Apartment Applications

[Anonymous]

I have to relocate for work so I am doing a cross country apartment hunt. My FICO scores are 629-633. I have one collection for $922 from 2013. And my income is 3x rent. I've been with the same employer for five years and I've never played rent late.

I'm moving with someone with $100,000 in savings and 700s credit. I was approved for a $35k car loan last year (I accepted $15k of it). If I was approved for a car, I'm thinking I should be fine for an apartment? Anyone have experience with this?

Just don't want to mess this up for the person I'll be moving with. Obviously there is no definite answer out there. Just looking to talk this through before I start talking to landlords when I start applying next week.

[Anonymous]

Someone with more experience will most likely come along, but....

Does the person you are moving with also have employment at the new location?

Most, at least corporate apartments, will attempt to qualify all individuals on the lease separately, from a creditworthiness standpoint. This is done because each are individually responsible for the lease. Many have a score threshold that applicants need to be above. Of course, evictions and rent related judgements hurt the worst in the eyes of a landlord. I’m not sure one collection from 6 years ago will be a huge speedbump for you. I’d be more worried about not meeting the score threshold for corporate complexes. Due to equal housing laws, corporate complexes tend to be very cut and dry on approval. Renting from private landlords can often be more relaxed.

Is the one collection the only negative on your credit reports? Seems like your scores are a little on the low side for such an aged derogatory if everything else is in-line.

[CreditInspired]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I have to relocate for work so I am doing a cross country apartment hunt. My FICO scores are 629-633. I have one collection for $922 from 2013. And my income is 3x rent. I've been with the same employer for five years and I've never played rent late.

I'm moving with someone with $100,000 in savings and 700s credit. I was approved for a $35k car loan last year (I accepted $15k of it). If I was approved for a car, I'm thinking I should be fine for an apartment? Anyone have experience with this?

Just don't want to mess this up for the person I'll be moving with. Obviously there is no definite answer out there. Just looking to talk this through before I start talking to landlords when I start applying next week.

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Make sure you find the apt you really like and apply for that one. You don’t want multiple inqs for apt seeking. Also, you don’t want to be paying multiple application fees. 

I live in DC metro area and this is how it works here. 

Excellent credit profile — no security deposit. 

Fair credit profile - 1 mo. Security deposit.

Also must pass criminal background check. 

And it’s the law here that everyone 18+ must apply and be on the lease. 

GL2U

[Anonymous]

I have three paid collections that didn't drop or change my score. They're CAs that delete after paying, but so far only the balances have updated. That's most likely why my scores are in the shape they are. I also only have three credit cards under five years old and a one year old are loan. So thin credit profile. The buildings I'm looking at have rental criteria listed, and while they all don't give an explicit score range, they all say "Balance of all collections may not exceed $1000."

[calyx]

My scores were much lower than yours, and the main thing was that I had to pass a criminal background check and pay extra deposit.    One of my complexes required a reference from work (which was easy enough).
Definitely follow the advice above with regards to not applying to too many places, but in my experience it hasn't been a big deal as long as you can cover the extra deposit(s).

[Anonymous]

Great advice from the others folks.  If our OP really wants to review all the relevant reports that the landlord might pull, you can start with this....

https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_consumer-reporting-companies-list.pdf

and double check that with this....

https://www.annualmedicalreport.com/list-nationwide-specialty-consumer-reporting-agencies/

You'll see that there are CRAs that are devoted solely to collecting data for landlords.

I'd also review your Vantage scores: although extremely few lenders and CC issuers use them, I believe contributor Thomas Thumb here on the forums has explained that Vantage is used by quite a few landlords.

As others have indicated there are issues complete apart from the CRAs we have mentioned so far -- criminal background checks, confirmation of adequate monthly income, and likely DTI, all of which would be assessed by the landlord using still other tools.

You can also just decide to take the F-it approach and decide you are probably fine without doing lots of other CRA pulls of your own.

I do encourage you to monitor you credit reports for what you believe should be happening soon, namely the complete deletion of your collections from the Big Three CRAs.

[calyx]

Something else to consider - since you're moving for work, see if the company you are working for (or will be working for) has relocation services or agreements with any realtors or apartments/apartment complexes in the area.

I've always worked for major employers and they have offered these services.   In many cases, you get anything from no application fees to reduced rent/deposits - plus they tend (in my and coworkers' experiences) to be less stringent in looking into your qualifications as you are working with a partnered/trusted business.