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It's an American urban legend passed down from a time it may or may not have mattered. What did matter in living memory (thus passed down to at least this gene
by phil21 5y ago
It's an American urban legend passed down from a time it may or may not have mattered.
What did matter in living memory (thus passed down to at least this generation) is that saving utility bills for 7 year can establish credit.
My parents still tell me to do this to this day, since that's how they were able to qualify for a home loan having not participated in the credit system otherwise.
Nowadays most such transactions are reported to a credit bureau, so they are either already on record or (almost?) no banks will care to see them.
- SilasX 5y agoHuh? Paid utility bills don't help to establish a credit history on your credit report even today.
- amflare 5y agoIt doesn't, but multiple years worth of rent/utility bills can be used as a substitute so long as you are willing to jump through a couple extra hoops and pay a little bit more in interest for the privilege. My girlfriend just went though this process. She has no credit because she never got a CC and always saved up and paid for stuff like her car in cash. Over the winter she was looking to buy a house (didn't pan out for other reasons), and basically her only option was getting a loan manually underwritten. Part of that process was using a minimum of 2 years worth of bills as a replacement for a credit score. And the only loans available were several points more expensive than she could have gotten if she was able to do things the "normal" way.
- SilasX 5y agoYes, that was my point. If you can get the lender to look at your history, it matters, like anything else. But those transactions do not establish a credit history associated with your credit score.