Rental History Becoming More Important As Credit Crunch Wears On

One of the most commonly held ways of screening a new tenant has been to check a person’s credit report. It was believed that this could give an accurate portrayal of someone’s financial behavior. However, in recent years, this has been becoming less and less accurate. A wobbly economy, financial uncertainties and other factors have changed things dramatically.

Smaller scale, more locally run agencies and landlords are becoming more understanding of credit history. As they do this, they are becoming much more focused on something else. Your rental history. Though yes, a good credit score is still the gold standard by which people guage fiscal responsibility: rental history is more precise when it comes to determining if someone will be a good tenant.

A new metric is also now being used. While in the past, rental history was not reflected on a credit report, there are a number of services that allow for that through Experian. This is something that can definitely benefit consumers on the whole, but also provide an asset to landlords seeking an accurate picture of how someone may be as a tenant.

For renters that have had credit issues, this is welcome news, but also, you don’t have to wait for a potential landlord to check your rental history or your credit history. One thing that usually helps when applying for an apartment or rental house is to have your credit report ready. This will first help by allowing you to check for inaccuracies, but also, provides one more thing to prospective landlords.

A yearly credit report is available at no cost at Annual Credit Report.com. Though there are other credit sites that claim to offer free yearly credit reports, there is often a subscription service needed. This site is the only one that allows for the free yearly credit report at completely no charge with no subscriptions needed. That will not, however, give you your credit score. This can be obtained through CreditKarma.com.