When St. Louis resident David Murray moved out of his apartment two months early, he thought he had done everything right — giving proper notice and settling his lease. Then came the shock: a $4,500 bill for two months’ rent plus penalties.
Murray was sure it had to be a mistake, but when his pristine 815 credit score dropped, he realized the situation was far more serious. His landlord had turned to a debt collector — not to harass or sue him, but to hit him where it hurt: his credit report.
“I asked them to please take me to small-claims court, and they’ve never contacted me,” Murray told The Wall Street Journal.
Landlords are increasingly using credit reporting to collect unpaid rent. With credit scores influencing everything from loan approvals to housing applications, a single dispute can derail financial stability.
While credit agencies have tried to include on-time rental payments in scoring models, negative marks still appear with alarming speed — leaving many renters like Murray scrambling to repair the damage.
Rental debt is now one of the top consumer complaints in debt collection, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Nationwide, renters owe an estimated $9 billion in back rent, with approximately 4.5 million households struggling to keep up with payments. While landlords have the right to collect unpaid rent, everyday renters like Murray — who followed the terms of his lease — often bear the brunt of aggressive debt-collection tactics.
Consumer advocates warn that landlords are using credit reports as a weapon, bypassing the legal system and leaving tenants with little recourse. In the past, rent disputes played out in small-claims court, where tenants could at least present their case.
Landlords, however, see it differently. With small-claims judgments for unpaid rent no longer appearing on credit reports as of 2017, they argue that reporting tenants to credit bureaus like Experian, Equifax and TransUnion is one of the few ways to enforce accountability.
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