How to Run a Credit Check on Potential Renters

Find out how to run a credit check on renters to protect yourself as a landlord.

As a landlord, before you agree to rent your property to renters, one of the first things you'll want to do is run a credit check. Running a credit check on potential renters can help to protect you and your property by making sure that you're renting to good credit borrowers rather than poor ones. Credit checks can also help you determine the deposit amount and security deposit amount you want to charge the renters.

Instructions

1. Open an online credit check account. Open an account with an online credit check service that allows you to pull credit reports and run a credit check on your potential renters. Opening an account is typically free, but the service charges a fee that ranges from $14.95 to $34.95 for each credit check that you run.

2. Have the renter complete a rental application that gathers the information you need in order to run a credit check. The application should request the full name for each renter, the past two addresses and how long they lived at each address, Social Security numbers and birth dates for each applicant, and a signature confirming that they understand the information will be used to run a credit check.

3. Collect an application fee when they submit the rental application. It's common for renters to pay an application fee, which is a processing fee for the landlord to run a credit check. The fee can range from landlord to landlord.

4. Sign into your credit check account. Log into the credit check service account you opened and choose the option to run a credit check. The service will then ask you for the personal information you collected on the renters. Submit the information, pay the credit check fee, and then you'll receive a detailed credit report on the renters, which you can use to make rental decisions.

Tips & Warnings

• The range in credit fees depends on the level of detail of a report you're looking for on the renter. Since you're running a credit check for renting a property, it is typically worth obtaining the most detailed report possible to check on their payment history, employment history and rental history in order to make sure that you're renting to someone who is going to pay the rent each month on time.

References

• EduBook: How to Screen a Potential Renter
• Landlord.com: Run Tenant Credit Checks

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish