87% of Renters Are Leaving Credit on the Table. Here Are the Rent Mistakes Costing You.
New data just put a number on something renters have felt for years: the system isn’t built for you. According to TransUnion, only 13% of renters have their rent payments reported to the credit bureaus — which means roughly 87% of renters are making their biggest monthly payment and getting nothing for it on their credit file.
Meanwhile, the wealth gap keeps widening. The median renter in America has a net worth of about $10,400. The median homeowner? Around $400,000. That’s a 40-to-1 gap, and a big part of it comes down to one thing: homeowners get financial credit for their housing payment, and renters historically haven’t.
The good news is that most of the ways renters lose out aren’t really mistakes — they’re just defaults nobody told you to change. Here are the big ones, and how to flip each one in your favor.
Mistake #1: Paying rent perfectly and getting zero credit for it
Rent is the largest, most reliable payment most people make. You protect it above almost every other bill. And unless you’ve set something up, none of that reliability shows up on your credit report.
Think about how backwards that is. Someone opens a store card to buy sneakers, carries a small balance, and gets “credit” for borrowing money. You pay thousands of dollars in rent on time, every month, for years — and it counts for nothing.
The fix: rent reporting. It adds your on-time rent payments to your credit file, so the reliability you’ve already been showing finally shows up where it matters. With Piñata, your on-time rent gets reported to all three major bureaus — Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. Piñata renters see an average increase of 60 points in their first year, and back reporting can add up to 24 months of past payments, so your track record starts working for you right away.
Mistake #2: Opening a credit card just to “build credit”
For decades the advice was the same: open a card, carry a balance, prove you can borrow. That made sense when interest rates were low. It doesn’t today. Americans are now carrying record credit card debt, average APRs are north of 20%, and the “credit-building” card quietly becomes the “can’t-get-out-of-debt” card for a lot of people.
You shouldn’t have to take on debt to prove you’re good with money.
The fix: build credit with the payment you already make. Rent reporting means no new debt, no interest, no application, and no change to how you pay. It’s the same goal as the credit-card route — a stronger credit profile — without the risk.
Mistake #3: Treating rent like money that just disappears
Every month a huge chunk of your income leaves your account and, as far as you can tell, vanishes into someone else’s. That feeling is real, and it’s part of why renting can feel like running in place.
The fix: make rent pay you back. With Piñata, every on-time rent payment earns you reward points — and those points redeem for gift cards and curated products for your home, your family, and your life. There’s no out-of-pocket cost to earn them. It’s not a reason to spend more; it’s recognition for spending you already do. Same rent payment, now doing double duty: building your credit and earning rewards.
Mistake #4: Assuming late payments don’t matter until they do
Here’s the honest part. Rent reporting works because it documents on-time payments — and once you’re reporting, staying current is what builds your score. Experts note a strong on-time rent history can lift a score meaningfully, while a missed payment can knock it down by as much as 100 points.
The fix: treat rent reporting as a tool that rewards the habit you’ve already built. If you’re consistently paying on time, you’re already doing the hard part. Reporting simply makes that consistency count.
Mistake #5: Waiting for the system to fix itself
Only about 40% of landlords report rent to the bureaus, so waiting for your building to set it up could mean waiting forever. You don’t have to. Renters can get their rent reported themselves, without needing their landlord to lift a finger.
The fix: stop waiting. Your rent is going out either way — the only real question is whether it starts working for you.
The bottom line
Renters aren’t behind because they’re careless with money. They’re behind because the default settings don’t reward the responsible thing they’re already doing. Change the defaults, and the same monthly rent payment starts building your credit, earning you rewards, and closing a little bit of that wealth gap every month.
You’ve been doing the right thing all along. It’s time it counted.
Ready to make your rent count? See how Piñata helps you build credit and earn rewards on the rent you’re already paying.
Sources
TransUnion / StockTitan – 13% of renters now building credit through rent payments
CNN Business – renter vs. homeowner net worth gap
KALB – rent reporting could boost your credit score
Urban Institute – the rise of rent reporting as a credit-building tool