We have an applicant trying to complete an application for one of our rentals, but they do not have a social security number or a driver's license number- which are required fields for our background and credit check. Does anyone know an alternative to check their credit and background without a social security number?
Contractor/Investor/Consultant · San Diego / Phoenix · Member since 2021 · 12k+ posts · 15k+ votes
3y
@Ashley Roush Just pass on people like this. You're wasting your time even dealing with them. You don't need to explain why, just say someone else qualified first....
Los Angeles · Member since 2018 · 466 posts · 471 votes
3y
You know what ... and I'm probably going to get in trouble for saying this ... but if I can not vet a prospective tenant because they have no documentation of their identity or credit history, be that a SSN, ITIN, Passport, or a signed and notarized letter from the Governor, and there is no other prospect on the horizon who does ... I'll leave the place stay vacant. "Sorry, no longer available."
Surely you can have verifiable documentation of identity be one of your application criteria, used uniformly across the board, like minimum credit score and sufficient income?
Yes, leaving it vacant is an expensive option, but so is renting to someone who turns out to be crooked.
You know what ... and I'm probably going to get in trouble for saying this ... but if I can not vet a prospective tenant because they have no documentation of their identity or credit history, be that a SSN, ITIN, Passport, or a signed and notarized letter from the Governor, and there is no other prospect on the horizon who does ... I'll leave the place stay vacant. "Sorry, no longer available."
You're not going to get into trouble for being honest, fair, law-abiding and patriotic.