Does Rent Count Toward Your Mortgage? What Changed From 2026 to 2026

Rent history and mortgage qualification: the short answer

Yes, on-time rent can help you qualify for a mortgage, but it is not the result of one new rule in 2026. Rent history first entered Fannie Mae's underwriting in 2021, FHA opened a first-time-buyer route in 2022, and the April 22, 2026 announcement was about which credit score models lenders may use. Below, we lay the steps out in order so you can see which ones apply to you.

The 2021 change: Fannie Mae starts looking at rent

On August 11, 2021, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) (https://www.fhfa.gov/news/news-release/fhfa-announces-inclusion-of-rental-payment-history-in-fannie-maes-underwriting-process) in its risk assessment. Acting Director Sandra L. Thompson put the reason simply: "For many households, rent is the single largest monthly expense." The announcement said the feature adds no extra burden for borrowers or lenders.

How Desktop Underwriter finds the payments

The mechanism is not a credit report. According to (https://www.scotsmanguide.com/news/fannie-mae-to-factor-in-rental-payment-history-in-underwriting-decisions/), Fannie Mae's Desktop Underwriter (DU) began automatically identifying recurring rent payments in an applicant's bank statement data on September 18, 2021. The lender uses bank data the applicant already shares, and the lender needs the applicant's permission.

Two details matter if your rent history is imperfect:

• Only consistent rent payment data is used to improve eligibility.
• Missed or inconsistent rent payments found in the bank data will not hurt a borrower's ability to qualify.

Think of it as a one-way helper. Good history can add to your file, and the bank-data route isn't built to count against you. A late rent payment that a landlord or collection agency has already reported to a credit bureau is a different matter, and that is a credit-report question rather than a DU question.

Fannie Mae also put a number on the upside. It said 17% of recent applicants who had not owned a home in the past three years, and who did not get a favorable DU recommendation, could have been approved had their rent history been considered.

FHA in 2022 and the 2025 FHFA order

The next step came from the Federal Housing Administration. (https://foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/rent-payments-could-help-americans-qualify-mortgage-fhfa-says) that in 2022 FHA began letting first-time buyers use positive rental payment history to qualify for FHA-insured mortgages.

In July 2025, the same report says, FHFA Director Bill Pulte issued an order allowing rent payment history to help people qualify for a mortgage. He wrote on X that "credit history will no longer just include credit cards and loans." Treat this one with care. The coverage gave no effective date, no implementation timeline, and no detail on whether the order reaches beyond first-time buyers. We could not find those details in the sources we checked, so we are not going to guess at them. Ask your lender how it applies today.

The same article explains why the idea has traction. FICO scores historically did not consider rent payments, while VantageScore uses rent as one variable. For someone with little debt, such as no auto loan or credit card history, rent may be the longest on-time payment record they have.

What the April 2026 announcement actually changed

This is where headlines get tangled. On April 22, 2026, FHFA and the Department of Housing and Urban Development jointly announced that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will accept loans assessed with VantageScore 4.0 and FICO Score 10T, and that FHA will also permit those models for FHA-insured underwriting. Orrick's summary calls these the first new score models approved by the GSEs and FHA in decades.

Rent enters the picture indirectly. Per Fannie Mae's announcement, the newer models incorporate additional data, including on-time rent payment history and trended credit data. The summary does not say which model uses which data, so do not assume both treat rent the same way.

The rollout is also narrow for now:

• VantageScore 4.0 is available immediately to approved lenders through a limited rollout.
• FICO Score 10T will be implemented at a later, unspecified date.
• During the limited rollout, approved lenders may choose between VantageScore 4.0 and Classic FICO through a tri-merge credit report. Lenders that do not participate must keep using Classic FICO.
• FHA's effective date for the new models was not stated.

So your lender may still pull Classic FICO, which is what many applicants should expect for now. For more on how lenders are lining up behind the newer model, see our piece on (/fico-10t-lender-adoption-70-mortgage-lenders-2026/).

What renters can do now

None of this promises that rent will raise any particular score or approve any particular loan. Here is what is practical:

1. Pay rent from a bank account and keep it consistent. The DU route reads recurring payments from bank statement data, so a steady, traceable payment is what it can find. Cash with no record leaves nothing for it to read.
2. Ask your lender directly. Ask whether it uses DU's rent detection, whether you need to be a first-time buyer, and which score model it will pull. The sources we reviewed do not set out wider eligibility, so the lender is the authority on its own process.
3. Check your credit reports for rent-related entries. If a landlord reported a late payment or a collection that is wrong, you can dispute it under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Accurate items stay, and no company can remove them for you.
4. Know the fallback. If your file is thin, (/get-a-mortgage-with-no-credit-score-manual-underwriting/) is another path some borrowers use.
5. Remember landlords look at credit too. If you are still searching for a place, see (/what-credit-score-do-landlords-check/) before you apply.

The bottom line

Rent does count in specific, limited ways: Fannie Mae's DU since 2021, FHA first-time buyers since 2022, a 2025 FHFA order whose reach is still unclear, and newer score models that use on-time rent in ways the announcement did not spell out. It does not count automatically, and it does not erase a weak file. If you are preparing to buy, pay rent from an account you can document and ask your lender what it will use. If a credit-report problem is what is holding you back, you can (/#top-companies) for help.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac start counting rent in April 2026?

No. The April 22, 2026 FHFA and HUD announcement approved VantageScore 4.0 and FICO Score 10T. Fannie Mae said the newer models use additional data such as on-time rent payment history. Rent history entered Fannie Mae's underwriting in 2021.

Will a late rent payment hurt my mortgage application?

Under Fannie Mae's bank-statement route, missed or inconsistent payments found in that data will not hurt eligibility; only consistent payments help. A late payment that has already been reported on a credit report is a separate matter.

Do I have to be a first-time buyer?

FHA's 2022 change was for first-time buyers. Fannie Mae's 2021 policy was aimed at future borrowers, and the sources we reviewed do not set out wider eligibility, so ask your lender.

Will VantageScore 4.0 or FICO 10T be used on my loan?

VantageScore 4.0 is in a limited rollout with approved lenders, FICO 10T comes at a later date, and lenders that do not participate still use Classic FICO.