Does Paying Medical Bills Build Credit?

No, paying medical bills won’t usually help you build credit unless you take out a loan to pay them, get a medical credit card or financing, or use a credit card to pay for your medical bills. The credit card company you use to get financing for medical expenses may be different from your usual issuer, so be sure to do your homework and shop around for the best rate and terms. If your medical bills are not paid and are turned over to a collection agency, then they may show up on your credit reports and lower your credit scores. Medical bills reported as collection accounts are a common reason for a bad credit score. It is worth noting that effective July 1, 2022, paid medical bills won’t be included on credit reports and unpaid medical bills will not be reported to credit bureaus until they are one year overdue. This can give you time to talk to the hospital, doctor’s office, or collection agency and hopefully come up with a payment plan.

Does Paying Internet Bills Build Credit?

Just like a cell phone bill probably won’t help you build credit, paying an internet bill won’t likely help either unless you use a service where you can have your internet bill payment reported to your credit history.

Does Paying Electric Bills Build Credit?

Electric bills don’t normally appear on credit either. Even though you make your payments on time and have done so for years, chances are the utility company doesn’t report directly to credit bureaus. However, Experian BOOST™ will allow you to add utility bill payments, such as electric bills, to your Experian credit report.

Does a Cell Phone Bill Build Credit?

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Not usually. That’s because cell phone bills are not typically reported to credit reporting agencies.

However, there are services that can help you build credit through cell phone payments and other bills you pay, as well as other options you can consider for building credit.

Does Paying a Cell Phone Bill on Time Help Me With My Credit?

In order for a payment to help you build credit, the company receiving the payment must report it to the credit bureaus.

Cell phone companies rarely report to credit bureaus which means that you are not building credit by paying that bill. If you use a credit card to pay for your cell phone bill and then make your credit card payment on time, that will help you build a good credit score.

But in that example, your cell phone bill does not directly help with building credit.

Services That Build Credit Through Cell Phone Payments

If you want your cell phone bill to help improve your credit score, you will need to find and use a service such as StellarFi, Experian BOOST^™ or Grow Credit.

They are all free tools that allow you to add payment history for bills such as your phone bill, cable bill, and streaming service bill to your credit reports.

StellarFi

StellarFi allows you to report pretty much any bill to the credit bureaus. It connects directly to your bank account and allows you to link the bills that you choose.

This could include your cell phone bill, rent, utilities, internet, and streaming services.

Starting at just $5 per month, this service is one of the best and easiest ways to build credit. There are no additional fees or interest charges, and you can cancel at any time. That is why StellarFi made it on our The Best Credit Building Apps list!

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Experian BOOST^™

When you sign up and choose what bills you want to report, Experian will scan your bank account and only select the payments that will help your score. The downside is that the service will only affect your Experian credit score.

Experian BOOST^™ is 100% free, and it only takes a few minutes to complete. On average, Experian BOOST^™ users see an average 13 point credit score increase.

Get Grow Credit

Grow Credit

Grow Credit, on the other hand, let’s you build credit with all three credit bureaus! Grow Credit reports payments from your cell phone bills, TV streaming services, internet bills, and other bills, so that you can build credit!

They report payments from the following cell phone companies:

Verizon
AT&T
Sprint
T-Mobile
Metro
Spectrum
Cricket Wireless
Boost Mobile
Straight Talk Wireless
Others as well

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A Note on Business Credit

If you’re trying to build business credit, it’s possible your business cell phone account may appear on your business credit reports with Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax, or Experian, but it’s not guaranteed.

Of course, if you use a personal cell phone in your business, that will not help build business credit, since personal accounts do not appear on business credit reports.

One way to ensure you are building good business credit scores is to get a business credit card and use it to pay