Refusal to Provide Social Security on Application - Can't run credit and background report!

[Hassan Mahmood]

Hey all, 

I just purchased a two bedroom condo in Atlanta, GA and this is my first real estate purchase and I am trying to rent out one of the bedrooms. I recently met someone who is interested in renting the bedroom, but when I sent him an application which asked for his personal information (i.e. SSN) so that I could run a background and credit check as well as a national eviction search, he refused.

Instead, he sent me the application with a copy of the background and credit check reports he ran himself. Is this something I should accept? Is there a way to verify that the reports are accurate? What else can I do in this situation?

Thanks for your help.

[Cal C.]

Absolutely not!  Google fake credit report and see how many hits you get.  Only accept your own credit check or one done on your behalf by someone you trust.   Clark Howard's alarm would be going off on this one.