Payment history is the most prominent factor in your credit score, making up 35% and 40% of FICO and VantageScore calculations, respectively. You can build that history by making regular, on-time payments toward debt such as mortgages, auto loans, or credit card accounts, all of which are reported to credit agencies.
It's unfortunate that credit-related payments, which make up just a portion of your monthly expenditures, are the sole payments automatically included on your credit report and included in credit score calculations. Meanwhile, rent is a large percentage of the typical American budget, but rental payments are not reported to credit bureaus by default.
That's where rent reporting services come in.
Best Rent Reporting Services of 2025
- Best overall value: Self Rent Reporting
- Most affordable: Boom
- Most prior rent reported: Rental Kharma
- Fastest rent reporting: RentReporters
- Best for property owners: PayYourRent
Best Overall Value: Self Rent Reporting
Cost: $0-$6.95 monthly + optional $49.95 fee for retroactive reporting
It's hard to argue with a free service, which is exactly what Self Financial offers. Self Free Rent Reporting reports rent payments to all three credit bureaus without any setup fees or monthly costs.
Operated by Self Financial, which operates the Self credit builder loan, Self Rent Reporting has a premium subscription, which includes utility bill reporting to TransUnion, up to $1 million in identity theft insurance, and basic credit monitoring with TransUnion. Self Rent Reporting also offers LookBack, which can report up to 24 months of payment history on your current lease for a one-time fee.
Self Rent Reporting tracks payments by connecting to your bank account and using a matching algorithm to identify corresponding transactions. This is convenient because you don't have to change any of your payment methods. Self can also track rent payments sent through Venmo. However, some users have reported issues with Self Rent Reporting misidentifying (and then misreporting) transactions.
Finally, while Self gets predominantly favorable reviews online, including a 4.9 rating with over 273,000 reviews on the Apple App Store, we would be remiss if we didn't mention the poor experiences we had contacting their customer service. Both email and chat representatives were friendly and quick to respond but could not provide basic information about a prominently marketed feature.
Self Financial is plagued by poor customer reviews pertaining to Self as a whole, not just its rent reporting service. It has an average of 4.2 stars across 513 reviews on Trustpilot, but its Better Business Bureau page fares worse. Self's BBB page has an F rating as a result of its unresponsiveness to customer complaints.
Read our Self rent reporting review.
Most Affordable: Boom
Cost: $3 per month, $25 to report past payment history (optional)
Launched in 2020, Boom is a mobile app that offers rent reporting to all three major credit bureaus at a bargain price. Ongoing reporting costs just $3 per month (billed annually) with no enrollment fee. You can also choose to report up to 24 months of past payment history (including leases that have been closed for up to 12 months) for a one-time fee. You do not need to subscribe to monthly reporting to add the 24 months of payment history.
The low price is one of many attractive features. Boom doesn't require involvement from your property owner and doesn't conduct a hard inquiry on your credit (useful for those looking to improve credit scores without initially denting their credit). There's no discount for housemates, but the app can accommodate anyone on the lease. The mobile app development is top-notch, and Boom has already earned a reputation for excellent customer service.
Boom's customer ratings on Trustpilot and the Better Business Bureau are limited, but these reviews are mostly negative. Customers also expressed frustration with its customer service and unresponsiveness. Users also mention Boom's failure to report payments after providing the required verification documentation.
Boom's high-end mobile app, available on the Apple app store and Google Play, comes at the expense of a web-based interface. If you don't have a compatible device or simply don't like transacting via mobile app, then Boom won't be a good fit for you. Boom also doesn't provide a way to report utility bill payments or any other regular subscription payments.
Read our Boom review.
Most Prior Rent Reported: Rental Kharma
Cost: $75 signup + $8.95 monthly
Rental Kharma seems lackluster at first. The service only reports to Equifax and TransUnion and has a relatively high $75 signup + $8.95 monthly monthly fee for ongoing reporting. As a result, you won't build credit history with Experian. Rental Kharma also doesn't report utilities and other payments.
On the positive side, Rental Kharma claims to report all past payment history at your current rental and offers a substantial discount for a spouse or roommate with a $25 setup fee and a monthly fee for ongoing service. Split between two people, the cost is closer to the average among rent reporting services.
Rental Kharma also provides a 90-day, 100% money-back guarantee, including the setup fee and any ongoing fees accrued. If you aren't convinced that rent reporting is worthwhile, those 90 days give you plenty of time to see the impact on your credit score. Unlike RentReporters, if your landlord refuses to verify payments, Rental Kharma will give you a refund.
Rental Kharma has shining reviews on its Trustpilot page, receiving an average of 4.8 stars out of five across over 1,100 reviews. A full 90% of reviewers gave the service four or five stars. Negative reviews often mentioned dissatisfaction with the impact the service had on their credit score. Representatives from Rental Kharma are also fairly active, responding to customer reviews.
Read our Rental Kharma review.
Fastest Rent Reporting: RentReporters
Cost: $94.95 one-time fee + $9.95 monthly or $94.50 annually
RentReporters reports to all three credit bureaus but doesn't report utility or phone payments and charges $94.95 one-time fee + $9.95 monthly or $94.50 annually (though spouses and roommates can sign up with a $50 discount). Furthermore, RentReporters has a less-than-stellar track record of customer satisfaction, with dozens of complaints logged to the Better Business Bureau in the past three years.
RentReporters has several features that could make it attractive. First, RentReporters plans allow you to report up to 48 months of payment history, which breaks down as up to 24 months of history reported on each of two separate leases, provided the previous lease ended less than 24 months ago. This is useful if you've recently moved to another apartment but want to capture the payments from your previous lease.
Second, you can get your past 24 months of rent reported within three to five days if you opt into RentReporters' VIP service, which is included with the annual plan or costs an additional $25 with the monthly plan. This expediency is a great asset if you're looking for ways to boost your credit score quickly (like if you're a prospective homebuyer with a limited credit history).
Finally, RentReporters guarantees a full refund if you're unsatisfied within seven days of your initial results (i.e., once your credit score has been updated to reflect your rental payments). This reduces the risk of high upfront costs since you can try the service out and get your money back if it doesn't have the desired impact. Note that RentReporters will remove whatever rental history it previously reported if you get a refund.
RentReporters also requires landlord cooperation in verifying the accuracy of your rental payments. If your landlord fails to cooperate, RentReporters will not issue a refund.
RentReporters earned a 2.5 out of five from 10 reviewers on Trustpilot and an average of 4.46 stars out of 5 from 144 reviews on the Better Business Bureau (BBB) page. Many users said they have seen noticeable improvements in their credit scores and praised its pain-free setup process. Other users cited difficulty getting a refund and instances of inaccurate rent reporting.
Overall, RentReporters is likely to appeal to only a small subset of renters, but it's a good option to have for those who need it.
Read our RentReporters review.
Best for Property Owners: PayYourRent
Cost: $19.95 per month for 6-50 units + additional fees
PayYourRent is a rent payment processor that offers a variety of additional property management tools, such as rental applications, resident screening, and maintenance requests. It also serves renters by reporting payment history to all three credit bureaus at no extra charge.
Plans are priced according to the number of units: a smaller property with up to five units pays a $9.95 monthly fee, while larger properties with 50 or more units pay no monthly fee. PayYourRent doesn't report past rental payments or utilities, so it's not the best option for renters looking to improve their credit scores quickly, but it's a good solution for forward reporting if you can get your property owner on board.
One negative is that many reviews criticize PayYourRent for having a lengthy and difficult setup process. The mobile app has also received negative feedback for being clunky and poorly designed. However, users who get through the early hurdles tend to review the service favorably.
How Rent Reporting Services Work
Rent reporting generally works in one of two ways: most commonly, rent reporting services generate firsthand data either by monitoring your banking activity or by receiving your rental payments directly and then forwarding funds (minus fees) to your property owner. Another common arrangement is for your property owner to receive rent as usual and then submit payment data to a rent reporting service, with you or your property owner (or both) paying the fee separately.
Once your rental payments are reported to a credit bureau, those data points are added to others in your payment history, and your credit score is adjusted accordingly. Naturally, reporting full and on-time rental payments improves your score, while reporting incomplete, late, or missed payments drags it down.
Not all credit scoring models factor rent into your overall score. While VantageScore 3.0 and FICO 9 include reported rent, FICO 8 (one of the most widely used credit scoring models) does not.
Benefits of Rent Reporting Services
Reporting rental payments is unlikely to be productive if you already have an extensive credit history and high credit scores. It won't hurt your credit as long as you continue paying in full and on time, but it won't make a significant impact.
Rent reporting is most useful for those with minimal credit history who need to generate more data points or those with bad credit looking for ways to improve it. Reporting rental payments can help in both cases but should be viewed as a partial solution. Consider it as one tool among many you can use to build credit and fix your credit score.
Before enrolling in a paid rent reporting service yourself, find out whether your property owner is already enrolled or interested in signing up. Many rental payment processors provide rent reporting services, and large-scale property management companies increasingly offer rent reporting to attract tenants.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac launched initiatives in 2022 to facilitate rent reporting for eligible properties. Experian Boost also added rent reporting to the growing list of payments it allows on your credit report, though it only affects your Experian credit report.
Taking advantage of services offered by your property owner may spare you the expense of reporting rental payments on your own.
Frequently Asked Questions About Rent Reporting
Rent reporting increases your credit score because it adds additional payment history to your credit reports on top of the payments you make on your credit accounts. This is especially helpful if you're just starting on your credit-building journey.
How long it takes to see the results of rent reporting will vary, but many users report seeing improvements in their credit score within 1-2 months.
How much rent reporting costs will vary by service, typically ranging from $6.95 to $14.95 per month. Some services may offer annual plans at a discounted rate.
Why You Should Trust Us: How We Chose the Best Rent Reporting Services
We looked at a wide variety of rent reporting services serving an equally wide variety of needs. To differentiate between them, we prioritized the factors below. Whether you're eyeing one of the services listed or another, we encourage you to consider the following:
- Trustworthiness
- Fee structure and affordability
- Features
- Flexibility
- Availability
See the full breakdown of how we rate credit products and services.
