Esusu Financial Inc. today announced a new collaboration with Fannie Mae to help renters build credit by incorporating on-time rent payments into renter's credit scores as part of its strategy to advance equity in the housing market. Through this relationship, Fannie Mae will incentivize its borrowers to report on-time rental payments to the three major credit-reporting bureaus through Esusu's rent reporting platform. The platform will automatically unenroll renters when missed payments occur, preventing harm to those who struggle financially.

Beginning today, Fannie Mae will cover the first full year of service fees for Esusu’s platform plus discounted fees thereafter for any borrower who enrols. Together the program will help to participate Multifamily property owners increase on-time rent collections, reduce evictions, and, most importantly, scale their Environmental Social Governance (ESG) efforts in a manner that is easily tracked and accretive.

“Fannie Mae is committed to implementing scalable solutions to help renters build their credit history and improve credit scores by providing access to its Multifamily Positive Rent Payment Reporting pilot program,” said Michele Evans, Executive Vice President, Head of Multifamily, Fannie Mae. “Working with Esusu, we hope to bolster equitable access to credit for individuals and families while adding value for owners and operators.”

Historically, rent doesn't support credit building in the same way a mortgage does, with fewer than 10% of renters seeing their on-time rental payment history reflected in their credit scores. This legacy model puts the approximately 44 million renting households in the United States at a significant disadvantage when building their credit profile, a major factor when seeking additional financing options.

“The reporting of a renter’s positive rent payments to credit bureaus has been shown to have a positive impact on credit scores, and for renters, with no established credit score, it could help them establish a credit history,” said Jonathan Gross, Vice President – Multifamily Strategy & Impact, Fannie Mae.

Positive Rent Payment Reporting is available to Fannie Mae Multifamily property owners looking for ways to help their renters. Fannie Mae and Esusu share in their long-standing commitment to building a more equitable multifamily housing ecosystem and finding solutions to advance renter financial access and sustainable housing opportunities.

“Over the past year, we have seen what Esusu’s rent reporting platform can do for Related Affordable residents to help improve their financial health,” said Jeffrey I. Brodsky, vice chairman of Related Companies. “We are thrilled to have extended our partnership with this forward-thinking company to better serve all 50,000+ Related Affordable residents.”

“Esusu and Fannie Mae share the common goal of bolstering diverse, successful, and equitable communities,” said Samir Goel and Wemimo Abbey, Co-Founders and Co-CEOs of Esusu. “Today, there are still systemic barriers to access for millions of people looking to create a pathway to financial stability. Working with Fannie Mae enables Esusu to create opportunity pathways for those who have historically been deemed credit invisible while also laying the foundation to access other financial instruments that contribute to generational wealth-building opportunities that come from good credit.”

Fannie Mae borrowers can learn more about enrolling with Esusu and how to gain closing cost benefits and discounts at Esusu Rent.