MSE News: Rent payments to go on your credit file

tbs624

jamie11 wrote: »

Well that seems clear enough. I can see the end of any joint and several contracts when the ramifications of that find their way into the renting public's awareness.

Agreed. All those house sharers on J&SL contracts should be particularly concerned - one T not paying up on time would presumably mean that all would get listed as late payers, as they would jointly have failed to meet the full rent payment on time.

What about the T who has no address for their LL despite repeatedly asking for it? T withholds rent ( as is entitled to to until address is provided) Does LL get to post up a late payment marker, or threaten to if T does not back down?

What about T who, at the end of their tether about non-repair issues, follows the procedure from the Izzet case ( see Shelter's Guuide to Getting Repairs Done) and gets repairs done, deducting from the next rent payment? Does LL/LA get to threaten to post up a marker?

tbs624

Experian_company_representative wrote: »

We want all tenants to be able to benefit from this going forwards, so no one loses out.

James Jones

Please don't dress it up as being beneficial for all Ts. That is a nonsense.

It's an opportunity for Experian to make more money.

jamie11

tbs624 wrote: »

Please don't dress it up as being beneficial for all Ts. That is a nonsense.

It's an opportunity for Experian to make more money.

I agree. I find it very difficult to believe in altruistic motives from large companies.

corbyboy

tbs624 wrote: »

What about the T who has no address for their LL despite repeatedly asking for it? T withholds rent ( as is entitled to to until address is provided) Does LL get to post up a late payment marker, or threaten to if T does not back down?

What about T who, at the end of their tether about non-repair issues, follows the procedure from the Izzet case ( see Shelter's Guuide to Getting Repairs Done) and gets repairs done, deducting from the next rent payment? Does LL/LA get to threaten to post up a marker?

Agree with this. The opportunities for a rogue landlord to blackmail a tenant will be horrendous.

Kingchamp

Terrible idea, i for one would refuse to sign a lease with this clause in it. Rent is paid in advance and a depsit is paid to cover other things. This is not a credit agreement thus does not sit on a Credit Profile.

Ia also agree fully with others, there are far too many bad landlords out there and this will just give them more means to mess tennents around.

I urge Experian to drop this terrible idea.

ruggedtoast

Great, life as a tenant in the UK just gets even worse and we have Experian to thank.

Now alongside all the other landlord's eggshells tenants have to tip toe around, (deposit deductions, intrusive inspections, getting references, extortionate charges to re-issue tenancy agreements) they now have to worry about their landlord wrecking their credit file.

What happens as soon as the first tenant correctly and legally goes about the procedure for deducting money from rental payments due to their rogue landlord refusing to do repairs? They get their credit file wrecked.

What happens as soon as a dodgy LA tries to hit someone with £100 to reissue a tenancy agreement and raise the rent at the same time, and the tenant refuses? They are threatened with getting their credit file wrecked.

What happens when Mrs Amateur Landlord tells you to put the rent in her bank account on the 1st of the month without realising her bank takes three working days to clear the payment? You get your credit file wrecked.

I am annoyed by this and I'm not even a tenant any more. I will be avoiding Experian in future and I recommend anyone else who has an issue with it does the same.

Thrugelmir

squeeks wrote: »

If you buy your home outright without a mortgage, there is no credit record. If you aren't borrowing money for goods from anyone why should it be of any concern to your credit history.

A rental agreement is a contract. An agreement to pay a specified amount on a given day. Has nothing to do with borrowing money and all to do with paying money on time.

As a lay person. I can see this move assisting people who wish to move from renting to obtaining a mortgage. Perhaps not having the ability to save for a deposit. However they pay their bills on time . So can clearly demonstrate to a lender that they have responsibility for their financial affairs.

lynneinjapan

lazer wrote: »

Rent is paid in advance, so therefore is not credit, so therefore should not appear on credit files.

If you miss a payment, it is still not credit as the landlord usually has 1 months rent as deposit, so as long as you pay it within the month, it is still not credit.

However, over 1 month overdue rent is in effect credit and should be reported on the credit file.

True, if rent is paid right at the beginning of the month it covers then it's not credit - but if it is not paid until after that (even just one day late) then you are in arrears and therefore are using your landlord as a credit facility - usually unauthorised - and, if it happens regularly, I think it's quite reasonable for that to be recorded on your credit file.

Some people prioritise their Sky TV subscriptions over their rent payments - if they don't pay the bills then it'll go on their record, but what's the landlord going to do if they don't pay the rent? It will likely take him 8 months to evict them through the courts!

The deposit is NOT rent and most tenancy agreements clearly state that it is not to be used as such. It belongs to the tenant and will be returned at the end of the tenancy unless there are arrears or damage that the landlord can prove to the satisfaction of the deposit protection arbitrators.


As for ruggedtoast's comment about the rent taking three days to clear after the due date - I would think it should be obvious that the rent is due in cleared funds BY the due date. When you get a credit card bill, doesn't it say something like "Please allow four working days for the payment to reach our account"? Why should a rent payment be any different?


The majority of tenants, who do pay on time (and thereby do not use their landlord as a source of credit), stand to benefit from this as it could help them to build up a good credit record.

I'm curious to see how it will work in practice though.

squeeks

Thrugelmir wrote: »

As a lay person. I can see this move assisting people who wish to move from renting to obtaining a mortgage. Perhaps not having the ability to save for a deposit. However they pay their bills on time . So can clearly demonstrate to a lender that they have responsibility for their financial affairs.

If you can't save a deposit, your credit rating isn't going to make any difference to a mortgage lenders decision to lend money, unless 100 - 125% mortgages are back and I didn't notice.

At the end of the day most land lords (and letting agents!) are just your average joe, who happens to have an extra property which they [STRIKE]want to make money from by exploiting peoples need to have a roof over their heads[/STRIKE] provide as a valuable, cost effective service to society. There is no training and minimal regulation. If you ever encounter a bad letting agent or land lord (or sometimes, two which by them selves are okay, but have no idea what each other are doing!). They are hardly known for being reputable customer focused businesses with efficient and effective complaints procedures.

Credit rating and ratings agencies are a pain to deal with generally as you have to pay to see the data and the data they hold belongs to the people who submit it, but it affects you, not them! If someone really wants to put the boot in as it were, it really doesn't effect them or their business, it only hurts the individual and it is up to the individual to push for any inaccuracies to be resolved.

If I could opt out of credit agencies altogether I would. The less information held by less agencies or organisations the better in my book.

squeeks

lynneinjapan wrote: »

The majority of tenants, who do pay on time (and thereby do not use their landlord as a source of credit), stand to benefit from this as it could help them to build up a good credit record.

The only people who benefit will be the credit agencies and some unscrupulous landlords that will use it as a form of black mail.

If you are a reliable paying tenant, with a LL & LA who actually meet there contractual obligations this will make no difference to you. If you have a bad LL/LA or you are unreliable, welcome to homelessness.

lynneinjapan wrote: »

Some people prioritise their Sky TV subscriptions over their rent payments - if they don't pay the bills then it'll go on their record, but what's the landlord going to do if they don't pay the rent? It will likely take him 8 months to evict them through the courts!

Likewise some LL fail to meet their obligations to ensure the tenants home is maintained because their Sky TV subscription is more important than the tenants home.

There are rotten apples in every barrel.