Abstract: A consumer pays their bills using a bill payment service that reports actual payment information to a consumer reporting agency repository. The consumer requests the bill payment service to send their payment information to the CRA repository each month on their behalf to show they pay their bills on time when applying for credit. The bill payment service reports actual bill payment to the CRA reports on behalf of its customers requesting the reporting service. All bill payment data maintained in the CRA repository is maintained securely and will not be released without the consent of the consumer. The bill payment data maintained in the repository is used to report a credit score in addition to the payment data being reported, which occurs only when the consumer authorizes the release of the data.

Abstract: A creditor creates a lock box at a financial institution. The lock box includes an escrow provision. A consumer makes regularly scheduled payments to the financial institution and designates the payment either for the creditor's lock box or for the escrow account. The financial institution reports all payments and escrow events to the creditor and to the credit payment data repository. All credit payment data maintained in the credit data repository is maintained securely and will not be released without the consent of the consumer. The credit data maintained in the repository is used to report a credit score, which occurs only when the consumer authorizes the release of the data.