Luxury apartment approval

[Anonymous]

Hello, so my boyfriend and I are looking into moving in luxury apartment either in Stamford or in NYC. Currently his credit score is 634 and my score is 690. My score recently went down, due to having a higher credit card balance which I will be paying off in the next month. Other than that I don't have any deroogatory marks on my credit history and my longest credit history is 11 years.

One of the main things that I am worried about is that my SO has medical bills in collection and I wondering how this will effect our chance in getting an apartment. I was wondering what people think is the best course and also insight on the credit checks that are done.

My SO suggested that I just get a lease on my own and then add him to the lease later on.

[DollyLama]

Where are you obtaining the scores? There should be 3 scores minimum for each credit bureau. Credit Karma, Credit Sesame, Vantage scores are not FICO scores. I would say, besides credit history, 11 years is good, but surprised you are not in the mid to upper 700s with no derogs, that the apartment managment will look at job history and salaries. Your SO is the medical debt several small amounts,or excessive? There are things they can do to possibly get these goodwill removed if paid. Or depending on where you live, it may be time for them to fall off credit reports. Would need a bit more info. 

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much for the reponse. 

So I obtained it from Credi Karama and through chase. I do have student loans so I am not sure if that maybe holding my score from being higher but looking at the credit history report it says that it has low impact.

I know that before I got my chase credi card my score was at 720.

My salary for 2020 was 75k and I currently have been at my full time job for 3 yeaars and part time job for 2 years. ( I am interested in obtaining a new full time job but it seems like it possibly may be smarter to wait till I get a new apartment).

My SO has $11,000 in medical collections, he will be calling them soon to see if he can negotiate and then possibly do a payment plan. The medical bills were sent to collection in 2018 and 2019.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

So I obtained it from Credi Karama and through chase. I do have student loans so I am not sure if that maybe holding my score from being higher but looking at the credit history report it says that it has low impact.

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None of those scores are Fico, they are all VS 3 which makes them nearly irrelevant.  You'll want to get your hands on a couple of your Fico scores (your SO as well) to see where you stand.  One source is creditscorecard.com, where you can get your EX Fico 8 score for free monthly.

[Anonymous]

Thank you, my SO and I went on creditscorecard and my FICO score is 705 and my SO score is 596

[Anonymous]

Glad you did that!  As you can see, there can be big variances between a Fico score and VS3.  Your Fico score is higher, where his is lower.  So, it's just really good to know where you stand in Fico land.

[Iusedtolurk]

@Anonymous  Additionally to advice already provided keep in mind that it is a general scenario and not specific.

The well informed members when provided with more specifics can inform you of best methods to gain more points to your credit score.

One major thing that helps boost your scores is your individual credit card utilization and your overall aggregate utilization.

You can also (and this is a great one) practice AZEO before any credit application to boost up your scores.

AZEO is "All Zero Except One" and is when you pay all credit cards to a ZERO balance Except one and that one being a Major Bank Card.

Also the one with the balance needs a very low balance preferably around 1 to 3 percent utilization.

Keep in mind the only scores most creditors will use to determine your credit worthiness are your FICO scores. Don't want to scare you off but there are actually 28 of them consisting of Basic scores and Industry standard and the different bureaus they are pulled from.

This read will help you with a HEAP of knowledge:

Credit Score Primer 

[tacpoly]

@Anonymous  This is the best time to rent an apartment in NYC (I assume this means Manhattan or Brooklyn) as the rental market has softened due to people leaving because of the pandemic resulting in lower rents or more concessions.  

The things landlords want from prospective tenants are good credit scores, good rental history, and annual salary at least 40-45x rent. Because of the current eviction moratorium, I hear landlords are being picky about who they rent to, preferring to lower rent to get good tenants than get stuck with non-paying deadbeats that they're not allowed to evict. 

There are ways to get over hurdles such as bad credit or insufficient salary.  If your credit isn't great (<700) you can offer to put up more deposit. Keep in mind that you're generally expected to have first, last and deposit, so you'll need to have a bit of cash in hand if you want to get into an apartment.  Your 75K salary won't be enough to qualify for a "luxury apartment" in Manhattan or Brooklyn.  If you include your boyfriend's pay, he'll need to be on the lease. If that's not possible, you can get a guarantor (usually parents) with pristine credit and income of at least 80x rent or substantial liquid assets. 

I don't know whether corporations or individual landlords will be more flexible in current market.  I find the NYC rental market to be peculiar.  My first apartment was in a West Village building with a waiting list.  The landlord required a personal meeting and you needed to have a broker to even be considered, but he never did a credit check. He also didn't increase the rent; it was a great place to live.  So you just never know until you try.