Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to ensure that renters can include regular rent payments in credit reports to support access to credit and financial products.

Ensuring individuals have access to the appropriate financial products and services they need is a key priority for the Government. This is why I have committed to publish a Financial Inclusion Strategy later this year which will seek to tackle a range of barriers individuals face, including how to increase access to affordable credit for underserved consumers.

Credit reference agencies (CRAs) have traditionally only collected data on consumers’ credit agreements, so rental payments made under tenancy agreements are not typically recorded on credit reports. However, since the Government’s Rent Recognition Challenge in 2017, various third-party services have emerged to make it possible for rental payments to be reported to CRAs and subsequently appear on individuals’ credit reports.