Besides credit cards and loans, can other accounts such as utility bills and mobile bills cable bills affect your credit scores?
The answer is YES! Even though they are not typically included in your credit reports (see What’s in your credit reports)!
Your good payment behaviors on the accounts that are not typically in your credit report will not strengthen your score. However paying late or not paying the bills can harm your score. There are three common ways that companies and individuals can report your delinquency or late payment to the credit bureaus.
Direct Reports: Some companies, like banks, report to the credit bureaus directly. Other companies, especially the ones whose accounts with customers are not typically shown in the credit reports, can also directly report to the credit bureaus. They are able to do this by either obtaining a membership with one of the national credit bureaus, or by having a credit reporting service company to guide them through the reporting procedure.
Indirect Reports: Companies can also report your delinquency through collection agencies. Once your delinquent account is turned over to a collection agency, the agency will report this transaction to the credit bureaus and the “Collection Account” will show up on your credit report.
Public Records: If you owe money to an individual, such as a landlord, he or she may bring your delinquency to the court. The judgment will be recorded in the Public Records section of your credit report.
All of the records mentioned above in your credit report will negatively affect your credit score, no matter if the accounts are normally listed in the credit reports or not. You may want to double-check all your accounts to make sure that you pay all your bills on time. Here is a list of 8 companies that are sometimes neglected by people. You want to be careful with them:
