When Zachary Killam was a renter years ago, he found it strange that all his rent payments counted for nothing on his credit score. “When I moved into my first place, I had a $300 credit card limit. I paid my rent on time, but it always struck me: Why isn’t my rent ― which is of course my largest expense each month ― not on my credit record? I have a credit record for my phone bill but not my rent.”
Eight years after Canadians first became able to use their mortgage payments to build their credit scores, a similar option now exists for those who rent. The Toronto-based Landlord Credit Bureau, which is used by 30,000 landlords and property managers across Canada and the U.S., is partnering with Equifax Inc. to create an online portal that tracks a tenant’s rent payments so that the resulting data can be incorporated into credit files. Either tenants or landlords, who are tasked with updating their tenants’ profiles on a monthly basis with on-time or missed payments, can sign up to use the service.