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Self Rent Reporting

Fees

$0-$6.95 monthly + optional $49.95 fee for retroactive reporting

A good credit score is important to qualify for financial services like a loan, credit card, or even insurance. But if you have limited or no credit history, building credit can feel impossible. Enter Self Rent Reporting, a rent reporting service.

Self Rent Reporting reports your rent and other bills to the credit bureaus. This improves your payment history and, as a result, your credit score, without needing to take on debt. As one of the companies listed in Business Insider's guide to the best rent reporting services after a thorough review, Self Rent Reporting stands out for offering several credit-building perks for one competitive price.

Self Rent Reporting is a rent reporting service that was acquired by Self Financial, a fintech company specializing in various credit-building tools. Self Financial also operates the Self credit builder loan, one of the best credit builder loans available.

Self Rent Reporting is an iteration of RentTrack, which was only available to residents whose property owners offered it. Now, Self Rent Reporting does not require your landlord's involvement, so anyone who pays rent online can access the credit-building platform.

Now that credit-building company LevelCredit has joined Self, existing users will transition into Self subscriptions, and new users will sign up for Self. LevelCredit says on its website that it will notify users before changing their subscription.

Self Rent Reporting's basic tri-bureau rent reporting is free, which is certainly hard to beat. You can upgrade to its paid service for $6.95 monthly, which includes utility bill payments added to your TransUnion credit report along with credit monitoring and identity theft insurance.

Self Rent Reporting offers the following services:

To get started with Self Rent Reporting, you'll need several pieces of information, including your date of birth and Social Security number. The company uses your information to verify your identity and report your payments to the bureaus. Self Rent Reporting performs a soft pull on your credit file, so you don't have to worry about your credit score dropping.

Then you'll need to connect your bank account so Self Rent Reporting can verify your rent payments. The company can detect payments from your bank direct deposit, your property manager's online payment portal, Venmo, Zelle, or Paypal. Self Rent Reporting will also accept paper checks, money orders, and cashier's checks. However, cash payments aren't accepted.

Self Rent Reporting will report your rent as a positive payment to the three major credit bureaus the next day and your utilities to TransUnion. The credit bureaus typically take up to a month to update your credit file.

Under Self, basic rent reporting with Self Rent Reporting is free. You can upgrade your plan to add utility reporting, identity theft insurance, and credit monitoring with TransUnion for $6.95 monthly.

Self Rent Reporting also offers optional retroactive rent and utilities reporting for $49.95, which adds up to 24 months of previous payment history to your credit reports. Retroactive reporting can be added to both the free rent reporting plan and the full plan.

Self Rent Reporting received mixed reviews from users, earning a 2.7 out of five from Trustpilot and a 3.7 out of five from the Better Business Bureau (BBB). Customers express dissatisfaction with inaccurate bill reporting. Users also report seeing negative effects on their credit scores after using the platform.

In contrast, people praised the company's customer service, citing quick response times and an easy process. It's worth mentioning that the BBB and Trustpilot have a small volume of reviews for the company. So, Self Rent Reporting's online reviews may not be a complete representation of its quality of customer service and product.

Self Rent Reporting's features are accessible via web browser and the Self mobile app. The Self app received a 4.6 out of five on Google Play and 4.9 out of five from the Apple app store, showing that customers found the app easy to use.

Like Self Rent Reporting, Boom offers monthly rent reporting. Boom costs just $3 per month. While it can't beat Self Rent Reporting's free rent reporting, Boom's rates are still extremely low, lower than Self Rent Reporting's paid subscription. However, Self Rent Reporting's premium service also offers utility reporting, identity theft insurance, and credit monitoring from TransUnion. Boom doesn't offer this.

What Boom does offer is affordable retroactive rent reporting at $25, half the cost Self Rent Reporting's retroactive reporting. Boom also doesn't require your landlord's involvement, while Self Rent Reporting will contact your landlord to verify your lease information.

While Self Rent Reporting is a good rent reporting option, Boom offers a cheaper alternative if you just want simple rent reporting without all the dressings.

Read our BoomPay review to learn more.

Rental Kharma costs $75 signup + $8.95 monthly for ongoing reporting. It also doesn't have credit-building perks like Self Rent Reporting does, but Rental Kharma lets you report all your past payment history at your current rental, no matter how far back the payment was. Self Rent Reporting only reports payments up to 24 months back, limiting your credit-building opportunities. Rental Kharma only reports to Equifax and TransUnion, while Self Rent Reporting reports to all three credit bureaus.

Rental Kharma has a 90-day, 100% money-back guarantee. Its refund policy gives you ample time to try the service out and see changes to your score. Self Rent Reporting only provides refunds if it fails to deliver on agreed-upon services, which doesn't include credit score improvements. Rental Kharma also offers discounts when you add a spouse and roommates.

Read our Rental Kharma review to learn more.

RentReporters costs $94.95 one-time fee + $9.95 monthly or $94.50 annually. Its features could make it attractive to customers. RentReporters plans allow you to report up to 48 months of payment history. This feature is useful if you've recently moved to another apartment but want to capture the payments from your previous lease.

If you opt into RentReporters VIP service, which is included with the annual plan or costs an additional $25 with the monthly plan, your past 24 months of rent can be reported to the credit bureaus within three to five days. This quick reporting can be a great benefit if you're looking for ways to boost your credit score quickly (like if you're a prospective homebuyer with a limited credit history).

RentReporters also guarantees a full refund if you're not satisfied within seven days of your initial results (i.e., once your credit score has been updated to reflect your reported rental payments).

Read our RentReporters review to learn more.

Yes, Self Rent Reporting is a legitimate company. It is BBB accredited, receiving a B+ ratings. It also provides bank-level security measures and a comprehensive privacy policy that outlines how it uses your data.

Self Rent reporting reports to major credit bureaus, enhancing the credit-building potential for users.

Self Rent Reporting can impact your credit score by reporting timely rent payments which can positively affect your credit score by building a history of on-time payments.

Self Rent Reporting takes about 24 hours once your rent payment appears on your bank account. That's because before reporting your rent payment to the credit bureaus, Self must verify. Updates to your credit score can take up to a month after rent reporting.

We examine several factors to rate rent reporting companies. First, we look for reporting to Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. When you apply for a financial product, lenders will pull your credit file from one of the three bureaus to assess your eligibility, so it's important for rent payments to show up on credit reports from all three bureaus.

Secondly, we evaluate the comprehensiveness of a company's offerings. In other words, we look at whether the company offers special perks aside from rent reporting. Some examples of these benefits include utility and cell phone bill reporting, long retroactive rent reporting periods, and roommate or spouse discounts. We then weigh the product's cost against its value.

Finally, we assess user experience through third-party ratings and information outlined in the company's fine print. This includes the company's customer satisfaction, longevity, ease of use, refund policy, and other relevant components.

Jennifer Streaks

Senior Personal Finance Reporter and Spokesperson

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Self Rent Reporting Review: Benefits, Features, and User Experience - Business Insider