40 pings a day is wild. I had the same thing happen with a weather app last year, checked under Settings then Privacy then Location Services and it was set to Always even though I never picked that. Switched it to While Using and killed background refresh for it too, battery went back to normal in like two days. Also check the battery usage screen, it shows which apps are sneaking time in the background even when you're not touching them.

Wait, you paid rent on time for 4 years and none of it showed up anywhere? That blows my mind. I always figured landlords sent that stuff in automatically or something. So you basically had a perfect payment record that just vanished into thin air? That feels like a scam honestly, because they know people need those payments counted. Forty points in six weeks is wild too. Guess I need to go check if my own rent has been getting reported this whole time.