There has been a move by many apartments to screen prospective tenants by running their credit. This practice was not very widespread before and became embodied in many complex policies after the tragic events of September 11, 2001. In those days, having a job for six months or more or having an income of at least 3 times more than the monthly rent was enough to qualify one. This is not the case. Many apartments have led to routine credit ad rental history checks to weed out potential tenants and many have been denied a decent place to live.
Credit and rental history checks causing many to be turned down
There are a variety of reasons behind why apartments look at an applicant’s credit and rental history. The most obvious is to determine if the prospective tenant has a tendency to break rental agreements (broken leases). They also check if one owes anything to the previous complexes. Some of them do an actual full credit check, while others will only check rental history. In many cases and in any of these cases, people are turned away and this adds to their misery, especially if they are desperate for housing. Credit checks also only consider the past and may not influence whether or not the person has reformed. Anyway, it’s a big inconvenience to be rejected.
Find out what your credit score is
It’s amazing how many people are turned down for bad credit and have no idea what they have under their belt. They also don’t know what information the apartments used to base their denial. This cruel surprise should not be. Now it’s extremely easy to download all three bureau credit reports directly from the Internet for less than $50. Getting a copy of one’s credit ensures that they don’t know what is causing the problem.
Getting approved despite spotty credit or a broken lease
There are numerous tactics that can be used to get an apartment approved, even with a broken lease or bad credit. Many of these cannot be discussed in the scope of this article, but one of them is finding a co-signer. This is someone who has good credit and can act as a guarantor. You can also write a letter stating exactly what steps you are taking to remedy your bad credit. Many apartment complexes take this as a sign of good faith.
Do you want to get approved despite a broken lease or bad credit? There are several techniques that one can employ. One of the best is to find out which apartments in your area DON’T do credit checks or those that pass despite a broken lease.