I've been thinking about something that seems quite obvious when you say it out loud, but isn't always reflected in how we assess people's financial reliability. Someone can pay £1,200 in rent every month, consistently, for five years. That's £72,000 paid towards keeping a roof over their head. Yet when that same person wants to demonstrate their financial reliability, particularly when preparing to buy their first home, that history may not carry the recognition they expect. Why?

We recognise mortgage repayments as evidence of financial responsibility. We recognise credit card repayments and other forms of borrowing. But what about rent?

For millions of people, rent is their single largest monthly financial commitment. Surely how consistently someone meets that obligation should count for something? This question has become increasingly important to me as we've developed rentt. We originally set out to simplify property management for landlords, property managers and tenants. But the more we understood the rental journey, the more we recognised an opportunity to help renters build a more complete picture of their financial behaviour.

That's what led us to develop renttRecord.

The idea is relatively straightforward. With the renter's consent, Open Banking can be used to verify rent payments directly from their bank transactions. That verified payment history can then be reported to a credit reference agency such as Experian, helping renters build a record of their rental payment behaviour.

Of course, reporting rent doesn't guarantee a higher credit score, mortgage approval or access to borrowing. Lenders have their own assessment criteria. But it raises a bigger question for me.

Shouldn't people have more opportunities to demonstrate financial responsibility through the commitments they're already meeting, rather than only through the credit products they use?

We've also started exploring how employers could make this available as an employee benefit, particularly for staff who rent and may be thinking about their longer-term financial wellbeing. What fascinates me is that this isn't necessarily about encouraging people to borrow more. It's about recognising financial behaviour that's already happening. And I'd genuinely love to hear what others think.

If someone has consistently paid their rent on time for several years, should that history carry more weight when their financial reliability is assessed?

And for those working in FinTech, lending, housing or employee benefits, what do you see as the biggest barrier to making rental payment history more useful?

Interested in hearing different perspectives, including those who might disagree.

Hello Ade! I agree that rent payments should count for something.

Plenty of people pay rent on time for years but still struggle to show lenders they're financially reliable.

I was reading this guide to UK startup loans, and it got me thinking about how much personal credit history matters when applying for finance.

It would be good to see rental payment history given more recognition too. 🙌