In today's rental market good credit has become as important for renting a home as for purchasing a home

While professional property managers have always looked at an applicant's credit scores, before the recent rash of forclosures, most individual landlords who self-manage their own property did not.   Times have changed. Today, almost all individual landlords run a credit report before entering into a lease with a new resident.   If your credit is less than perfect, it is best to be upfront with the individual landlord or property management company about any potential credit score problems. Do not be discouraged.  Remember, that landlords usually look at the complete application, including references, when making their determination. You may discover that your credit is not below the credit cut off line for that landlord or that your score can be mitagated with advance rent payments. 

Property Management Companies often use an outside resident screening service that provides the property management company with an acept/reject score.  This services provides credit reports from major reporting agencies, an eviction search, employment verification, criminal background search and other information.  In this case the application would need to be run through the application process to determin if their application is within the acept range.

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