Adding Rent and Utilities to Credit Reports

You may think paying your rent and utilities on time each month will help build your credit. Unfortunately, this isn’t typically the case. The reality is that most landlords and utility companies don’t regularly report payments to the major credit reporting agencies.

There are alternative options to add utilities to a credit report. This article explains what tradelines are, how they work and what steps you can take to make sure your regular rent and utility payments are helping build your credit.

In This Piece

How Tradelines Work
How Do Rent and Utilities Increase Credit Scores?
How to Add Rent and Utilities to Credit Report with ExtraCredit
How to Add Utilities to Credit Report with Experian Boost
How to Get Credit for Rent and Utility Payments With Other Services
Talk to Your Landlord to Add Rent Payments to Credit Report
How to Choose a Reporting Service
Alternatives to Reporting Rent and Utilities
Next Steps

How Tradelines Work

A tradeline is a term credit reporting agencies use to identify each credit account listed on your credit report. Each separate account is listed as a different tradeline. Information from each tradeline, such as payment history and available credit, is used to calculate your credit score.

Creditors such as credit card companies, utility providers, and landlords, aren’t required to report your payments to any of the major credit reporting agencies. In fact, many utility providers, small business lenders, and landlords may not report these payments because they’re required to pay a fee to do so.

However, if you’re late making these payments, some companies and landlords will report these late payments. If your utility or rent debt is transferred to a collection agency, it’s likely to be reported on your credit report.

How Do Rent and Utilities Increase Credit Score?

There are several ways rent and utility payments can help increase your credit score. First, if you currently have little to no credit history, adding new tradelines can help. The length of time you’ve held various credit accounts also plays a role in calculating your credit score. The sooner you start adding these payments to your credit report, the better.

Secondly, a consistent history of making on-time payments can also help boost your credit. Your payment history accounts for up to 35% of your overall credit score. Taking steps to add rent and utility payments to your credit account can increase the number of on-time payments on your credit report.

This combination can help you start building your credit, and over time, it may even help boost your credit score.

Can I Report Utility Bills to Credit Bureaus?

While you can’t report your utility bills and rent payments directly to the credit bureaus, there are alternative options. You can use a service provider to report these payments for you or use a credit card to pay these bills. These services can be ideal for those with thin credit files.

How to Add Rent to Your Credit Report with ExtraCredit

ExtraCredit is a Credit.com service that helps take the confusion out of managing your credit. One of the things it offers is rent reporting services. By scanning your bank account, ExtraCredit reports any online payments made for rent to the three major credit reporting agencies—Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian.

These payments are likely to appear on your credit report within just a few weeks. These services are available with no sign-up costs and reasonable monthly fees. Credit.com also offers free credit scores through Experian that are updated every 14 days.

How to Add Utilities to Your Credit Report with Experian Boost

Experian Boost also connects to your qualifying bank account and scans for payments made to utilities, rent, and video streaming services. If it finds any account with at least three payments made in the last 6 months, it creates a tradeline on your credit report and reports these payments.

You must have at least one active credit account on your credit report to qualify for Experian Boost services. It’s also important to note that only rent payments made online are reported to the credit bureaus.

How to Get Credit for Rent and Utility Payments with Other Services

There are other services, such as RentReporter and SimpleBills, that report rent or utility payments to your credit report. Using this method requires you to sign up for multiple accounts and track rents and utility payments on your credit report separately. These third-party vendors also tend to have high sign-up and management fees.

Talk to Your Landlord to Add Rent Payments to Your Credit Report

How to get tradelines for free? Try talking to your landlord. If your landlord doesn’t currently report your rent payments to the credit bureaus, it never hurts to talk to them. Your landlord may not understand the impact not reporting these payments has on your credit score. In fact, some landlords may not even know that reporting these payments is an option.

If your landlord still doesn’t want to report your rent payments, see if they’ll at least set up a profile with the various credit bureaus. This process can make it easier for you to report your rent payments through a reporting service company.

How to Choose a Reporting Services

There are several factors you should consider when choosing a reporting service company, such as:

What payments will be reported to the credit bureaus?
What credit bureaus does it report payments to?
What are the setup and monthly fees?
How long will it take for payments to appear on your credit report?
Does the service offer access to your credit score?
Are there any enrollment requirements?
How does the company secure your personal data?
How easy is it to cancel your services?

Comparing the answers to these questions can help you determine which credit reporting service company can best help you reach your financial goals.

Alternatives to Reporting Rent and Utilities

Other options are available to make sure you get credit for paying your rent and utility bills on time. Below is a look at some of these alternatives.

Credit Cards

If you have a credit card, you can use it to pay your monthly household bills, such as utilities, phone, video streaming, and rent payments. Because most credit card companies do report payments to the credit bureaus, you’ll receive credit every month you pay your credit card bill on time. If you’re not eligible for a traditional credit card, consider obtaining a secured credit card until you build up your credit.

Credit Builder Loans

Credit builder loans can also help you build your credit. Unlike traditional loans, you don’t receive your funds until you make all your payments. The good news is that these payments are typically reported to the various credit bureaus. Once you reach your credit amount, which is usually less than $1,000, you can use these funds to pay your household bills.

Authorized User Status

If you’re unable to secure your own credit card, you may have a friend or family member willing to add you as an author i zed user. This step gives you the ability to use this card to make some of your monthly payments, such as rent or utility bills. If the cardholder makes on-time credit card payments, it can help build a new tradeline on your credit report and boost your payment history.