Paid Off Charge-Off and Renting

Anonymous · ‎01-18-2018

Hi All,

Hoping someone can help me here, particularly any landlords on the board. I had a credit card that originally went into collections back in 2013 during a rough financial patch. I settled with the bank (unfortunatly - wish I had paid in full but didn't really understand the difference at the time) and paid the card off for the agreed upon amount a little over a year ago. It now shows up as closed with a $0 balance, but also charged off and settled for less than the full amount. Now I'm looking to rent a new apartment and am a little concerned about my ability to be approved with the charge-off on my record. I was fairly recently (last 6 months) approved for my current place with a credit check, but my landlord is pretty lax and I'm not sure what his standards were. I know he used MySmartMove to screen my application.

I've worked hard on my credit since that charge-off and have had no other issues. FICO score hovers between 670-680 right now. I have 3 credit cards in good standing, pay off in full every month, generally keep utilization under 10% and always under 30%, can provide rental references, and make at least 3x more income than rent. I'm applying to rent with a roommate in a large metropolitan city, but one with a far less competitive rental market than NYC/SF/LA.

So, do you think I'll have trouble finding a place? And is that charge-off enough to make it impossible to rent from a management company? Am I worrying too much or are my concerns valid?

Thanks so much for your help!

SBR249 · ‎01-18-2018

Landlords pretty much run the gamut for obvious reasons but your scores look fine. It's worth noting however that there are specialty reporting agencies that landlords may check and their information may differ significantly from reports issued by the big 3 CRAs. If you are sufficiently worried, you can look up these agencies on the CFPB website and contact them to request your file and check.

All that aside, there are a few things you could do. You could ask for a reference from your current landlord before you leave attesting to good rent payment record and behavior. You could probably just write it out and ask him to read and sign. It may also help to have proof of income documentation ready even if it's not requested so that you can show ability to pay. If you have the cash, you can also offer to put down extra deposit or prefund an escrow account.

pizza1 · ‎01-19-2018

no, you'll be fine. I had a BK, paid tax lien, and 16 IIB acts (negative) showing on my reports when I got my apartment a few years back. They have quotas they have to meet to keep a minimum occupancy rate at their place, and now a day, you can buy a home with a 580 credit score. and apartments know this. you'll be fine

JoeLuvsHisCredit · ‎01-21-2018

@pizza1 wrote:
no, you'll be fine. I had a BK, paid tax lien, and 16 IIB acts (negative) showing on my reports when I got my apartment a few years back. They have quotas they have to meet to keep a minimum occupancy rate at their place, and now a day, you can buy a home with a 580 credit score. and apartments know this. you'll be fine

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