Property Manager · Sacramento, CA · Member since 2015 · 121 posts · 33 votes
I know that I can't use non-FCRA compliant sources to make a tenant screening decision, but can you use these websites/databases as part of your screening process to see what you can find about your applicants to see if you need to dig in any deeper?
Real Estate Investor · Audubon, PA · Member since 2009 · 13k+ posts · 8k+ votes
9y
You can use any source of information you want, but if you use information from a third party source that results in an adverse action toward the applicant(s), how do you provide the FCRA adverse action letter, since those sources cannot be used for the adverse action purpose?
You can use them to confirm data from FCRA compliant sources (but do you need to?), and you can use them to give the applicant more favorable treatment. So I don't bother with these once I have an application in hand.
Now, before I get an application, as a pre-screening tool ... that is where you might consider these, because no adverse action letter is needed when no application has been submitted yet.