Americans pay trillions in rent, but few get credit score boost for it

An estimated $1.4 trillion is paid to landlords of residential properties every year in America, but only 20% of those landlords choose to report the rent paid. That has big implications for the credit scores and credit histories of millions of Americans.

Reporting rent paid on time to credit bureaus can significantly boost credit scores, but since it has not traditionally been a common practice, some renters end up having no credit history at all, making them “credit invisible,” limiting their ability to get a loan, a car, a house and a lot more. Over 50 million Americans lack a credit history with the three major credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.

“We’re leaving over $5.3 trillion on the table, we’ve got to do better,” said Wemimo Abbey, the CEO and co-founder of Esusu, which was named to the 2025 CNBC Disruptor 50 list, in an interview on CNBC’s “Worldwide Exchange” on Wednesday.

Esusu is a credit score reporting service which has partnered with 75% of the largest rental companies and more recently created a direct line for renters to report their rent payments. “We have democratized access because you have a long tail of people who don’t live in commercially managed housing,” Abbey said. 

Esusu has deals with Goldman Sachs, Mercy Housing, and Cushman & Wakefield, and partnerships with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to increase the number of units nationally that report rent as part of credit.

What is ‘credit invisibility’

Credit scores, which range on a scale of 300-850, indicate the ability to pay back bills such as credit cards, and manage and limit debt owed. The lower a score, or the lack of any credit score at all, makes lenders hesitant to extend money, or they might charge extreme interest rates on a loan. Some landlords require a credit score on file to determine eligibility for a rental application, and while it’s not the only considered data point, it may influence the landlord to not approve an application. 

This financial inequity significantly impacts minorities, with approximately 26% of Hispanic consumers and 27% of Black consumers being credit invisible or unscorable, compared to 16% of White and Asian consumers, according to data from Oliver Wyman. Immigrants are also more susceptible to invisibility as their credit file in the U.S. does not take into account their credit history in their origin country. 

Esusu founders Abbey and Samir Goel grew up watching their families struggle financially as immigrants from Lagos, Nigeria, and New Delhi, India, respectively, which was a founding motivation for Esusu. 

“When we came here, we didn’t have a credit score. We went to one of the biggest financial institutions to borrow money; we were turned away and had to go borrow from a predatory lender who wanted to lend at over 400% interest rate,” Abbey said. “My mother sold my dad’s wedding ring. We borrowed money from church members and that’s how we got started.”

Abbey said when…