Any time you use a consumer credit report to decide whether to accept a rental applicant or renew a lease with a current tenant, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) legally requires you to take some important steps to remain in compliance with the law. From credit freezing laws and procedures to adverse action notice
CIC has released a criminal, eviction, and credit report for September through December, 2018. Highlighting the number of rental applicants that have criminal and eviction records on their tenant background checks, as well as the average FICO credit score, CIC’s quarterly data analysis shows that the applicants that are applying to your rental properties have
As you rush to get last-minute gifts, dinner preparations and flights home for the holidays, squeeze in some time to protect yourself from hungry identity thieves and hackers. With credit monitoring, credit security freezes, and some good ol’ fashioned financial awareness, you can minimize damages even if your identity thief is sitting right next to
A Texas company has agreed to pay $3 million to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) after the commission filed a complaint alleging that the company violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act by failing to ensure the accuracy of the tenant screening information they provided to landlords and property managers. The FTC alleges that from at
The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has filed a complaint against social media giant Facebook. The company is allegedly allowing advertisers on their site to be discriminatory with options that violate and target the seven protected classes. As these practices have been brought to light, an investigation into whether they are violating
If you’re working in the rental housing industry, there’s no doubt that you’ve heard of the Fair Housing Act (FHA). While you may think that it’s just a piece of legislation that prevents bias of the seven protected classes (race, color, religion, disability, sex, familial class, and national origin), there’s much more to it than
Equifax’s major security breach last year caused irrefutable harm to millions of consumer’s personal information. With information accessed including names, social security numbers, birth dates, addresses, and (in some cases) driver’s license and credit card numbers, a large number of Americans are still vulnerable to identity theft even now. As most consumers have long forgotten
We hear about discrimination all the time; as much as we would like to pretend that it doesn’t exist, it’s something that plagues the world around us and the rental housing industry is not excluded. Some may think that simply screening applicants remove prejudices from their rental process, but discrimination can still find its way into the tenant screening process. By expanding your knowledge in this area, you can better avoid discriminatory practices in your tenant screening.
In this day and age, if you are in the Property Management profession you better know whom you are renting to. With over 25 years of experience in this industry we at Park Place Asset Management go the extra mile like never before. I suggest that you pre-qualify your applicants and tell them that you run an extensive investigative background check and will need to verify all information that comes up on the individual reports in addition to attaching your Rental Criteria to each application.
As a property manager, you need a variety of tools in your arsenal to ensure you’re placing the best residents in your properties. You work hard to make sure that residences are maintained, and you want to find a renter who cares about keeping it in that same condition. Tenant screening can be an important tool in supporting these initiatives and safeguarding your profits, as well as finding the most qualified renters.