Recommendation for tenant background/credit check

[Kilter L.]

Hi investors, I am moving out from my owner-occupied SFH and I am ready to rent it out as my first rental property. I would like to know your favorite background/credit check service provider for screening tenants. Any advise, especially info on Utah local service providers, will be appreciated! Happy New Year! Li

[Jennifer L.]

I used Cozy.co to do my tenant screening and it worked great.  It was also easy to transition my new tenants into making online payments through them.

One word of advice though: if your local court is searchable online, it is a good idea to search prospective tenants through them.  You can get a lot of information about people.  I had one prospective tenant that sued a local restaurant which led to them going out of business.  I had another one with judgments that were older and not showing up on the background check, but it was important information for me to have.

It is also very important to check references.  Make sure they are employed by whom they say they are employed.  Talk to their most recent landlord, and even more importantly, the landlord before the last one.  

Good luck!