As the days grow shorter and autumn settles in, it’s a good time to shine a light on a topic that can feel mysterious: your credit score. For many, credit can feel confusing or even intimidating, but understanding how it works and why it matters can be an important step toward strengthening your financial health journey.
How Your Credit Score Impacts Your Financial Journey
Your credit score is a three-digit number used by lenders, landlords, insurance companies, mobile phone providers, and financial institutions to assess your reliability. A higher score can help you qualify for lower interest rates and better loan terms, saving you money in interest and making it easier to achieve major financial goals such as buying a home or car.
Establishing good credit means building a record of responsible usage. Using your credit card and paying your bill on time demonstrates financial responsibility to lenders. On the other hand, missing payment deadlines or not meeting the minimum amount due can negatively impact your score.
Understanding the Factors Behind Your Credit Score
Credit scores typically range from 300 to 850. The better your score, the more options you may have with lenders. Here’s what usually influences your score:
Payment History: Consistently paying bills on time has a positive impact, while late or missed payments can lower your score.
Credit Utilization: Using a smaller portion of your total available credit is better for your score; high balances relative to your total credit limits can be a negative factor.
Total Debt: Lower overall debt is viewed more favorably, while carrying high debt can reduce your score.
Types of Credit Accounts: Having a mix of credit accounts, such as credit cards, auto loans, and mortgages, can strengthen your score.
Length of Credit History: A longer track record of responsible credit use contributes positively to your score.
Recent Credit Applications: Applying for new credit can temporarily lower your score.
Credit Inquiries. Soft inquiries, like checking your own credit or receiving pre-approved offers, don’t affect your score. Hard inquiries, such as applying for a loan or credit card, may lower your score slightly, but the impact fades over time and drops off your report after two years.
If your credit score is on the lower end, don’t worry—there are steps you can take to help improve it.
Credit Smart Habits
Pay your bills on time. Payment history is an important factor when it comes to calculating your credit score. If you struggle with meeting payment deadlines, consider setting reminders or enrolling in autopay.
Pay down your debt. Your credit utilization—meaning the size of your card balance—is the second biggest factor in most credit scoring models. Create a plan to pay down high-interest debt first.
Monitor your credit with Chase Credit Journey®. Regularly checking your credit report can help you spot areas of improvement and fix errors. Chase Credit Journey is a free tool that lets you monitor your score without impacting it, and provides alerts if your personal information is exposed in a data breach. It’s free for everyone, no Chase account required.
Turning Credit Concerns into Financial Wins
Building credit doesn’t have to be spooky and mysterious. With patience and smart financial habits, you can improve your score and unlock financial opportunities. This fall, take steps to understand and strengthen your credit.
An “Apartment for Rent” sign in the window of a building in Denver’s Speer neighborhood. April 27, 2023.
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Are Colorado landlords agreeing to artificially raise rents?
That’s what Colorado’s Attorney General Phil Weiser thinks. On Friday his office joined a number of other states and the U.S. Justice Department in a lawsuit against RealPage Inc., a software company that uses confidential data from landlords to suggest rent prices.
Thousands of Denver apartment units — maybe even yours — are owned by companies that use RealPage.
So, how does price-fixing work?
In a normal economy, companies compete for customers by offering the best value for their prices. But collusion happens when companies come together and agree to all raise prices together, forcing consumers to pay more. It’s illegal.
In this case, landlords aren’t all meeting in a room and agreeing to raise rents. Instead, they submit their confidential vacancy and pricing data to RealPage individually, and the algorithm spits out suggested prices.
That could be price-fixing, Weiser alleges.
He claims RealPage has pushed landlords to end lease perks like rent discounts, and can use information about vacancies to help landlords strategically pull rentals off the market, driving up rents.
“Half of renters in Colorado spend more than 30% of their income on housing costs,” wrote Weiser in a statement Friday. “Renters should benefit from healthy competition between landlords to find an apartment that fits their budget and needs. But RealPage’s software and market dominance have enabled collusion between landlords to fix rents, set the number of apartment available in the market, and harm renters by forcing them to pay rents above competitive levels.”
Denverite has reached out to RealPage for comment. The company has generally defended its software as a way to help businesses make decisions.
What does that mean for Denver renters?
It’s no secret that high rent levels are a problem in Denver. Affordability and housing are top issues for Denverites, and nonprofit leaders say the high cost of rent is driving up homelessness.
According to a June report from the corporate watchdog group Accountable.US, the six largest publicly traded apartment companies have all faced lawsuits across the country over their use of RealPage.
The report says those six companies — Mid-America Apartments, AvalonBay Communities, Equity Residential, Essex Property Trust, Camden Property Trust and UDR — owned nearly 6,000 units in Denver as of March.
Coincidentally, Accountable.US says the landlords saw a combined $300 million in profits, nationwide, in the first quarter of 2024.
And that’s just the largest landlords. In April, Denverite reported on high rents and poor living conditions at an apartment complex in Englewood owned by Bell Partners, Inc., a company that has been sued by the Washington, D.C. attorney general over claims of price-fixing through RealPage.
The Bell Cherry Hills Apartments in Englewood. March 20, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Does the lawsuit mean rents will come down?
It’s unclear. Weiser’s lawsuit asks courts to end anticompetitive agreements with RealPage and its customers around sharing sensitive information. It also wants to end what Weiser calls an “illegal monopoly” over this type of software. Currently, the company has about 80 percent of the market for this type of software, according to Weiser.
“[Housing] is a necessity, much like the other necessities that the public has been comfortable with regulating under antitrust statutes for a very long time and has broad public support, for utilities, for Xcel, for water, things like that,” said Jason Legg a lawyer with Justice for the People Legal Center who has worked on a number of cases involving renters’ rights.
But lawsuits can take a while, and this emerging technology raises new questions for the courts.
Earlier this year, a judge dismissed a case involving Las Vegas companies using a RealPage tool. Part of the judge’s reasoning was that the owners were using a third-party software company, RealPage, rather than coordinating directly.
Legg supports Weiser’s lawsuit, and wants to see the attorney general take action on other fronts, like junk fees that drive up rents.
“It’s been a culture of the Wild West, in our opinion, and it’s great to see the attorney general stepping in here,” he said. “I hope that the AG doesn’t stop here in being active to ensure that this necessity, like water and electricity and others, are accessible and available to everyone in Colorado.”
In the meantime, some Colorado state legislators have tried to take on “rent algorithms” with changes to state law. But a bill that would have limited landlords’ use of companies like RealPage died during the legislative session, due to disagreements between legislators, as well as lobbying for real-estate tech companies.
Work for a company that uses RealPage and want to chat? Drop us a line at [email protected].
A proposed funding contract to help move unhoused people directly into permanent housing passed through a Denver City Council committee.
But questions remain on its sustainability and overall budget concerns.
The Safety and Housing committee approved Wednesday the $5 million contract between Denver and Housing Connector, a nonprofit that helps connect people experiencing homelessness and service providers to property owners.
The proposed contract is part of the city’s rapid rehousing strategy within All In Mile High, the mayor’s rebranded homelessness initiative.
“Street to Lease” is a rapid rehousing program that looks to skip the transitional housing phase and instead move people from encampments directly into permanent housing.
The plan is to work with smaller encampments in less centralized areas of the city, said Cole Chandler, the senior advisor for homelessness resolution.
Through the proposed contract, Housing Connector will perform housing navigation and leasing coordination to about 250 households over two years.
How does Housing Connector work?
Housing Connector uses Zillow to find vacant units and build relationships with property owners. Through those relationships, the nonprofit can work with landlords on rental requirements, bypassing qualifications such as credit checks that systemically hold back would-be renters.
The nonprofit would also handle the distribution of move-in funds and rental assistance. Each person within the “Street to Leasing” program will receive one year of rental and utility assistance. Housing Connector will also provide insurance on the units if necessary.
A bus waits to take residents of this encampment on Arkins Court, by the South Platte River, to a new “micro community” site across town. Dec. 31, 2023.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
“Through [Housing Connector’s] relationships with landlords, they’re able to really be a strong liaison and if there’s challenges that are coming up with an individual in the housing unit, they’re able to work through those with the landlord in order to help preserve the person in the housing unit,” Chandler said.
The final part of the contract will focus on providing wraparound services and case management. With the help of the Department of Housing and Stability, along with the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, participants will receive mental and physical health care, peer navigation, workforce training, behavioral health and substance misuse support and more housing navigation.
Ultimately, the goal of the program is to provide a path toward stability.
People who’ve been living in an encampment around 20th and Champa Streets downtown wait in line to board a bus to a new hotel shelter in Central Park. Dec. 7, 2023.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
“What happens through rapid rehousing is that we encounter somebody on their very worst day,” Chandler said. “They’re living in an encampment on the street. Their degree of stability is extremely low. We bring them indoors, we provide stability, provide case management. Over time, people are going to be able to increase their income. For some people, they’re going to be able to get back to work and they’ll be able to take over more and more of their rental payment.”
There’s also the option to apply for vouchers if that need arises, Chandler added.
The city ran a pilot of this program in April, working with an encampment of about 12 people. All 12 were placed into permanent housing.
Councilmembers had questions about the program, primarily its sustainability and funding
During the committee, councilmember Paul Kashmann asked whether the city will transition to utilizing this model of housing as opposed to first putting people in transitional housing.
Chandler said both housing methods are tools in getting people off the street but the rapid rehousing model does eliminate the costly efforts of transitional housing. The plan, eventually, is to scale up rapid rehousing efforts and decrease shelter usage.
However, both models are needed because ultimately some people aren’t ready to enter into permanent housing.
City Councilmember Paul Kashmann questions Denver real estate director Lisa Lumley during the body’s weekly legislative meeting. Jan. 16, 2023.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
The funding for this program will come from American Rescue Plan Act, ARPA, dollars. About $4,250,350 of the proposed $5 million contract would be going toward rental assistance.
The funding is where the problem lies for Councilmembers Amanda Sawyer and Stacie Gilmore.
Sawyer said while the program may be successful, using ARPA dollars makes the program unstable because that funding mechanism is set to run out.
She added that this has been her issue with the mayor’s initiative since the onset. Sawyer pointed toward the current sheltering model. According to the All In dashboard, the city has moved almost 1,600 off the streets. About 300 people who never entered a shelter or micro-community have been placed into leased permanent housing.
City Council member Amanda Sawyer sits at her desk during the body’s weekly legislative meeting. Jan. 16, 2023.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Out of those who were in a shelter, about 45 people are currently in leased permanent housing but 165 people have returned to unsheltered homelessness and 47 people have an unknown status.
Sawyer said instead of “moving quickly,” declaring a state of emergency and funding programs with viable city dollars that have shown a low success rate, such as the sheltering model, the city could have invested in programs such as rapid rehousing that do work.
“You cannot have sustainable programs without a sustainable funding source. $5 million of ARPA funds for this for one round, that’s great. ARPA is done. How are we going to pay for this after that,” Sawyer said. “If we had done our due diligence to begin with…we would be able to dedicate the real dollars and not temporary ARPA dollars to be able to support a really successful program that will actually make a difference in our city.”
Gilmore also took issue with the city using ARPA funding. She also again asked for a spending breakdown of the All In program.
Some councilmembers also wanted more transparency overall for All In Mile High.
In April, committee members received an update on the program that noted that not all of the funding budgeting for the program in 2023 was spent.
While the city still intends to spend that money, Gilmore asked for more transparency in where the dollars were going and where they were coming from.
During the committee meeting, Gilmore was told she’d have those numbers in May. Chandler said the city will now provide that breakdown in June.
Chandler added that the rapid rehousing program is something HOST has wanted to “deploy for some time.” He said the city is looking into the programs launched through All In and what are the one-time costs versus the recurring costs within the initiative.
It’ll be an ongoing conversation as the city evaluates contracts and performance, Chandler said.
“You are exactly right in your assessment that we are having critical conversations around what are we going to continue and what are we … are not,” Chandler said. “I think that this is a program that is worth investing in and is worth bringing into our community.”
The contract will go before the full council sometime in the coming weeks.
When New York State voted for full recreational weed in 2021, the industry salivated with the prospects of the market. They thoughtfully crafted a plan to help move existing medical dispensaries to recreational, providing they jump through hoops and spend hundreds of thousands. With existing population and a huge tourism population, people were willing to invest. At the last minute, NY changed everything and today there are 23 legal operators and over 1,500 unlicensed dispensaries in NY racking in hundreds of millions a month. And not paying state or city taxes.
Now, is New York promising false hope t the marijuana industry again with the state Supreme Court stepping in?o
New York City has proven unable to close the unlicensed dispensaries. Giving fines or imposing temporary closures at a rate of 1-2 a week, they recently turned to a unique solution. Rather than focus on expanding legal retailers, they established a policy to punish landlords with hefty fines for allowing unlicensed dispensaries in their building. Whether the landlord knows of the true nature of the business beforehand, is irrelevant. And now it has gotten even messier.
Photo via rawpixel.com
A New York judge approved settling a lawsuit filed by a group of service-disabled veterans. The Court granted the group a provisional license and paved the way for more than 400 provisional licensees to open marijuana dispensaries. The new business owners would have to compete against the existing retailers. The veterans businesses will be able to finally open after a painful and expensive wait. Most likely they will miss the cash rich holiday season.
By allowing this group new licenses, the state now has to focus on clearing backlogged provisional licensees as mandated by the court. New applicants will have to wait even longer for licensure. It appears April is the current target for the net way of licensures and it is drawing criticism.
A representative of the New York Cannabis Retail Association told one media outlet 30 members of his association are on the verge of bankruptcy and can’t wait until April. The 1,500 dispensaries are stocked with an estimated $500 million in products. It seems part of those are from the illicit market, which only increases income for black market.
It has been quickly proven the market has a big demand, but New York will have a long way to go to solve the mess they started and retrain consumer into new purchase patterns.
The new alliance will provide exceptional value to renters and landlords across Canada
Press Release –
updated: Sep 30, 2021
TORONTO, September 30, 2021 (Newswire.com)
– Rentals.ca Network, Inc. has announced its launch, which includes six Canadian rental marketplaces offering the most traffic and leads for landlords to list their properties and providing the most listings for renters to find their next home in Canada.
The Rentals.ca Network consists of Rentals.ca, Rentfaster.ca, Louer.ca, Rentboard.ca, RentCanada.com and TorontoRentals.com.
The network features map-based search, neighbourhood scores and commute times, 3D virtual tours, floor plans, open house dates, and artificial intelligence to detect fraudulent listings.
“We are passionate about offering renters an exceptional experience through intuitive design on mobile, tablet, desktop and voice devices,” said Matt Danison, CEO of Rentals.ca. “With an understanding of the next generation of renters, we are focusing on interval searching, where renters might only have five minutes to scan our rental inventory while waiting in line, commuting on the subway, or during a lunch break.”
More efficiencies are on the horizon as technologies are integrated, and best practices and key features are applied to all marketplaces. The Rentals.ca Network has already achieved synergies by merging sales, human resources and billing, which provide cost savings across the network.
The Rentals.ca Network is a game-changer for renters and landlords.
For the renter, the new network will provide more quality listings, intuitive design, and a safer search experience which will make it easier for renters to find their next home.
For the landlord, the new network will drive more quality leads, save time in posting and editing listings on multiple websites, and offer exceptional customer service.
“By consolidating under the new rental network, we will be able to provide a better experience for both landlords and renters,” said Mark Hawkins, president of Rentfaster.ca. “We will be able to deliver better technology, a seamless experience and better data, which will allow Canadians to find a home and rent a home — faster.”
Although the network works with major REITs and property managers across Canada, most of the property listings comes from small landlords posting their apartments, condos, townhouses, detached homes and basements for rent directly to one of the six market-leading brands.
BY THE NUMBERS
In August, the network received 26 million page views, 4.3 million sessions and 2.3 million users.
In the last 12 months, the network has generated 50 million sessions, with 24 million users resulting in 5.4 million leads generated for landlords across Canada.
The network ranks in the top three positions on Google for 53,980 keywords.
The network has installed 17,500 branded “for rent signs” for landlords in 18 cities across Canada.
Since 2019, 110,000 small mom and pop landlords have listed properties with one of the six rental marketplaces resulting in over 240,000 listed properties through our easy-to-use e-commerce experiences.
Rentals.ca Network has the most data on vacant units in Canada. This will allow the company to better predict trends, and help clients make better decisions in developing new rental housing.
Rentals.ca Network is a trusted source for media outlets for news, data and information on rental rates, trends and insights in Canada producing the monthly National Rent Report, the Toronto GTA Rent Report and the annual Canadian Rental Market Predictions Report. The reports are created in collaboration with long-time housing data analyst Ben Myers, president of Bullpen Research & Consulting.
In August, among the 165 stories and media mentions of Rentals.ca, were rental news pieces done by The Globe and Mail, Global News, Global News Radio, The Canadian Press, CBC, CTV, Toronto Star, The Daily Hive — Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Vancouver Is Awesome, Narcity, the Winnipeg Free-Press and The Hamilton Spectator.
“Rentals.ca Network pledges to stay on top of the latest news, trends, insights and data to help keep media outlets and their audiences well-tuned to the rental heartbeat of Canada,” said Paul Danison, content director of Rentals.ca Network. Danison has over 40 years of experience as a reporter/editor/journalist.
Funding for the Rentals.ca Network, Inc. is made possible by Rentsync, formerly known as Landlord Web Solutions, a St. Catharines and Toronto-based firm. Rentsync is a leader in rental housing marketing, advertising and software solutions in North America.
“This transaction creates opportunities to pool resources and provide a more sophisticated set of tools for renters and landlords in Canada,” said Steve Cowan, CEO of Rentsync. “We are tremendously excited about the opportunities ahead.”
Rentals.ca Network offices are in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Calgary and St. Catharines.
