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Whether you have bad credit or no credit, having your rent payment information reported to the 3 major credit bureaus — TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian — can be a great way to give your credit score a boost.
But how do you get payment information to appear on your credit history?
Rent reporting is not automatic. It is a service that either you or the landlord has to obtain.
Without rent reporting, this payment data will never appear on your credit report, which means you could be missing out on a great way to build your credit score.
How to Report Rent Payments to a Credit Bureau for Free
The only way to get rent payments reported to the credit bureaus for free is to get your landlord to pay for it.
Ultimately, there is no way to report rent payments to the credit bureaus without somebody paying.
Rent payment reporting is not automatic. Many landlords can’t or don’t offer credit reporting services.
If your landlord or property manager does offer a rent reporting service, you might need to opt in to get your rent payments reported. Some landlords will do this for free while others might charge a small monthly fee (usually $1 or $2).
If your landlord processes tenants’ rent through a 3rd party company, this company may also offer rent reporting services. But they often charge a fee for this, so if your landlord is not willing to subsidize the fee, it will come out of your pocket.
The reason that landlords and payment companies often charge for rent reporting is that it is often not free for them to report your rental payments. They often need to pay hefty fees and meet stringent requirements just to have the privilege of reporting their tenants’ rent payments.
What to Do if Your Landlord Doesn’t Report Your Rent Payments
While most landlords will perform a credit inquiry and obtain credit information as a routine form of tenant screening, they almost never report rent payment history for you.
If your landlord or property manager doesn’t offer any kind of rent reporting, there are many 3rd party companies that directly offer tenant rent reporting services.
These companies charge you, the renter, a fee to have your payment data reported. This fee can range from just a few dollars a month up to hundreds of dollars upfront.
Once you sign up, many of these companies will need to contact your landlord to verify your rent agreement, payment history, and more. (If you are a landlord or would like your landlord to reference this, also check out Best Apps for Landlords to Collect Rent.)
This can be a problem for renters with a landlord who is difficult to get a hold of or is uncooperative.
The good news is that some of the rent reporting companies on the market work directly with tenants. No need to contact your landlord, they simply look at your bank statements to verify on-time rent payments.
One company in particular that excels at this model of service is BoomPay.
When you use BoomPay’s service, they work directly with you. You can pay your monthly rent directly through their app, and they send this payment history to all three credit bureaus (TransUnion, Equifax, & Experian) each month.
Why Use BoomPay
Boom is an affordable rent reporting service that sends information to all three credit bureaus.
BoomReport is the feature for sending your rent payment information to the credit bureaus each month. For the cost of $3/month ($2/month if you pay for the full year in advance), BoomReport will send your ongoing payment history to all three credit bureaus each month.
For a one-time $25 fee, BoomReport will send your rental payment history, up to two years’ worth, to all three credit bureaus.
Using the monthly service will require you to use the BoomPay app where you’ll need to link to either your rent payment portal or the bank account that your rent payments come out of.
In addition to their rent reporting services, Boom offers their customers flexible rent payment options through the BoomPay app.