3 Ways Rent Reporting Helps Landlords

By Jordan Teicher

Discover how rent reporting can incentivize on-time payments, strengthen relationships with renters, and streamline rent collection.

In the United States, approximately 26 million people are “credit invisible,” lacking a history with credit bureaus. This makes it hard for them to get approved for things like credit cards, car loans, or even their next home. However, renters and landlords alike both have an easy opportunity to help address this issue.

Zillow’s rent reporting feature, which debuted in 2023, gives renters a way to build their credit history and possibly boost their score by reporting their on-time rent payments to Experian and Equifax. For landlords, having renters opted in to this feature can also lead to several major benefits. 

Encouraging timely payments 

The prospect of building credit may incentivize renters to pay their rent on time. Zillow’s feature, which is free for all renters, only reports on-time payments and is designed to encourage renters by contributing to a positive credit history with each punctual payment. 

For landlords, this could mean fewer late payments and less time spent chasing down rent, improving cash flow and operational efficiency. To get paid more reliably, set up Zillow Payments for your properties. Rent collection is free for your business, and there’s no fee for renters who pay with ACH transfers. (There’s a small fee for them to pay rent with debit or credit cards.) When your tenant completes the Zillow Payments enrollment process, they’ll be able to opt in to rent reporting.


A female sits on a light colored couch with her laptop on her lap. On the laptop screen shows a QuickBooks business dashboard with numbers, charts, and graphs. To the right of the image is an offer "Get 30% off QuickBooks Online for 6 months."

We use QuickBooks daily in our rental property business!

It’s used to invoice tenants for their rent, track expenses by property and unit number, and our tax advisor can log on anytime to get information he needs for processing taxes or analyzing our data for goal setting meetings!

QuickBooks is the #1 accounting software for small businesses, and today you can take advantage of 30% off your first 6 months of QuickBooks Online using our exclusive Business Affiliate link.


Streamlining rent collection 

Rent reporting and the rest of the Zillow Payments platform can help streamline how you collect rent and manage your business. Renters receive automated reminders and can set up autopay, so you always know when to expect deposits. Our 2024 Rentals Consumer Housing Trends Report revealed that 69% of renters indicate they want to pay rent online, but only 60% typically do. This system also keeps a documented history of payments, which can be beneficial for tax preparation and resolving disputes.

Strengthening renter relationships 

Offering rent reporting can improve your relationship with renters. Less than 5% of renters have their payments included in their credit history. However, over 80% of renters want on-time payments to impact their credit score, according to Fannie Mae. So, there’s a large untapped market of renters who would likely appreciate a landlord who understands the advantages of reporting and gives them the opportunity to build credit. Happy renters may be more likely to renew their leases, reducing turnover and the costs associated with re-renting properties. 

A square image with a bright yellow background has a star hanging from the top center. The center is a white box that reads “Join Our Newsletter, Landlord Weekly. Landlord tips, Early Access to Our Blogs, Landlord Specific articles by other industry pros, podcast links”. The logo for Your Landlord Resource in centered at the bottom of the image.

Did you enjoy this article?

This is an example of what is included on our FREE weekly newsletter, Landlord Weekly.

Subscribers get access to our free forms, email templates, and guides! As well as…

▪️Landlord Tips ▪️ Early Access to Our Blogs ▪️ Landlord Specific Articles by Other Industry Pro’s ▪️ Podcast Links

To check out a sample of our newsletter, click one of the links below👇