NEW YORK ( MainStreet ) - So-called " alternative " consumer credit payments, like utility and rental payments, have long been ignored by credit rating agencies in formulating consumer credit scores. But no more. Rental payments, especially, are now joining with credit card, auto, and mortgage payments as key indicators in credit agency scoring formulas. The shift toward on-time rental payments and improved credit scores, a trend that has really accelerated in the past year, is making a big difference. Experian notes in a recent study that before it included rental payments in its scoring formulas, 11% of select U.S. renters it tracked weren't even included in credit scoring, as they had no credit file. "But as a result of adding the positive rental tradelines, these same individuals now are scoreable and eight out of ten of these former no-hit individuals now had more than 12 months of rental payment history data in the Experian RentBureau database," Experian states.