Whether you live in OCC housing, share an apartment near campus, or commute from home, the rent you're already paying can build on-time credit history reported to the major credit bureaus. Less than $5 a month — and by commencement, up to two years on your file.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency — the body that oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — issued a mandate requiring credit scoring models to recognize rent payment history. Translation: your monthly housing payment is finally being treated as the credit-worthy financial behavior it actually is.
In plain English: every on-time housing payment can now build a real credit history — the kind that decides whether you get approved for your first post-OCC apartment, a phone plan in your own name, a car loan without a co-signer, and eventually a mortgage. But only if it's being reported.
That's what Rentaba does — for the dorm payments or off-campus rent you're already making.
Rentaba connects to the housing payment you're already making and reports it as on-time credit activity — month after month.
Verify you're an OCC student, confirm your housing details, and pick a plan. Most students finish on their phone between classes or on the SU shuttle home.
Whether it's the OCC Bursar for on-campus housing or your landlord for off-campus rent, we connect securely without touching how or when you pay.
Each on-time payment becomes a positive tradeline on your credit report. You'll see progress in the app and in your actual credit file.
The average college graduate has a FICO score 45–65 points lower than the national average — which shows up as higher rates on auto loans, rejected apartment applications, bigger deposits on utilities, and now, harder mortgage approvals. Rentaba closes that gap while you're still at OCC.
New York State has now handled affordability while you're at OCC. The next gap — the one that follows you out the door — is credit-readiness: the apartment lease, the phone plan in your own name, the car loan without a co-signer, eventually a mortgage. Rentaba fills that gap using the housing payments you're already making, reinforcing the work the Office of Financial Aid, Student Engagement and Learning Support, and Career & Transfer Services already do with you.
Audited controls on how we store, access, and transmit your financial data.
We report as a recognized data furnisher under the Fair Credit Reporting Act — and only on-time payments.
Student data is handled in line with the standards universities already require.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency — the body that oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — issued a mandate requiring credit scoring models to count rent payment history. In plain English: the housing payments you're already making can now build the credit history that opens every door after OCC — apartments, phone plans in your own name, car loans without a co-signer, and eventually a mortgage. But only if they're being reported. That's what Rentaba does, automatically, every month.
Yes, and you're exactly the population Rentaba was built for. If you're paying rent in your own name to a landlord — anywhere in Syracuse, Onondaga County, or wherever you're living — Rentaba can report those payments to the major credit bureaus. The same goes if your name is on a lease in an apartment you share with roommates. Most OCC students live off-campus, and that rent is exactly the kind of credit-worthy behavior the bureaus now recognize.
Yes. Rentaba supports both on-campus housing paid through the OCC Bursar and off-campus rent paid to a private landlord. We work with your existing payment — you don't have to change how or when you pay.
The opposite. The biggest reason young adults have low scores isn't bad credit — it's no credit. Rentaba reports only on-time payments, never missed or late ones. We add positive history to your file, which is exactly what scoring models reward.
No. Rentaba reports your housing payment as an on-time payment history — the same way a credit card would report an on-time payment. It does not add debt to your file.
Plans start under $5/month, with retroactive reporting up to 24 months of past housing payments at enrollment. Cancel anytime — you keep the history you've already built.
Rentaba is an independent fintech building partnerships with universities and community colleges. This page was created for students who heard about us through OCC channels. Any formal program partnership would be announced through OCC's Office of the President, the Bursar, or the Office of Student Engagement and Learning Support.
Rentaba reports the housing payments you're already making. Enroll once, and we'll back-report up to 24 months of eligible payments — meaning an OCC graduate could walk across the commencement stage with two years of on-time credit history already on file.
We'll send a packet (executive summary and compliance brief) for staff at the Office of the President, the Bursar, or Student Engagement and Learning Support.
university@rentaba.co →