Tenant Screening background checks with AAA Credit Screening (2024)

FAQs

What background check do most landlords use? ›

With Avail, a rental background check typically includes the following three main reports: a credit, criminal, and eviction history report. A credit report: Landlords can request a credit report from TransUnion to view the applicant's credit score, credit utilization, payment history, and account summaries.

Depending on the service used, these screenings might result in a hard inquiry, which temporarily dings your credit score, or a soft inquiry, which doesn't. You might avoid a hard inquiry by asking your landlord upfront how they plan to screen you and offer to provide a credit report yourself.

While the average credit check will cost you between $15 and $40 in most cases, it is vital to have a deeper understanding of credit checks than just cost if you want to screen tenants successfully.

TurboTenant's online background and credit checks are trusted by over 650,000 landlords to find qualified tenants.

Most landlords partner with one of the three major U.S. credit bureaus: TransUnion, Experian, or Equifax. These background checks will actually reveal much more about a prospective tenant than just their credit score; the goal is to discover any suspicious financial activity in the applicant's background.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA – the federal law that governs apartment background checks) allows for credit history to be reported for seven years, and bankruptcy information for ten years. Regarding criminal records, the FCRA allows only criminal convictions to be reported that are older than seven years.

Yes, renting an apartment with a 500 or below credit score is possible. However, you might not get the apartment of your dreams until that score improves. Fortunately, you can still get a decent apartment if you provide strong proof of income, get a co-signer, or rent on a month-to-month basis.

In general, a landlord will look for a credit score that is at least “good,” which is generally in the range of 670 to 739.

Landlords use credit checks to get a general idea of how you managed credit in the past. For example, they want to find out if you have a long history of on-time payments on various bills you have owed and if you have any delinquent accounts or accounts in collections.

Information on a tenant credit check generally includes a tenant's bill paying history, amount of income and debt, and whether the applicant has any liens or judgments. Sources for obtaining a tenant credit check are the major credit bureaus, online tenant screening services, and local property management companies.

Can someone run a credit check without my permission? ›

This typically only happens when debt collection issues, government agencies or court orders are involved. For example, someone can perform a hard credit inquiry on your credit report without permission if: They are a debt collector trying to verify what you owe.

It's unlikely that your rent payment history appears on your credit reports, but that's not because paying your rent on time isn't important. More likely than not, it's simply because your landlord doesn't report your rent payments to the credit bureaus (Experian, TransUnion and Equifax).

When you fill out an application for an apartment, most property representatives run a hard credit inquiry which can potentially affect your credit score by up to five points for each application submitted. While five points may not seem like much, it can add up.

In California, landlords can only consider convictions from the past seven years when conducting criminal history checks on potential tenants.

What background checks can landlords run in California? With the applicant's written consent, landlords can conduct credit checks, criminal background checks, eviction history checks, and verify rental history with previous landlords.

Yes. A landlord can charge each adult applicant the actual cost for getting the report. (The maximum amount they can charge is based on the Consumer Price Index.

California Senate Bill 567, i.e., the Homelessness Prevention Act, which goes into effect on April 1, 2024, seeks to cap rent hikes at 10% and prevents landlords from evicting tenants without a legal cause. California Assembly Bill 12, i.e., the new residential security deposit law, which goes into effect on July 1, ...