Loans Answers

Bad credit and renting an apartment?

Question: Problem is, of course, that my credit report now says that I have a “poor” credit rating, even though my account history (im using consumerinfo.com) says that for the past 4 months, my payment history has been “OK” for all my accounts. Now, I am in a position where I have to move out of the place I’ve been renting for the past 5 1/2 years by the middle of January (my housemates are moving, and I really would like my own place, being that im completely sick of having roommates), and now I’m freaking out about these apartment application forms where they ask for my credit card account numbers so they can look up the credit.

I have fully paid off one of my credit cards recently. Do you think it’s a good idea to supply that card number on the application, even though my credit report shows that up until 4 months ago, that card had horribly deliquent payments on it? Should I append a “letter of explanation” when I submit my application, explaining basically what I explained in this post? Maybe offering to pay a larger deposit?

I am really freaking out about this, and any advice anybody can give me woul dbe most appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Answer: FYI — I currently own several rentals.

I say “Credit report, schmedit report!”.

Sure, we run them on our applicants (applicant pays for it) — but in the last 5 years I’ve run dozens of reports a year and haven’t seen a “good” one yet.

The fact is, housing money is cheap. Anybody can get a mortage loan these days. The only people who don’t are those with ReallyCrappyCredit(tm).

In our area, the only folks who rent are those who have bad credit. All the “good credit” folks are buying their own places.

If landlords, management companies etc. turned people down simply because of bad credit, they’d have no one to rent to.

I can’t turn someone down for one of my units for a bad credit report. If I did that, all of my units would be vacant.

In the rental business — crappy credit reports have become a way of life.

I’ve given up even hoping on ever seeing a “good” credit report on an application. The way I figure it: Folks will be late on their credit card payments (so what), but when they’re late on the rent, they’re out on the street in 30 days (may vary according to where you live). I’ll accept crappy credit reports because the possibility of living on the streets is a huge motivator in making the rent payment on time.

Bottom line: Don’t sweat it. You’ll find someplace to rent to you no matter how bad your credit is.

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Filed under: Bad Credit Loan