BiggerPockets

Sure. People with bad credit are not a protected class.

That said, bad credit seems the one common attribute to almost every application I've screened.

You can use the credit score, but I suggest that you don't use a cut-off number.

I've had applicants with low scores that didn't have much wrong with their financial behavior.

Some one who pays all their bills but doesn't have any credit cards will have a low score. I just rented to a tenant who has a "no score". He doesn't have a single blot, but doesn't use credit. His landlord and job references were sterling. You wouldn't want to reject him because he didn't have a 700 score.

I had one applicant with 18 collections still show a score of 730. What? Sometimes the score doesn't make any sense.

My written criteria says that the applicant must have a credit report that assures the landlord the rent will be paid on time. That's legal and also very flexible.