Credit Rent Boost Review | Digital Honey (2024)

Our Verdict

With their low-cost multi-renter plans, Credit Rent Boost offers a rent reporting service that is both flexible and affordable.

Their customer service is also far above what their competitors offer. They have an excellent BBB rating, and their reviews are high as well.

Credit Rent Boost works with both TransUnion and Equifax to help build your FICO score. Unfortunately they don’t report to Experian, which is a major downside to the service.

Another downside to this service is their lack of refunds. They only extend a refund if they are unable to get your rent reported to the credit bureaus.

The service offered by Credit Rent Boost is ideal for those with thin credit profiles or those with no credit at all. However, we also recommend an even better rent reporting service that reports to all 3 credit bureaus and is even more affordable.

Overview of Credit Rent Boost Services

How Does Credit Rent Boost Work?

Credit Rent Boost is a rent reporting service. They work with you and your landlord to get your past rent payment history and ongoing rent payments reported to the TransUnion and Equifax credit bureaus.

Rent payments, utility payments, etc. usually do not appear on your credit report unless you have a late payment and the rent or utility bills have been sent to collections.

Credit Rent Boost’s service allows you to have your rent bill payments added to your credit report.

And unlike other methods of building your credit, like opening a credit builder loan or unsecured credit card, utilizing a rent reporting company’s service does not require you to open a new credit account.

The company works directly with you and your landlord to get your payments and payment history added to your credit report. This information will appear alongside your other credit accounts, i.e. student loans, credit cards, etc.

If you have bad credit, no credit, or a thin credit profile, then adding this positive payment history to your credit report can give you a boost to the length of credit history and amounts owed portions of your credit score.

So long as you continue making timely rent payments, your score will improve.

Pros of Using Credit Rent Boost

There are many rent reporting services, but Credit Rent Boost excels in certain areas despite the fact that they have not been in business as long as their competitors. Below are two of the biggest benefits this company offers.

Low Fees

Credit Rent Boost offers one of the lowest-priced plans on the market. Not only that, you can customize your subscription to get just what you need.

The cost of ongoing rent reporting is only $5.95 a month, plus they offer a discount if you choose to pay annually instead of monthly.

If there are multiple renters on your lease, Credit Rent Boost offers a multi-renter discount that works on up to three names on the lease.

So, if all of your roommates want to use this service to build their credit, then each of you gets to pay a fraction of the price you would pay individually.

For reporting past payment history, Credit Rent Boost gives you two options, 1 year or 2 years. This is a great feature if you have only recently started renting and don’t yet have 2 years’ worth of rental payment history.

And, if you’ve moved around in the past, no worries, Credit Rent Boost allows you to add up to 2 previous addresses to your account at no charge.BoomPay is also similar to Credit Rent Boost, check out our article, BoomPay Review for more information about it.

Multi-Renter Plans

If you are renting a property along with roommates or a spouse then there is great news. Credit Rent Boost lets you add up to 3 renters to one rent reporting account for a discounted fee.

Each of their plans, whether you are looking for ongoing reporting, past payment history reporting, or a combination of both, support up to 3 renters.

The subscription fee starts at $5.95/month for one individual, but if you have 3 renters on the lease, the monthly subscription fee only rises to $9.95. This means each person is effectively responsible for a $3.32/month subscription fee.

Multi-renter discounts also apply to the one-time signup fees as well.

Since Credit Rent Boost already needs to contact your landlord to verify your payment history, it takes very little extra effort to verify history for your roommates as well.

It is important to note that to qualify, all renters must be on the lease. If you or your roommates are sub-leasing, you’ll need written permission from the landlord or property manager to qualify for the rent reporting service.You can also check out our Rental Kharma Review if you’d like to look into another company that does something similar to Credit Rent Boost.

Cons of Using Credit Rent Boost

While there are many advantages to using the Credit Rent Boost service, there are a few key areas where this service either does not match up to its competitors or serve its customers best in helping them fix their poor credit.

No Credit Monitoring

Credit Rent Boost claims that their customers can often experience a credit score increase ranging from 30 points to 100 points, but you are completely on your own in verifying their claims.

Credit Rent Boost does not offer anything in the way of credit monitoring. Instead, they suggest that you use a third-party service like Credit Karma or Credit Sesame.

This can cause issues if you don’t see your rent payments reporting. Credit Rent Boost’s troubleshooting tips suggest you contact the credit monitoring company to see how often they refresh information and to verify that they are pulling from Equifax and/or TransUnion.

Alternatively, you can pull your credit report from each bureau once a year for free, which will help you verify if your rent is appearing on your credit history. Unfortunately, this free report does not include a credit score.

This lack of credit monitoring is disappointing as many of Credit Rent Boost’s competitors offer some kind of credit score reporting.Our RentReporters Review is also another great option to look into if you’re interested in reporting your rent.

Poor Refund Policy

If Credit Rent Boost can’t complete verification with your landlord, either because your landlord isn’t cooperative or because they do not meet the credit bureaus’ stringent reporting requirements, Credit Rent Boost will give you a full refund.

And this is the only scenario where they will issue a refund.

If you are unhappy with their service or are disappointed by the lack of improvement to your credit score, tough luck, you are out the money you paid. The best you can do is cancel your subscription if you are paying monthly.

Furthermore, the refund they do offer can be voided under certain circ*mstances. Like most credit reporting companies, if they suspect fraud, they can deny you a refund. But that is not the only scenario.

If you opt to purchase Credit Rent Boost’s expedited service, which will set you back an extra $100, you will void your right to a refund.

So, after your subscription fee, sign-up fee, and expedited fee, if your landlord decides not to cooperate, you’re out of luck as well as several hundreds of dollars in fees paid.

How Credit Rent Boost is Different

Credit Rent Boost verifies rental information with your landlord and reports your payment information to the credit bureaus in much the same way as other rent reporting services do.

But there are a few features and areas of service that set Credit Rent Boost apart from its competition.

Their low fees are one such area where they excel. Using discounts for multiple renters and paying fees annually instead of monthly can get you to a cost of under $3/month. That’s pretty incredible.

And the fact that they support up to 3 renters on a lease is better than the bulk of their competition who only support 2 renters.

Credit Rent Boost also has an incredible A+ rating on the BBB, showing that the package they offer as well as their customer service are far above other companies in the rent reporting market.

FAQs

Below is a breakdown of all of Credit Rent Boost’s plans and their prices.

Credit Rent Boost’s Plans and Prices

Also Read:

• TheBest Rent Reporting Servicesin 2023
• Does Rent Affect Credit Score?
• Rental Tradelines: The Secret to Building Your Credit with Rent | Digital Honey
• How to Rent With Bad Credit
• RentReporters Review
• Rental Kharma Review
• The 10Best Apps for Landlords to Collect Rent
• How to Report Rent Payments to Credit Bureaus for Free
• BoomPay Review: Is It Legit? | Digital Honey