Pay your rent? Use it to boost your credit score

Housing costs are often the biggest regular expenses we have. But did you know paying your rent doesn’t automatically count towards your credit score?

That’s where rent reporting tools come in. With their help, you can start making your rent payments count.

Credit ladder

Credit Ladder has been helping tenants boost their credit scores since 2016. This makes them one of the longest-running rent reporting services available.

Credit Ladder uses open banking technology to gain read-only access to your bank account. This allows them to see transactions coming and going. They can identify your rent payment going out, and pass on the information to the credit reference agencies. Each time you make your payment on time, it goes towards building your credit history, showing that you can consistently manage your payments. This in turn, can boost your credit score. (But missing payments will have the opposite effect).

Credit Ladder will report your rent payments to one of the UK’s leading credit reference agencies (Experian, Equifax or TransUnion) free of charge. You’ll choose which one, but once you’ve made your choice it’s not possible to change your mind later.

Alternatively, you can sign up for their paid subscription, which costs £8 per month. Or you can pay £60 annually (which works out as £5 per month on average). This paid service will report your rent payments to all three credit reference agencies. The benefit is, that whichever lender you approach for credit in the future, they should be able to see your payment record. This could stand you in good stead if you can show that you are reliable and always pay on time.

To find out more and sign up, head over to the Credit Ladder website.

Canopy

Between Canopy’s RENTTRACKING™ and RENTPASSPORT™ tool, you can build a digital record of your rent payments to show agents, landlords and mortgage providers. Plus, your rent payments will be reported to one or more credit reference agencies, which can help boost your credit history if you always pay your rent on time.

Like Credit Ladder, Canopy uses open banking technology to monitor whether your rent is getting paid. You’ll tag one of your rent payments when you set Canopy up, and then they’ll do the rest to monitor it in the future and update your credit report.

 

Canopy will report your rent payments to Experian only for free. If you opt for a paid subscription at £4.99 a month, then they will report your payments to Equifax as well. There is also a premium subscription for £7.99 a month, if you’d like more insight into your credit score and report with Equifax.

To learn more and sign up for Canopy, head to their website.

Speak to your landlord

You don’t need your landlord’s permission to sign up for one of these services, as the way you pay your rent doesn’t change. Canopy and Credit Ladder simply keep track of the payments and update your credit report for you. However, if you speak to your landlord, they may be able to set it up for you, so you don’t have to.

Many housing associations, local authorities and large landlords or agents are part of The Rental Exchange. This is the scheme that made it possible for renters to benefit from having their rent payments included in their credit histories in the first place. The Rental Exchange is free for both tenants and housing providers and gets your rent payments included in your Experian credit report.

If your landlord isn’t part of The Rental Exchange – legally, they’re not required to be – then you still have the option to sign yourself up for one of the services we’ve explained above.

Remember: reporting your rent payments to a credit reference agency only boosts your credit history and score if you make your payments on time. If you miss a rent payment or pay late, then your credit score could be negatively affected, which could impact your chances of getting approved for finance in the future

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