The first of the month is probably not your favorite day – rent is due, after all. Month in and month out, you pay your rent on time in order to live in the Oakwood community you love, with all of the perks that come with living with one of the largest property management firms in Columbus. But what if you got something back besides your awesome apartment, something more?

With that in mind, Oakwood is proud to introduce a new resident perk: RentTrack credit reporting. This optional perk automatically reports customers paying their monthly rent to all three major credit bureaus for a small monthly fee. No matter how you pay your rent to Oakwood, we will then report that on-time payment to the credit bureaus, which, over time and accompanied with other smart financial decisions, can result in an increased credit score.

Credit scores are an important if annoying part of modern financial life. For many years, they were shrouded in mystery, with people only learning their credit score number upon a “hard pull” of their credit, which could ding that very score. Today, there are more offerings from banks, credit cards, and other financial sources to show you your credit report without penalty. From there, though, improving your credit score can be hard. Many negative events stay on the report for years, while positively impacting effects tend to require time and consistent use of credit.

RentTrack reports to Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, the three major consumer credit bureaus. Most major companies and lenders use credit reports from one of these three unions in order to make a determination on a potential consumer’s financial reliability. RentTrack is PCI compliant, uses regular scanning, and ensures secure practices to keep your data protected and up-to-date.

Every resident can opt to sign up for credit reporting and it only affects them, so if other residents in the same household do not want to participate, they do not have to. Additionally, the program offers 24-month lookback, meaning that up to two years of past payments on a current lease can be reported. This lookback is an especially helpful tool if you’re looking to improve the age of accounts on your credit scores.

Oakwood rolled out this perk at a few select locations earlier this year, and the residents were thrilled with the results! Although results can definitely differ, RentTrack says residents see an average score increase of 51 points per year – and the average increase for the tester Oakwood residents was even higher than that! Increases like this can lead to lower financing rates and easier approval for loans and mortgages, so if you’re looking to buy a home in the future, this is the perfect perk for you.

Ask your property manager today how you can enroll in automated rent reporting. Oakwood Management Company is proud to partner with RentTrack and to offer this perk to our residents.