just started establishing a credit history because it provides lenders with another factor to review when making their lending decisions.

What does your TU report look like?  Specifically....

       How many open revolving accounts?  (E.g. credit cards)

       How many open installment accounts?  (e.g. loans, car leases, etc.)

       How many accounts total?  (Closed or open)

       How old is your oldest account?

       What is your average age of accounts?  (AAoA)  Ignore what Karma says about AAoA.

A young profile with very few accounts would benefit from this under FICO 9.  Other profiles might not benefit, or conceivably could be harmed (e.g. by the addition of a new account of age 0).