What Bills Help Build Credit?: Get Credit for Paying Bills
- Your rent, utility and phone bills probably won’t affect your credit, unless you’re using a credit card to make payments.
- Accounts sent to collections and late payments can damage your credit score.
- You can build credit with your monthly bills by using a credit card or signing up for a service like Experian Boost.
What bills affect your credit
Here are the most common monthly bills, how they affect your credit and how to pay them:
| Affect credit? | Reported to bureaus? | Payment method | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rent | Maybe. It depends on whether your landlord reports payments to credit bureaus. If so, your rent payments will affect your credit. | Unlikely. Most landlords don’t report payments to the credit bureaus, but some do. Ask your landlord. | Usually check, money order, cash, PayPal, Venmo or Zelle. You typically can’t pay rent with a credit card. |
| Mortgage payment | Yes. Your mortgage will show up on your credit report and factor into your credit score. | Yes. Your mortgage lender reports payments to the credit bureaus. | Typically with a connected bank account. |
| Utility (gas, electric, water) and phone bills | Unlikely. Utility, phone and internet companies typically don’t report your payments to the credit bureaus. These bills will affect your credit if you use a credit card, but you may have to pay fees. | Probably not. Most utility companies don’t automatically report payments to the bureaus. Check your credit reports to see if your utility companies do. | Typically with a connected bank account. Some companies allow you to use a credit card, but you may pay convenience fees. |
| Credit card payments | Yes. Credit card payments go on your credit report and affect your score. | Absolutely. Your credit card company reports your payments and how much you owe every month. | Connected bank account, check, money order or wire transfer. |
| Loan payments (car, student loan, personal loan) | Definitely. Making on-time payments can boost your score, and missing payments will hurt it. | Yes. Your lender will likely report your payments to the credit bureaus. | Connected bank account, debit card or check. You could also use a debt consolidation loan. |
| Streaming services (Netflix, Hulu, Disney+) | Depends on how you pay. Streaming services typically don’t report to the credit bureaus, but paying your bill with your credit card will affect your credit. | No. Streamers like Netflix and Hulu don’t automatically report to the credit bureaus. | Credit card, debit card, PayPal. Streaming services typically don’t charge extra for using a credit card, but keep an eye out for convenience fees. |
| Medical bills | Depends on how you pay. Medical debt isn’t reported to the bureaus. But if you pay with a credit card, it becomes credit card debt, which is reported to the bureaus. | No. As of 2025, medical bills don’t go on your credit report and can’t affect your credit score. | Credit card, debit card or medical loan. |
How bills affect your credit
Paying a bill will affect your credit if the company reports payments to the credit bureaus or if you use a credit card.
When a person or company reports your payments (or nonpayments), the credit bureaus will add this information to your credit report — this will impact your credit score. For more about this process, learn how credit works.
How you pay your bills matters. Using a credit card will affect your credit score. You can build your score by charging your bills to your card and paying off your card in full every month.
Be careful not to charge more than you can afford to pay. This will likely cause your credit score to drop because you’ve increased the amount you owe. It’s also an easy way to get into credit card debt.
How to get credit for your bills
It’s possible to get credit for paying your bills on time, even if your payments aren’t reported to the credit bureaus. Here’s how:
- Use a credit card when possible. Some companies allow you to pay your bills with a credit card. This can help you build credit as long as you make your monthly credit card payments on time. See what bills you can pay with a credit card in the table above. Keep an eye out for surcharges and convenience fees, though. If it costs more to use a credit card, use another payment method. There are other, cheaper ways to build credit.
- Sign up for Experian Boost. Experian Boost is a free service that allows you to add your cellphone, utility and rent payments to your Experian credit report. This can boost your FICO Score and add on-time payments to your Experian credit report. Note, however, that Experian Boost only lets you report payments to your Experian credit report. Your TransUnion and Equifax reports won’t be affected.
- Report your rent payments. You can report your rent payments to the credit bureaus, but most rent payment reporting companies charge a fee. For instance, Boom charges $3 a month to report your payments and Credit Rent Boost charges $6.95 a month.
Get free, personalized recommendations on how to improve each of the factors that affect your credit score with LendingTree Spring. We’ll show you how your credit stacks up and what to do to boost your score.
Other ways to build credit
Building credit can be simple, but it takes some discipline. Here are our top tips to improve your credit score:
Pay on time
Your payment history is worth 35% of your FICO Score, making it the most important factor that affects your credit score.
What payments count? The most common types of payments on your credit report are loan payments (like mortgages, car loans and personal loans) and credit card payments.
Consider signing up for automatic payments with your lender or credit card company to guarantee on-time payments every month. If you’re not sure you’ll have enough cash in your account to cover payments, use your phone to set a monthly reminder to make a payment.
Become an authorized user
You can build credit by becoming an authorized user on a trusted friend or family member’s credit card.
Make sure that this person has excellent credit and a history of on-time payments. Your credit score will be tied to activity on their card, so if they miss a payment, your score will drop.
Avoid (and pay off) debt
How much debt you owe is worth 30% of your credit score. Part of this is your credit utilization ratio, which is how much credit you’re using of the amount you have available. If you’re using most of your available credit or maxing out your cards altogether, your credit score will drop.
Avoid debt by creating a simple budget and spending only what you have available in your bank account whenever possible. If you already owe money on credit cards or loans, take steps to get out of debt.
Frequently asked questions
No. As of 2025, medical bills won’t go on your credit report. Lenders can’t use medical debt when deciding whether or not to offer you a loan or credit card. Learn more about how medical debt affects your credit.
No. Landlords typically don’t report your payments to the credit bureaus. You can, however, use a paid service to get credit for your rent payments.
Utility bills typically don’t affect your credit, but you can use a service like Experian Boost to get credit for your utility bills.
No. Phone companies don’t typically report your phone payments to the credit bureaus. However, you can pay with a credit card or try a free service like Experian Boost to get credit for your phone bill.
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