Landlord Credit Reporting

Landlords can report tenant information to credit reporting agencies.

Landlords can report rental payment histories to a consumer reporting agency. This is a company that collects and furnishes consumer data, such a tenant history. A landlord can reward or penalize tenants by reporting their rental payment behavior.

Considerations

A landlord's decision to report credit information to a credit reporting agency may be affected by a number of factors. A tenant may have destroyed rental property, been evicted or failed to make timely rent payments. The landlord may wish to adversely affect the tenant's consumer report for such actions. For tenants who honor rental agreements, a landlord can add positive information to their credit reports.

Reports

Consumer credit reporting agencies Lexis Nexis, Core Logic, AAA Credit Screening Services and Rent Law collect consumer rental information. The information they collect is provided in consumer reports or specialized tenant history reports. This information is sold to landlords, creditors and other parties with a legitimate business need for the information.

Significance

By reporting tenant information or histories to consumer reporting agencies, a landlord shares positive and negative rental experiences. This not only affects a tenant's consumer report, but it can also assist other landlords with avoiding bad tenants.

References

• Apartment Ratings: How Does an Eviction Affect My Credit Rating?
• FinancialWeb: What Your Rental Credit History Means For You
• Federal Trade Commission: Using Consumer Reports--What Landlords Need to Know

Resources

• RentLaw: The Tenant Credit Report
• Best Check: Tenant Screening Credit Reports
• FadVsSafeRent: CoreLogic SafeRent
• LexisNexis: Resident History Report