Credit Report for Landlords

Credit information contains a goldmine with information for a future lessor. For example, you can find out whether a certain individual has ever gone bankrupt or was bankrupt: financial enough to build a credit record. The information in the credit report shall cover the last seven to ten years.

In order to conduct a credit assessment, you will need the name, mailing and Social Security number of a potential lessee or Individual Taxayer Identification Number (ITIN), which is usually included on the lease request you request from potential lessees. It is also the place for candidates to authorise you to carry out a credit report.

Make sure you tell potential renters the amount of a credit charge you are charged (see below). The three credit bureaux have conquered the credit report market: They can' order a credit report directly from the big three offices. Instead, you must work through a credit bureau or renter review services (enter "renter review" in the field of your browser).

Search for a firm near you that has been in operation for some time and provides you with a clear and informative model report. Mieterprüfungsgesellschaften can also be found in the Yellow Pages under "Kreditauskunfteien". "Your state or municipal housing organisation can also provide credit information for you.

Credit bureaus often provide you with credit information on the same date. Charges vary depending on how many reviews you order each and every year. In most states it is lawful to bill potential renters a commission for the costs of the credit report itself and your amount of effort and work.

Each credit assessment charge should be proportionate to the costs of the credit assessment - $30 to $50 are usual. State of California will set a maximal screen rate and require landlords to present a detailed bill when they accept a credit assessment charge. Make sure that potential renters know the amount and purposes of a credit assessment and realize that this charge is not a security and that the renting entity does not warrant it.

Instead, review the application first and conduct a credit assessment only for those who are real candidates (e.g. expel and refuse those whose incomes do not meet your minimal rental to incomes ratio). This way you don't spend your own resources (and those of potential tenants) recovering charges from non-qualified candidates. Remember that it is unlawful to levy a credit verification premium if you do not use it for the specified purposes and instead plug it in.

Discard any credit validation charges that you do not use for this use. Is it possible for renters to make a copy of their own credit report available? Unless you are renting to someone because of adverse information in a credit report, or you are charging someone a higher rate because of such information, you must give the potential lessee the name and location of the agent who notified the adverse information.

It is a requirements of the German Fair Credit Reporting Act. You must also notify the other party that they have the right to obtain a copy of the data set from the agent who provided the adverse information by asking for it within 60 working days of receiving notice that your refusal is due to the individual's credit report.

You can find further information in the articles "Use of consumers' reports": The landlords need to know" on the website of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). It is your legal right to review renter information and use the information in the selection of renters as long as you do not unlawfully discriminate against it - e.g., by only asking for credit information from certain renters or by randomly establishing stricter rules (e.g., a personal credit file) that you rent to a renter who is a member of a race or ethnical minorities or other proprietary group.

Even federation rule demands you to stronghold single necessary message from a tenant's approval document and dismiss the part. You can find more information under Handling Loan Reviews for Tenants: