Piñata: Make Rent Rewarding 4+

Renter nation: standup!

I’ve been using piñata for years now. I’ve been renting since i was 18, and wish i coulda been rewarded then. They report to my credit bureau the same as a line of credit or the chime credit builder card. My credit has gone up so that’s a plus. My rewards are quality. I enjoy my ceramic bathroom set. It’s well made and something i needed & i couldn’t afford so i enjoy it! I love the animal toys too, well, the dog & cat do lol. The giftcard rewards are great also. The rent reporting is easy, my banks are connected and it feels safe. I’ve never had any trouble. Also the app does exactly what it says: rewards my for paying rent and build my credit. I would, and do recommend the Pinata app to everyone. Many of my friends have downloaded it and they have become a part of their Renter Nation as well; A supportive community for renters. I enjoy the app & being rewarded for my loyal on time rent payments. I love seeing what new rewards are added to the app, and updating my points when i first open it. So exciting! Give it a try, you’ll enjoy being rewarded if you rent; especially if you pay through AppFolio!

DO NOT DOWNLOAD

I downloaded this app back in DECEMBER OF 2024, with the aim of utilizing my rent payments to help increase my credit score. The app itself is a great idea, however, there are a few things that I want to discuss so that people don’t make the same mistake as me. Pinata can back-report rent payments for a maximum of 24 months. However, this depends on the start date of your current lease. For example, if you’ve been renting with your property management company since January 2022 but your current lease began in January 2024, we would only be able to back-report payments from January 2024 onward. My current lease began in July 2024, but I’ve been living there since July 2023. Due to this, they can only back report since July 2024. I had no problem with this. however, when I had sent over all of my documents in the same day with all of my previous receipts for rent reports, they have been unable to back report ANY of my payments. So to this day, even though it is the end of March, 2025, I have not received any back reports at all & have been paying the service fee monthly to Piñata. I have been in contact with Customer Service on several occasions since I downloaded the app, however continue to receive, “we are working on resolving the issue.” How many more months do I need to wait? Initially, I had very great feelings going into downloading this app. if someone had told this to me months ago, I would never have downloaded it.

Developer Response ,

Thank you, Nicole, for sharing your experience with us. We understand how important rent reporting is to building your credit, and we’re sorry to hear about your frustration.

To clarify, Piñata can back-report up to 24 months of rent payments, but this is based on the official start date of your current lease. This is a necessary requirement to ensure accurate reporting to the credit bureaus. In your case, since your lease officially began in July 2024, we can only report payments from that date onward.

We acknowledge that the back-reporting process has taken longer than expected, which can happen due to various factors, including verification with property managers and coordination with all three major credit bureaus. However, we’ve reviewed your case, and it is currently in the process of being resolved.

Unlike other services that report to only one bureau, Piñata reports to all three major credit bureaus, which can have a significantly greater impact on your credit score. While this may sometimes result in additional processing time, it ensures a more comprehensive credit-building benefit.

We truly appreciate your patience and value you as a Piñata member. Our team is actively working on resolving your case, and we will follow up with you directly as soon as we have an update. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to our support team for any further questions.

Overpriced Rewards!

So just a few months ago they were offering gift card rewards you could redeem for much less points required than they are now. I don’t know what’s going on with this but how does a $50 gift card go from costing 500 points to now costing 750? I know it’s not one to one on the dollar scale but this has become excessive. I mean you can look back at the past rewards and see many of them were one to one just this past December and January but they have steadily raised the amount of points you have to use for the gift cards. There are also plenty of instances of the same gift card reward costing different points amounts for different dollar amounts. Like a $20 gift card from Ulta one week costs 225 points but then the next time it’s 300 points for a $25 Ulta gift card. It just makes no sense. I just want to know why this is happening and how they calculating the points required for the rewards. I use plenty of other rewards type apps that don’t see this happening on those platforms.

Well besides that problem I like the app because of the credit reporting aspect. Unfortunately it’s costing me $20 a month through my landlord and it’s mandatory on my lease. So the same people paying $5 a month are getting what I pay $20 for. Really not okay with this but I understand it’s definitely more on my landlord than Piñata.

Developer Response ,

Hello @mbella, Thank you for your feedback. We understand you have questions about the offer your property management company provided to tenants. PMCs may include additional services in the renter’s benefit package, which can vary by property. To provide specific insights and assist you further, we’ll need to review your account. Please reach out to our support team so we can take a closer look. We can also look into your points balance while we are at it!