For millions of American consumers, rent is the single-largest payment they make each month, yet they often to not get the credit that they deserve for timely rent payments.  A recent study from TransUnion found that

When rent payments were included in the credit file, consumers experienced an average increase of nearly 60 points to their credit score. The analysis included data through March 2021 and also found that the consumer population who generally has the least access to favorable terms for financial goods and services, the unscorable and subprime consumer cohorts, stand to gain the most with the largest credit score growth.

TransUnion’s analysis found that with the inclusion of rent payment tradelines in the credit file, approximately 9% of those consumers went from unscorable to scorable with an average credit score of 631 — placing them in the near prime score band (VantageScore 3.0 range of 601-660). This represents a significant improvement for consumers that would have otherwise been deemed unscorable and highlights the importance of a uniform, universal data reporting format to improve credit visibility.

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The analysis also found that 12% of consumers shifted to a higher score tier when rent payments were added to the credit file. This finding was especially prevalent among subprime consumers (VantageScore 3.0 range of 300-600) who were reclassified as near prime. TransUnion’s ResidentCredit has also found that 60% of renters may see their credit scores increase as early as the first month of rent payment reporting.