Will the landlord run my credit and background?

Question

I just applied to rent a house from a private landlord. The application asked for employer info, current and previous landlord info, SS# and driver license #. The landlord said he will run a credit and background check and let me know, but he didn’t charge any fees to do the checks. Do you think he is really going to do them?

Also, I have good rental history, but I have bad credit. Do you think he will rent to me?

Answer 1

If he said he would run your credit then - yes, he probably will.  Landlords do not always charge for this service, some of us see it as part of our job.

it is purely up to him if he will look past your bad credit and rent to you anyway.  Most places that will, take a bigger security deposit.

Answer 2

We run credit report and check employment and former landlords. The most important thing for me as far as a credit check goes is to see if you have any unpaid utility bills, or have been placed in collections for utilities. I figure, if you can't pay utility bills, you're not able to manage you money well at all. Paying your credit cards on time isn't as important to me as you paying your rent and utilities on time.

I score applicants on things like income/rent ratio, debt/income ratio, ever been evicted, bounced checks, late rent, time on job, time in rental, then I add everything up. You could have rotten credit but if you score high in other places you get approved.

It only costs about 5 or ten bucks to run credit, but it's a good tool and I would imagine most will run it, but most are also cheap and wouldn't shell out the money without getting it from you first.

Some folks are so scared of having their credit run that just MENTIONING it makes them take flight. He could be just saying he's going to do it to see your reaction.

Answer 3

Good rental history goes a long way with LL;  he'll probably check with former LL;  he may or may not do the other checks, depends on how he felt about you at interview;  sometimes I do, sometimes I don't but I get the form so that I can, and I never charge unless I'm renting to person, as I'm glas to pay and not get a deadbeat tenant

WORK on your credit. . . .you've been making poor decisions, poor management of your finances, and only you can change it, going forward