Experian Targets Renters

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prohopole

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In a move that will help some tenants but hurt others, Experian has started adding rent-payment information to some consumers' credit reports.
Experian's program is just beginning and affects only a few million people at this point.
 
On Mar 8, 9:53?am, Nomen Nescio wrote:

It's only appropriate - why not renters and their payment history?
The Big 3 credit reporting agencies have been including insurance
records (as in car insurance) for years as a basis for credit scores.

N.
 
On Mar 8, 1:52?pm, Nancy2 wrote:

I agree. They're making a payment each month whether it's rent, house
note, car payment, or credit card. It should reflect on their credit
history if they're prompt in paying their bills. It reflects on home
owners who are late in making payments, why not renters as well??
It's a bill like any other.
 
In article
,
ItsJoanNotJoann wrote:


Nonsense. Your credit score should reflect your ability to manage
credit. Paying rent is not a form of credit, nor is insurance. With
rent, if you miss payments, you can get evicted. With insurance, your
coverage will lapse if you fail to pay your premium on time. A mortgage,
on the other hand, is definitely a form of credit.
 
On Mar 8, 10:53?am, Nomen Nescio wrote:

How are they getting the rent payment history -- from the landlords?
How are they accomplishing that? How accurate is it likely to be? I
know how crummy some of their 'facts' are.
 
On Tue, 8 Mar 2011 18:37:25 -0800 (PST), Kalmia wrote:


Exactly. Next they'll be asking my cat how timely I am come feeding
time.

Landlords are not the best and most reliable record-keepers. They
should not be allowed to affect my credit score. Not to mention
renting is not a form of credit. I am PRE-PAYING to live there every
month. Plus they usually have a deposit of mine. Essentially, I have
extended THEM credit by my pre-payment and my deposit.

-sw
 
On Mar 8, 7:07?pm, Shawn Hirn wrote:

I didn't state what it should be, but what it is. This is what the
Big 3 do; how are you going to change that? They only make changes
when Congress passes a law making them change. They do look at
insurance, and now they are looking at renters. If you think it's
wrong, work within the system to change it.

N.
 
In article , [email protected]
says...

The main reason the Insurance (mainly auto) companies went to credit
scores is because the neighborhood "profiling" they were doing was
considered unconstitutional in the courts. Another way of charging
higher rates in those neighborhoods, was to base individual rates on
credit scores which tend to be generally lower in the neighborhoods the
insurance companies consider higher risk.
 
On Tue, 8 Mar 2011 22:09:53 -0600, Sqwertz
wrote:



A mortgage payment is a pre-payment too... a renter's security deposit
is not analogous to a mortgage down payment, the renter almost always
gets all or most of their deposit back, in a default with a mortgage
the bank always keeps all of the down payment. The difference is that
a renter has no skin in the game, and rent begins a brand new contract
every month, therefore rent per se is not a good indicator of ones
credit score over time. However a lease might be an indicator, except
that in residential situations the landlord very rarely presses in
court for the unfulfilled terms of a lease, in 999 cases out of a
1,000 the landlord is glad to just be rid of the vermin... even when
the landlord obtains a judgement it's rarely if ever collectable. A
residential lease is different from a commercial lease as there is no
bank involved... with commercial leases the terms are for a much
longer period (five years minimum) and a substantial sum (at least a
year's rent) is held in a bank escrow account... when you lease a
vehicle a bank holds the paper because the dealership doesn't own the
vehicle, the bank does... nearly every vehicle on a dealership's lot
is owned by a bank, a dealership is merely an agent. The residential
tenant gets no credit points for paying rent because there is no
credit involved and the tenant has nothing to lose by not paying, but
has everything to gain... the tenant gets to live for free throughout
the entire eviction process, which can take several months... they
don't pay their utilities either, and water electric, and heat can't
be turned off.
 
"Sqwertz" wrote


Sqwertz, they track many things, all sorts of bills not just 'credit' ones.
A friend of mine took a hit while buying a new house because he didn't pay a
cox cable bill on time. He was moving between houses and didn't get the
late notice.
 
On Mar 9, 10:25?am, "cshenk" wrote:

Yes, it's not just credit cards and house payments. It includes
utility bills and doctor and dentist bills to name a few.
 
"ItsJoanNotJoann" wrote
"cshenk" wrote:




Just about anything they can track to show your reliability. Failure to pay
rent on time it just as much of an indicator as anything else.
 
Kalmia wrote:

Evictions are generally public records. As a landlord would I want to
report to the credit bureaus? I suppose if I had a complex with a
couple hundred units I might. As a landlord would I want to check the
credit report of a potential tenant? Credit reports are about a
person's history of making payments. Rent is a payment. Yep I would
want that. Even more so if the reports included any history of eviction
in the last 7 years. Who wants to rent to someone with a history of an
eviction? A landlord who can't get anyone else.

There are companies that report on evicition histories. Sounds like the
big credit reporting agencies are starting to do that. Big businesses
eating up small businesses.
 
On Wed, 9 Mar 2011 11:25:57 -0500, cshenk wrote:


You don't have to make a show of condescending me. I heard you got
points for me in chat. Whoo!
 
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