10mo ago

Missed rent payments could soon damage your credit score — and tenants’ advocates are very concerned

www.thestar.com Missed rent payments could soon damage your credit score — and tenants’ advocates are very concerned

Credit bureaus are testing the inclusion of rent payments in credit scores, saying it's a positive move launched by Ottawa. But critics fear the move could compound the issues faced

Credit bureaus are testing the inclusion of rent payments in credit scores, saying it's a positive move launched by Ottawa. But critics fear the move could compound the issues faced

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I feel there should be a freeze period, like if you miss 1 payment due to paycheck delay or something would make sense, if you miss 6mo of payment there's probably a problem.
- I don’t think it’s been announced exactly how this will work but in general nothing is reported to credit bureaus until it’s at least 30 days past due. So it’s not like being a week late paying your rent once is going to trash your credit score.
  And yeah, if you’re more than a month behind on rent that seems like it’s probably a bad sign for your creditworthiness?
  
  Unless you where having a dispute with the landlord and where withholding rent for some reason.
  
  Except that credit scores have 0 interest in whether they're fair to the person being scored. They are profitability scores for potential lenders to evaluate doing business with someone. To that end, a lender won't care if you had a legitimate grievance against the landlord. Withholding rent even through escrow for lease violations is still likely to be viewed as problematic behavior and they wouldn't want to risk you doing the same to them.
  
  Afaik, you can't just decide to withhold rent when there's a dispute. This would give landlords an enforcement tool other than suing and eviction, though, since that is necessary to get that enforced.

12 comments