Landlords hit tenant credit score in the US

Five charts to start your day

You think you have sorted your rent after leaving early, yet suddenly your near-perfect credit score drops like a stone. Your landlord reported you to a credit agency instead of taking you to court for rent you missed but didn't realise you owed.

This is apparently something that's happening a lot in the US (see the chart below), and it is something that I sympathise with quite considerably, especially if you are a first-time buyer about to purchase that new home and you have been forced to rent for years. It's completely natural in the chaos of life – especially when you're moving – to miss something, like that last rental payment. This appears to be a common problem in the US, apparently.