The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has released two reports examining rental payment data from September 2021 to November 2024.
The percentage of renters who paid late fees in the last year reached 23% in February 2023. While the rate declined to slightly less than 14% in November 2024, the CFPB’s analysis found that the median outstanding rental balance rose 60% between September 2021 and November 2024, suggesting increased financial distress among affected households. Renters who do pay late fees often pay multiple late fees in a year, and the average late fee is $85, up significantly from September 2021. Only about half of renters behind on their rent catch up in one month.
For the 35% of American households that live in rental housing, rent is one of their largest expenses. Falling behind on rent payments often indicates financial stress and puts families at risk of eviction. While the data show that fewer renters are incurring late fees and that about 50% of renters who do incur a fee are able to bounce back to on-time payments, the data also reveal continued financial struggles for many renters.
The CFPB found a sizable portion of renters who incur an initial late fee struggle to recover. Just under 60% of those who incur any late fees experience two or more. More than 20% of renters with at least one late fee have five or more late fees in the last twelve months. Late fees have also risen, along with the median outstanding rental balance, have increased since 2021. Late fees have risen steadily since September 2021 to $85 in November 2024. The reported outstanding rental balance has increased sharply from $2,000 in September 2021 to $3,200 in November 2024.
For their data analysis, the CFPB found that approximately 240,000 consumers appear in the rental housing payment data for having either transactions, inquiries, or collections reported between September 2021, the first month of observation, and November 2024, the most recent month of observation. As of November 2024, the rental housing payment data had around 74,000 consumers with recent payment histories (any transactions in the last three months).
Click here to view the CFPB’s “Behind on Rent? Examining Rental Housing Delinquencies in New Payment Data” report, and click here to view the CFPB’s report, “An Introduction to the CFPB’s Rental Payment Data and Analysis.”
