Many individuals who rent buildings don't report missed/late/on time rent payments to credit Bureaus. That can work for you or against you. I was just curious, if you happened to have a lanlord that didn't report to any of the bureaus, yet you wanted your timely payments to help build credit, were there any forms or anything special you're required to give to your lanlord to get him/her to report? I'm not even sure if it's possible for individuals to report to credit agencies like that?
100'S or 1,000'S of apartments??? They have a minimum number to report...(GOOD ACCOUNTS)...NEGATIVE THEY CAN REPORT ONE (1) YES THAT IS ONE!!!
1 Apartment (Sharing a house). Guess that's out of the question. I'm one of the unfortunate people living in a non-reporting part of Indiana. In Illinois, my rent reported, car insurance reported, electric reported, gas reported, etc. I move to Indiana, and my rent doesn't report, car insurance doesn't report, gas/electric don't report, cell phone doesn't report, cable bill doesn't report, etc. Frustrates me because I've never missed a payment paying any of these bills, and have always managed my money effectively, but I get no credit for any of it. On my report, I still only have one account, and I don't display the ability to pay back multiple lenders. Lame, even though I have proven able to do just that.
From my experience it's pretty unusual for rent, insurance, utilities and cell phones to report... unless you get way behind. Assuming you haven't moved too long ago, and assuming that you had a good payment history on the accounts that do report then you should have a fairly decent credit score. I'd suggest getting a credit card or two. You don't need to use the cards if you don't want to (Although I would at least do a tank of gas on the card every month or so, just to build a little history with the credit card company). Just having the open accounts will help your history continue to grow and will be a help when and if you apply for a car loan or a mortgage in the future. HTH, Brett
one trick i see a lot is to pay your bills with a credit card, (pay it off each month) this way your getting it "reported" in a sense and keep your statements to show future lenders you paid on time each month. in some area of the country - primarily east coast - it is common for your utilities, etc, to report every month. i guess their are pros and cons to that.
