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Self Rent Reporting
On Self's website
Insider’s Rating
4.65/5
Perks Results vary. You may not receive an improved credit score. Not all lenders use scores impacted by rent/utility payments.
Reports to all three credit bureaus and connects directly to your bank account.
Fees
$0-$6.95 monthly + optional $49.95 fee for retroactive reporting
Pros
- Rent reporting is free of charge
- Credit score monitoring
- $1M identity theft insurance
- Three-bureau rent reporting
- Utility and cell phone payments
- Doesn’t require landlord’s approval
Cons
- Poor customer service experience
- Cell phone and utility payments only reported to TransUnion
Insider’s Take
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. One of the companies listed in our guide on the best rent reporting services, Self Rent Reporting stands out for offering several credit building perks under one competitive price.
Product Details
- Reports to all three credit bureaus
- Connects directly to your bank account
- Reports your rent, cell phone, electric, water and gas payments
- $49.95 optional fee for 24 months of retroactive rent and utilities reporting
- $6.95 per month
- Add two years of past payments
- Results vary. You may not receive an improved credit score. Not all lenders use scores impacted by rent/utility payments.
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.
What is Self Rent Reporting?
Overview of Self Rent Reporting
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 Account, 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 Key Features
Self Rent Reporting offers the following services:
- Monthly rent reporting — Self Rent Reporting verifies and reports rent payments to the three credit bureaus (Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian) on a monthly basis. The company doesn't report missed or late payments, so you don't have to worry about it hurting your credit score.
- Bills reporting — Self reports your paid cellphone and utility bills as positive payments to TransUnion.
- LookBack rent reporting — This feature lets you retroactively report bills up to 24 months old. Those past rent payments must be with your current lease and bill provider.
- Credit monitoring — This feature alerts you of suspicious activity on your credit report.
- Identity theft insurance — Your monthly subscription includes a zero deductible, $1 million theft insurance policy.
How Self Rent Reporting Works
Registration Process
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.
Self Rent Reporting Cost
Pricing and Plans
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 Customer Reviews
Disadvantages
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.
Advantages
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.
Self Rent Reporting vs. The Competition
Self Rent Reporting vs. Boom
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.
Self Rent Reporting vs. Rental Kharma
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.
Self Rent Reporting vs. RentReporters
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.
Self Rent Reporting Frequently Asked Questions
Is Self Rent Reporting legitimate?
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.
Does Self Rent Reporting work with all credit bureaus?
Self Rent reporting reports to major credit bureaus, enhancing the credit-building potential for users.
How does Self Rent Reporting impact my credit score?
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.
How long does Self Rent Reporting take?
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.
How We Rated Self 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.
Senior Personal Finance Reporter and Spokesperson
Jennifer Streaks is a Personal Finance Expert and Journalist who writes about credit and all things money for Business Insider. Committed to financial literacy and economic empowerment, she has covered financial topics for over a decade, writing about her own experiences and sharing her expertise to give consumers actionable financial advice.Along with exploring credit scores, credit reports, and how to build credit, Jennifer analyzes how current economic trends impact everyday people and offers her expert advice on budgeting, saving, and growing wealth in today’s economy. She regularly appears as an on-air financial commentator on programs like Good Morning America, Yahoo! Finance, CBS, and MSNBC.ExperienceBefore joining Business Insider, Jennifer was a financial contributor for CNBC and covered personal finance, entrepreneurship, tech, and the economy for Forbes. Her work has appeared in TheGrio, Black Enterprise, and USA Today.Jennifer is also the author of "Thrive! ... Affordably: Your Month-to-Month Guide to Living Your Best Life Without Breaking the Bank." The book offers advice, tips, and financial management lessons geared toward helping the reader highlight strengths, identify missteps, and take control of their finances.Jennifer’s most important financial advice to her friends is to always have an emergency fund.ExpertiseJennifer’s expertise includes:
- Credit scores
- Credit history
- Credit reports
- Budgeting
- Saving
- Housing
- Retirement
- The economy
- Financial trends
EducationJennifer earned an MBA from The Johns Hopkins University Carey School of Business and completed the Wharton Seminar for Business Journalists.Jennifer is based in New York City.
Alani Asis is a personal finance expert with experience covering insurance, retirement, and credit at both Business Insider and LendingTree. Her work has been published in AARP, CNN Underscored, Forbes, Fortune, PolicyGenius, and U.S. News & World Report.ExperienceAlani is a former insurance fellow on the Personal Finance Insider team. She’s reviewed life insurance and pet insurance companies and has written numerous explainers on travel insurance, credit, debt, and home insurance.She is passionate about demystifying the complexities of insurance and other personal finance topics so that readers have the information they need to make the best money decisions.ExpertiseAlani’s areas of personal finance expertise include:
- Car insurance
- Life insurance
- Home insurance
- Travel insurance
- Pet insurance
- Credit
- Credit cards
- Retirement planning
EducationAlani is a graduate of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where she earned a degree in political science and history.
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