Many of us have been paying rent for years to the benefit of other people’s pockets and credit. Even worse, we haven’t been seeing the boost to our credit the way that our landlords do.
We check in on our credit reports to see what has hit, and to dispute things that don’t belong there. Now, we can add to it as well. There are a number of companies offering a way to report payments, including rent. This can help boost credit scores.
Experian has a credit boost program that allows customers to link to their bank account to track repetitive payments to bill companies. There are also many apps and sites that allow you to pay rent through their interface, regardless of how your landlord accepts payments. Each payment then gets tallied in your favor to boost your credit score.
We may have to put more leg work into increasing our credit scores, but with a few simple clicks, we can begin reporting our rent and any other bills that don’t normally populate on credit reports. Building Black credit will help us march closer to financial freedom.