Bills Commonly Reported to Credit Bureaus
In general, car payments, mortgage payments, student loan payments and credit card payments are often reported to the bureaus. Many of these traditional lenders report to all three bureaus, but not all do.
Installment loans can give your scores a lift. If you don't have a long credit history, an installment loan, which you pay back through set monthly payments, could help you build your score. Auto, mortgage, personal and student loans are all types of installment credit.
Unfortunately, a debit card typically will not help you build your credit. Despite similar looks, it can help to think of debit cards more like cash than like credit cards. And because debit card activity isn't traditionally reported to credit bureaus, it likely won't help with your credit scores.
You can't directly add things to your credit report, even if they are bills you pay each month. Instead, you must depend on your creditors and lenders to send updates to the credit bureaus based on your account history. There are three major credit bureaus in the U.S.: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.
Third-party services like PayYourRent and RentTrack, for example, will report your rental payments to all three of the major credit bureaus. Signing up for Experian Boost lets you add phone and utility bills to your Experian report, and a history of on-time payments can boost your credit score.
As you make on-time loan payments, an auto loan will improve your credit score. Your score will increase as it satisfies all of the factors the contribute to a credit score, adding to your payment history, amounts owed, length of credit history, new credit, and credit mix.
Payment history is a very important factor in your credit score, so making payments on time is one of the best things you can do to build credit. Making timely payments goes beyond your credit card balance. You want to make timely payments on all your bills — car loans, student loans etc. — to establish good credit.
A conventional loan requires a credit score of at least 620, but it's ideal to have a score of 740 or above, which could allow you to make a lower down payment, get a more attractive interest rate and save on private mortgage insurance.
Starting today, July 27, consumers can now include their Netflix® on-time payment history on their *Experian Boost™ accounts, which can help improve their credit scores.
Paying utility and cable bills on time won't help your credit, though, because most utilities don't report to the credit bureaus. As with other recurring bills, however, if you put them on a credit card and pay on time, that builds a good payment history and helps your score.
Will paying my phone bill build credit? The short answer: No, paying your phone bill will not help you build up credit. Phone bills for service and usage are not usually reported to major credit bureaus, so you won't build credit when paying these month to month.
The credit scores and reports you see on Credit Karma should accurately reflect your credit information as reported by those bureaus. This means a couple of things: The scores we provide are actual credit scores pulled from two of the major consumer credit bureaus, not just estimates of your credit rating.
FICO® score ranges vary — they can range from 300 to 850 or 250 to 900, depending on the scoring model — but higher scores can indicate that you may be less risky to lenders.
If you have been using credit for only six months or a year, it's unrealistic to expect a score in the high 700s. Still, it is possible to establish excellent credit — a score of 800 or higher, for example — in your 20s.
Utility Bills
Your electricity or gas bill is not a loan, but failing to pay it can hurt your credit score. While utility companies won't normally report a customer's payment history, they will report delinquent accounts much more quickly than other companies you may do business with.
Rent payment history, in general, affects around 35% of your overall credit score. So, even a single late rent payment or missed rent payment can significantly impact your credit score — especially if it's already on the higher side.
Credit scores can be improved in many ways, but paying utility bills on time is usually not enough to make a meaningful difference. While gas, electric, and water are common utility bills that people pay, the information is not reported to the credit agencies and does not appear on an individual's credit report.
About Experian Boost
For example, utility bills, phone payments, and even Netflix and other streaming subscriptions can all be added to your Experian credit file with Experian Boost. Good payment history on your credit accounts is created when you pay these obligations on time. This might raise your FICO score.
Payment History Is the Most Important Factor of Your Credit Score. Payment history accounts for 35% of your FICO® Score. Four other factors that go into your credit score calculation make up the remaining 65%.