Re:‘I’m Old, Not an Idiot.’ One Man’s Protest Gets Attention...
by SilasX on Friday March 25, 2022 @11:28AM
(#30803326)
Huh? Paid utility bills don't help to establish a credit history on your credit report even today.
Re:‘I’m Old, Not an Idiot.’ One Man’s Protest Gets Attention...
by amflare on Friday March 25, 2022 @11:44AM
(#30803528)
It doesn't, but multiple years worth of rent/utility bills can be used as a substitute so long as you are willing to jump through a couple extra hoops and pay a little bit more in interest for the privilege.
My girlfriend just went though this process. She has no credit because she never got a CC and always saved up and paid for stuff like her car in cash. Over the winter she was looking to buy a house (didn't pan out for other reasons), and basically her only option was getting a loan manually underwritten. Part of that process was using a minimum of 2 years worth of bills as a replacement for a credit score. And the only loans available were several points more expensive than she could have gotten if she was able to do things the "normal" way.
Re:‘I’m Old, Not an Idiot.’ One Man’s Protest Gets Attention...
by SilasX on Friday March 25, 2022 @05:29PM
(#30807227)
Yes, that was my point. If you can get the lender to look at your history, it matters, like anything else. But those transactions do not establish a credit history associated with your credit score.
What did matter in living memory (thus passed down to at least this generation) is that saving utility bills for 7 year can establish credit.
My parents still tell me to do this to this day, since that's how they were able to qualify for a home loan having not participated in the credit system otherwise.
Nowadays most such transactions are reported to a credit bureau, so they are either already on record or (almost?) no banks will care to see them.