Now certified to view full credit reports on rental applicants
I first called Landlord2Landlord, the agency I’d been using to pull credit reports before they changed the laws, to find out what needed to be done. First, they sent me some paperwork to sign and fax back, stating the address and nature of my business, and authorizing them to charge $75 to my credit card. They then had a third-party inspection party contact me to set up an appointment. In order to make sure that I could pass the inspection, I asked them some questions about what to expect.
The basic requirements:
- A locked door on the office (commercial space or home office)
- A password-protected computer
- The computer should not be facing outward - so clients could accidentally see an on-screen report
- A lockable filing cabinet
- A paper shredder
TransUnion requires that there is a sign on the door, the other two do not. I don’t really have an official name for my rental “company,” so I decided to just skip the sign… two credit agencies are more than enough.
The actual inspection was a piece of cake, and didn’t take more than 15 minutes. The guy showed up, asked for the building owner/manager’s name and phone number, the web address of my rental business, and how many units I manage. He took photos of the locked filing cabinet, password-protected computer, and asked if I had a shredder. He left his card, and was off.
The next day I received an email from Landlord2Landlord saying that I now have access to full credit reports.
Nice! Why was I so worried about this?
Now I just have to get myself some applicants…
Related Articles:
- Checking References
- Tenant Screening (Don't get too excited just yet.)
- My ad is up, I'm getting inquiries. I never realized that there were so many, er, interesting people in the world.
Like this story? Share with others on:
del.icio.us
digg
reddit
furl
Stumble it!
Entry Filed under: Tenant Screening, Finding renters
Technorati Tags: credit tenant screening credit report credit agency full credit report password protected inspection landlord tenant apartment duplex rental property investment property

1 Comment Add your own
1. Small-Time Investor | June 14th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
This is a great resource. I’ve been renting properties out for the last few years. To this point, the most due diligence I’ve done is to call references, previous landlords and employers. I need to consider signing up for a service like the one you mentioned. Great blog! Keep it up.
Leave a Comment
Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>
Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed