Do you support reusable credit checks?

Question

Illinois is poised to become the 7th state to require us to accept credit checks from applicants. The intent is to cut down on the cost of applying for rentals, particularly for renters that have to apply more than once in a competitive market.

Do you support this? Why or why not?

Greg M. · Answer

If the report is from a reputable credit reporting agency and includes all the information I require, I see no reason not to accept it. However, I must be able to retrieve the report directly from the credit agency. I will not accept a credit report handed to me by a prospect.

JD Martin · Answer

If it's through a platform - ie, if I accept Zillow applications and they provide the credit check that the applicant paid for - then I would accept it. If it's just the applicant giving me a copy of their credit report? No way.

Nathan Gesner · Answer

Those are the people that give the rest of us a bad name. If I don't have a property available, I will tell them that. If they still want to apply and have us hold the application for something that comes open later, I'll hold it for up to two months so it's not wasted.

I also try to discourage people from applying if I think they won't qualify. I give them every opportunity to save the $30 application fee.

Nathan Gesner · Answer

Tenant applies for 123 Straight Street through another company and is denied, or changes their mind. 30 days later they show up at your office and apply for one of their rentals. They hand you a copy of their credit report. I see a few problems:

1. How do you know it's not a fake credit report? Do a Google search for "fake credit report" or "fake pay stub" and you'll find plenty of examples. Since you are not obtaining the report through a reputable source of your own, you will have to spend extra time verifying it is legitimate.

2. How do you know what happened since the credit report was run? In the last 30 days the tenant could have initiated a bankruptcy, had an eviction added to their record, been sent to collections by a creditor, etc. A credit score can drop 30 - 100 points in one month.

3. I still have to run a criminal background. To do that, I have to pay for a full credit/criminal background. This new law would require me to cover that cost out of pocket, which quickly becomes unaffordable, particularly when I'm spending extra time verifying their credit check is legitimate.

Greg M. · Answer

From my reading of the article, I do not think this is the applicant getting a credit report in hand and handing it out to potential landlords. It sounds more like the applicant purchases the credit report and gives access through the credit agency to the landlords who have to accept it if it is less than 30 days old. I've had applicants give me access to their credit report by them logging into their account and granting me access. I've got no issues with that.As for old data, literally today I got notice of a change in my credit report. Three monitoring services all sent me notifications about new data on my credit report. This new data on the report was a loan for a new rental that closed exactly 3 months ago plus a hard inquiry for this loan. Both of these knocked my credit score down 65 points. So much for stuff happening in the last 30 days being reported timely.

Russell Brazil · Answer

If the report is coming directly from a credit reporting agency, or similar service, I would have little to no issue.

If its something they are printing out or emailing me, how could I possibly know it is not fake?

Additionally, there are 16 different versions of a FICO score. Multiple that by the 3 credit bureaus, and that is 48 different potential scores. When Im using my own preferred service, Im using apples to apples comparisons. If now Im using my Transunion Service, using Fico version 8, and someone gives me an Experian report with FICO version AutoScore 4, then comparing the 2 is meaningless.

Though Im sure legislators writing these laws have very little idea you could have 48 different potential scores that are all still FICO scores.

Jim K. · Answer

Jesus. The day a tenant hands me a piece of paper and I have to pretend I don't think they ginned it up themselves is the day I close up shop here.

Jim K. · Answer

@Nathan Gesner

I pay TransUnion for the SmartMove credit, criminal, and rental check. This will not affect me.

I am able to do this because I live in Pennsylvania, in Allegheny County, where we have both a local court records system and a statewide judicial portal that gives us info on every eviction carried out in the Commonwealth. I use both extensively. By the time I get down to a candidate I like, I've already run extensive checks on her/him, verified their income, and the forty bucks for the check is just smart money spent.I also think a large part of it is being in the affordable-rentals sector of the business. I've never had what i would consider a real professional tenant target me. I've had wannabes, but nobody bright and determined  enough to beat the system here in Allegheny County seems to want to use their skills just to mooch off me to stay in a C-class apartment.

Colleen F. · Answer

@Nathan Gesner  In RI it is now 90 days they can provide the check and you must accept it, to me that is too long. Also I think big agency reports like zillow will be what people want you to accept and they just aren't complete in my opinion.

Do you support reusable credit checks?

Most Popular Reply