Use Rent-Paying History to Build Your Credit Rating

As a young adult, who hopefully hasn’t been living under a rock, you are undoubtedly aware of the importance of building and maintaining a credit history. Without it, you can’t get a credit card; without a credit card, you can’t rent a car; without renting a car, it’s hard to travel to your job interview or a vacation. Come summer, or the end of school, you’re going to want to do one or both. You see where we’re going here.

In the bad old days, banks handed out credit cards to UC Davis freshmen, like free popcorn at a movie. In today’s post bank-apocalypse atmosphere, it’s much harder to get one. So how do you earn a credit card without any credit history? Lifehacker.com has the answer.

Until recently, rent payments were not factored into your credit score. But in 2010, Experian acquired RentBureau, a specialty credit reporting agency that focused solely on rent payments. In 2011, Experian announced that rent data would appear on a consumer’s credit report. RentBureau allows property managers and other third parties to upload rent payment information – both positive and negative – directly to Experian. TransUnion also now includes rent data on consumers’ credit history when the data is available. Rent appears as a “trade line expense” on your TransUnion credit report.

For more information on what this might mean to your credit history, please visit the link above.