Rent payments to be included in Experian data.

[Furbo]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8jrw8e1w0lo

[Terminator X]

If your score is "low" I assume that you can't get any credit. Must be a right ballache for people like that as I assume they are perhaps also the poorest in society too.

TX.

[geeks]

Could potentially see those who rent get a better score and make it easier for them to get a mortgage? Its also an opt in system so I am not sure how much it changes things on that side. Also dont most rental agencies do a credit check for new tenants anyway?

[Furbo]

geeks said:

Could potentially see those who rent get a better score and make it easier for them to get a mortgage? Its also an opt in system so I am not sure how much it changes things on that side. Also dont most rental agencies do a credit check for new tenants anyway?

Credit vetting tenants is an unreliable means of establishing whether they will pay.

Where a tenant is evicted via the court, with rent arrears, it doesn't always get flagged to the credit reference agencies. So you can take on a tenant that appears alright, but who in fact had to be forcibly evicted owing £10k.

Asking a tenant if they are prepared to opt in might be a good filter!

If a tenant is prepared to opt in, I can see that being good for the tenant as much as anyone else. Build up a track record for either future rentals or buying.

[POIDH]

As an ex-landlord, I think this is a Good Thing.

However, the notion of 'credit scoring' is not for you the consumer - it is for the benefit of banks. Part of the reason I do not have a perfect credit score is that I don't have enough borrowed - apparently lenders like a wee bit of debt (I bet they do...) so that you can 'prove you can manage debt responsibly'. And of course the same credit score ignores my savings, which are significant.

[Crumpet]

Furbo said:

Credit vetting tenants is an unreliable means of establishing whether they will pay.

Where a tenant is evicted via the court, with rent arrears, it doesn't always get flagged to the credit reference agencies. So you can take on a tenant that appears alright, but who in fact had to be forcibly evicted owing £10k.

Asking a tenant if they are prepared to opt in might be a good filter!

If a tenant is prepared to opt in, I can see that being good for the tenant as much as anyone else. Build up a track record for either future rentals or buying.

My Dad’s just had that issue with a tenant who’d not paid the rent for six months. Council told him to stay put until evicted; finally got evicted but to reclaim any missing rent or have any record placed on the bd’s history would’ve cost my Dad further ££££s. There will be many renters out there who are total liabilities and no one will know until it’s too late.

[coxy0072004]

POIDH said:

As an ex-landlord, I think this is a Good Thing.

However, the notion of 'credit scoring' is not for you the consumer - it is for the benefit of banks. Part of the reason I do not have a perfect credit score is that I don't have enough borrowed - apparently lenders like a wee bit of debt (I bet they do...) so that you can 'prove you can manage debt responsibly'. And of course the same credit score ignores my savings, which are significant.

Exactly this, I never have a perfect credit file, but mainly because I don't borrow any money, in the main because I'm a saver and sensible with my earnings.