How does credit building with rent payments work?
Understand the common scenarios of using rent payments for credit building that residents run into.
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Who this is relevant for
- All renters enrolled in the Openroom Rent Rewards Program
- All property managers or housing providers enrolled in the Openroom Rent Rewards Program
How does it work?
- Exports data from your Property Manage System (e.g. Buildium, Yardi, custom Excel files)
- Updates the list of Renters who have given consent for credit building within Openroom
What information does Openroom need?
Openroom processes information exported from your Property Manage System.
Here is the summary of information we expect:
Balance
What does it include?
✓ Total Amount Charged
✓ Rent
✓ Utilities✓ NSF fees
✗ Any charges not allowed by your local residential tenancy laws. For example, per-day late fees are not allowed within Ontario. Therefore we recommend that you do not charge it or track it in your Property Management Software.
Definitions:
Which leases are not eligible?
How does Openroom translate rental payments into Credit Building?
Similar to how a Credit Card bill has the following fields:
✓ Amount chargedOpenroom takes the financial information you have provided and structures it into a “Credit Bill” and sends that information over to Equifax along with personal renter information provided from your lease.
If renters are a few days late, does it immediately impact their credit score?
No, they have to be at least 30 days late to be considered delinquent
What if they are just behind by a few hundred dollars? Does it impact their credit score?
No, they have to be late by 1 whole month’s rent and charges to be considered delinquent.
If someone is always a few hundred dollars behind consistently, will they ever be considered delinquent?
No, they would not be considered delinquent assuming that their amount owing never exceeds the total rent charged. For example, if someone is always late by 500$ but their rent is 2000$, they would never be considered delinquent.
If someone is always paying a few days late, will they ever be considered delinquent?
No, they wouldn’t be. Even though rent is due on the expected due date, from the credit reporting regulations, they are not delinquent until the amount has not been paid for more than 30 days. This regulation unfortunately, does not help with problem of persistently late rent payments.
When does a renter’s credit actually get impacted?
When they are late by at least 1 month’s rent charges for more than 30 days.
What happens if I miss giving you date on the 7th?
You can give us data anytime from the 7th to 14th as long as the financial information is calculated to the 7th of the month. For example, you should be reporting financial data (charges and payments) from Jan 8th to Feb 7th regardless of if you are reporting on Feb 7th or Feb 11th.
Detailed Examples
You will find various scenarios that you might run into in your month to month handling of rental payments.
Report Date is when you send us data. We are going to assume that you are always giving us this data on the 7th of the month.
Example: On-time rental payment
Let’s say that there is lease for $2000 on the 1st of every month. No additional charges.
You charge them on the 1st of the month and they pay on the first of the month.
These is what their balance history will look like.
| Report Date | Rent Due Date | Rent | Balance | Last Payment Date | Notes | Equifax Status |
| 2025-02-07 | 2025-02-01 | $2000.00 | 0 | 2025-02-01 | Paid on time | 0-30 delinquent (good) |
| 2025-03-07 | 2025-03-01 | $2000.00 | 0 | 2025-03-01 | Paid on time | 0-30 delinquent (good) |
| 2025-04-07 | 2025-04-01 | $2000.00 | 0 | 2025-04-01 | Paid on time | 0-30 delinquent (good) |
Example: Mid month payment schedule
Let’s say that there is lease for $2000 on the 15th of every month. No additional charges.
You charge them on the 15th of the month and they pay on the 15th of the month.
These is what their balance history will look like.
| Report Date | Rent | Balance | Last Payment Date | Notes | Equifax Status | |
| 2025-02-07 | 2025-01-15 | $2000.00 | 0 | 2025-01-15 | Paid on time | 0-30 delinquent (good) |
| 2025-03-07 | 2025-02-15 | $2000.00 | 0 | 2025-02-15 | Paid on time | 0-30 delinquent (good) |
| 2025-04-07 | 2025-03-15 | $2000.00 | 0 | 2025-03-15 | Paid on time | 0-30 delinquent (good) |
Example: Rent and Utilities
Let’s say that there is lease for $2,000 on the 1st of every month. Every 2 months you charge them back for the water.
You charge them on the 1st of the month and they pay on the 1st of the month. On Feb 17th, you charge them $200 for the water bill. That bill along with the March 1st rent would be reported on March 7th.
If you are reporting on March 7th, then all charges (allowed by the tenancy laws) to the renters made from Feb 6th to March 7th can be added and specified under the Total Charged column for that reporting period.
| Report Date | Rent Due Date | Rent | Total Charged | Balance | Last Payment Date | Notes | Equifax Status |
| 2025-02-07 | 2025-02-01 | $2000.00 | $2000.00 | 0 | 2025-02-01 | Paid on time | 0-30 delinquent (good) |
| 2025-03-07 | 2025-03-01 | $2000.00 | $2000.00 | 0 | 2025-03-01 | Charged them Water bill on Feb 17th for 200$ and $2,000 on March 1st. The Renters have paid the full bill on March 1st. | 0-30 delinquent (good) |
| 2025-04-07 | 2025-03-15 | $2000.00 | $2000.00 | 0 | 2025-03-15 | Paid on time | 0-30 delinquent (good) |
Example: Payment late by a few days
Let’s say that there is lease for $2000 on the 1st of every month. No additional charges.
You charge them on the 1st of the month but the renters are habitually few days late.
These is what their balance history will look like. Notice even when they are late by more than 2 weeks - they are still considered in good standing.
| Report Date | Rent Due Date | Rent | Balance | Last Payment Date | Notes | Equifax Status |
| 2025-02-07 | 2025-02-01 | $2000.00 | 0 | 2025-02-04 | Paid 3 days late | 0-30 delinquent (good) |
| 2025-03-07 | 2025-03-01 | $2000.00 | $2000.00 | 2025-02-04 | Haven’t yet paid by the time you report them to Openroom | 0-30 delinquent (good) |
| 2025-04-07 | 2025-04-01 | $2000.00 | $2000.00 | 2025-03-15 | Paid 2000$ on March 15th. Still owe rent from April 1st | 0-30 delinquent (good) |
Example: Delinquency with multiple partial repayments
Let’s say that there is lease for 2000$ on the 1st of every month. No additional charges.
You charge them on the 1st of the month but the renter completely missing paying the rent. Eventually they start paying rent back partially.
| Report Date | Rent Due Date | Rent | Balance | Last Payment Date | Notes | Equifax Status |
| 2025-02-01 | 2025-02-01 | $2000.00 | 0 | 2025-02-01 | Paid on time | 0-30 delinquent (good) |
| 2025-03-07 | 2025-03-01 | $2000.00 | $2000.00 | 2025-02-01 | Late on March 1st rent | 0-30 delinquent (good) |
| 2025-04-07 | 2025-04-01 | $2000.00 | $4000.00 | 2025-02-01 | Still no money received | 0-30 delinquent (good) |
| 2025-05-07 | 2025-05-01 | $2000.00 | $5500.00 | 2025-04-15 | Received 500$ on April 15th | 0-30 delinquent (good) |
| 2025-06-07 | 2025-06-01 | $2000.00 | $5500.00 | 2025-05-05 | Received 1000$ on May 1st 1000$ on May 5th | 0-30 delinquent (good) |
| 2025-07-07 | 2025-07-01 | $2000.00 | $3500.00 | 2025-07-01 | Received $4000 on July 1st. Now they are a little more than 1 payment behind | 30-60 delinquent (bad) |
| 2025-08-07 | 2025-08-01 | $2000.00 | $2000.00 | 2025-08-01 | Received $3500 on August 1st. Now have caught up to July rent and are a few days behind on August rent. | 0-30 delinquent (good) |
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