Applicants provide their own credit report

[John McManus]

Hello there, I’m in a situation where I had a really good couple apply for one of my units. Their applications paint a really good picture. However, instead of going through SmartMove, they were insistent on providing their own credit reports from Equifax, saying that they would rather not pay the $47 fee. The Equifax report also paints them in a good image, but I do understand that they could’ve potentially forged those reports. Any advice on how I should proceed? My thought would be just to call them up and ask them to do the SmartMove report anyways.

edit: I’m not against us paying for the report. I think the bottom line is just getting third-party confirmation.

[Greg Scott]

My immediate reaction was that the credit report is fake.

Don't deviate from your processes.  A good tenant would not care about the $47 if it gets them into a property they like.

On a related note, if you do not follow your standard process for EVERYONE, you can be accused of, and charged massive fines for violating fair housing laws.