Experian, TransUnion start adding rent payment data to credit profiles
http://www.latimes.com/business/realestate/la-fi-harney-20140810-story.html
Consumers who have made on-time rental payments had been frustrated that their histories didnt count in credit scores. Above, a Berkeley property.
Experian, TransUnion start adding rent payment data to credit profiles
By Kenneth R. Harney
8.10.2014
Anybody buying a first home quickly learns how important credit scores are to mortgage lenders. They like them high.
But if you've been renting for years and have a stellar record of monthly payments to your landlord, you typically run into a sobering reality when you shop for a mortgage: All your on-time payments show up nowhere in your credit bureau files and do not contribute to your scores.
Ditto for other routine credit payments your cellphone bills, cable and satellite TV, utilities. You may have perfect payment histories for all of these, but nobody knows about them.
Why? Because the landlord, phone and cable companies, and many other creditors don't report your payments to Equifax, Experian or TransUnion, the big three credit bureaus. In the all-voluntary American credit system, they are not required to report anything to anyone.