Does a Cosigner Need to Have Good Credit for an Apartment?
A landlord sometimes requires potential tenants to get a cosigner if they cannot qualify for a place on their own, but having a cosigner does not guarantee approval for anything. Thus, you should ask someone to cosign a loan if they have a history of responsible borrowing and repaying debt on time. You may even be able to avoid use of a cosigner altogether.
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Identification
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A cosigner should have good credit to help you qualify to rent an apartment. In general, a score of 620 is considered the cutoff for good credit for most creditors, according to Apartments.com. Some landlords might require a high credit score, especially for places in an expensive city, and the landlord might use the highest creditor when deciding between two equally qualified applicants.
Considerations
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The landlord may not want you as a tenant even if you provide a cosigner with a good score, because creditors usually give the worst score the most weight in the approval process, according to Kimberly Lankford of "Kiplinger." In most states, a creditor must attempt to collect payment from the primary borrower first before pursuing the debt from a cosigner. Also, the landlord might not want to risk having to spend time tracking down a cosigner in case you cannot pay the bill.
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Explaining Bad Credit
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Ideally, you should clean up your credit history before apartment-hunting. Pull your report from Annual Credit Report and look for negative items, such as late payments and court judgments for an eviction, that might concert a landlord. Pay off as much of the debt in your history, especially credit card debt, and make minimum payments on time every month. You can also write a letter to the landlord explaining bad credit, such as if downsizing caused you to missed bills, but that you have corrected the issue.
Tip
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Asking someone to cosign a loan is a huge liability for the him because he will have to pay your bill in case you can't. Instead, talk to the landlord about what you can offer to qualify for a place on your own. For instance, you can offer to prepay the entire lease upfront or several months in advance as a security deposit. You might need to downgrade to a cheaper place too.
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