How to do a credit check on someone?

[fkj2]

Has anyone done a credit check on a potential renter?

Any advice or suggestions?

TIA.

 

[seashoreCM]

Yes.

Pulling a credit report is an excellent idea. While some people may be reluctant to let you get a credit report, just your asking is likely to scare away more bad tenants than good tenants.

See if one of the major credit bureaus has an in-town office where they will do a one time pulling of a credit report for a fee.

You need written permission, the social security number, and the birth date from the prospective customer (tenant). You can include on a rental application the wording whereby he grants permission for you to pull his credit report.

Sometimes a credit report will reveal places where the person lived but not shown on the rental application. If your rental application requires so much rental and residence history and the credit report shows conflicting information, that is enough to decline an applicant with. However if the credit report omits residence history, nothing is proven one way or the other.

 

[cathyce2]

We use e-renter.com

 

[ColoradoDisneyFreaks]

Make sure that you have it in your application that they're giving you permission to pull a credit report. My brother once found out that a coworker pulled a credit report of his without permission (it was a really bad situation to try and cover up really bad behavior on the coworkers part) and his lawyers just killed the guy in court.