Hi, forum!
I really appreciate the warm welcome to the message board.
I am rebuilding my credit after never understanding how to use credit properly. I have been taking this journey seriously for about a year now. So my AAoA is 1yr 1 mo. Many credit rebuilding apps and services claim they can add your last two years of rental history to your credit report for a monthly fee. According to Nerd Wallet, the most commonly used versions of the FICO score don’t use rental payment information in calculating scores. Newer versions of FICO, such as the FICO 9 and FICO 10, do consider rental information if it is in your credit report. I’m wondering if it is worth using these services to add some age to my accounts. I think it is unfair that we renters who aren’t able to buy a house yet don’t get credit for such a major expense.
Thank you in advance for your help.
The idea that you have to pay monthly to get that information on your reports is enough to turn me off. What happens if you want to stop paying? Can you pay a few months to get past info added, then stop paying and keep the history? And I worry about the accuracy and reliability of an app and landlords. I did the Experian boost thing where my cell phone payments are added to my Experian report. I did get a few points added when I signed up. But it's free. Well, I do pay monthly to have daily access to my Experian reports and FICO score, that's how I did the Boost thing. It doesn't cost more than what I was already paying. Not sure if there's a way to get free access to it. Haven't seen much about all this on these boards.
I had a feeling it could be too good to be true. Nerd Wallet has an article about it. It sounds promising and I would love for it to be possible, but I am still leery.
https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/finance/rent-reporting-services
@DLynn1920 wrote:
I had a feeling it could be too good to be true. Nerd Wallet has an article about it. It sounds promising and I would love for it to be possible, but I am still leery.
https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/finance/rent-reporting-services
The link took me to a page with:
Whoops, wrong turn!
Let's get you somewhere good.
Found it! Had to delete some garbage that got attached to the end of the address after I clicked on the link.
I have used rent reporters and they added the last two years of payment but better yet put the age of account from start of lease and that was 3 years 8 months. It works. It won't help your Fico 8 scores is correct but it does for Fico 9. The answer about if you stop paying for the service they completely remove it from file so if you want it you have to pay. For a thin file I suggest it but once it's aged cancel. Best of luck
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@RobynJ wrote:I have used rent reporters and they added the last two years of payment but better yet put the age of account from start of lease and that was 3 years 8 months. It works. It won't help your Fico 8 scores is correct but it does for Fico 9. The answer about if you stop paying for the service they completely remove it from file so if you want it you have to pay. For a thin file I suggest it but once it's aged cancel. Best of luck
This is very helpful! Thank you! Do you mind telling me which service you are using please? Thank you
@DLynn1920 wrote:
@RobynJ wrote:I have used rent reporters and they added the last two years of payment but better yet put the age of account from start of lease and that was 3 years 8 months. It works. It won't help your Fico 8 scores is correct but it does for Fico 9. The answer about if you stop paying for the service they completely remove it from file so if you want it you have to pay. For a thin file I suggest it but once it's aged cancel. Best of luck
This is very helpful! Thank you! Do you mind telling me which service you are using please? Thank you
I used rentreporters.com I would send a referral link but that is against the TOS.
@RobynJ wrote:
@DLynn1920 wrote:This is very helpful! Thank you! Do you mind telling me which service you are using please? Thank youI used rentreporters.com I would send a referral link but that is against the TOS.
Thank you for sharing! I appreciate it. Was it hard for them to verify your rent payments?
No it was painless. It all depends on your landlord responding. Once verified it was reported in less then 7 days. They only report to EQ and TU tho.