Credit checks on rental properties
My hubby and I are wanting to move into a new rented house managed by a letting agent and we've to pay for a credit check to be done. Our problem is we've both got bad credit records so don't want to pay out for this if there's little chance of us getting it. We've rented privately for 2 years nearly now and have always paid rent on time so we'd get a good reference from our landlord.
Does anyone have experience/knowledge of credit searches for rented properties and know if we'd stand a chance? My mum has said she'll be a guarantor if we need her to be but don't know if they all do that or not.
Thanks!
missspeedy23 Sun 20/04/08 19:58
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To be honest, as a landlord, I wouldn't have too much faith in a previous landlord's reference. Many landlords give good references simply to get rid of a bad tenant - I'm not saying thats the case with you but it does happen unfortunately.
I would imagine that you would have to have a credit check done. If it comes back bad you may be able to offer the guarantor - but the guarantor would also have to pass the credit check too or it would be worthless. Be upfront with the agent or landlord and tell them the situation.
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When we moved in to a rental property last year in between house moves, the letting agent said "we have to run a credit check, but you would only fail one of these if you were bankrupt or had CCJs"
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My credit is really terrible and i had to go through the same thing. i told the letting agent and they said not to worry as its only things like CCJs and bankruptcy that they bother about. it went through ok with no mention of a guarantor at all. good luck.
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I work in finance, and access to credit files is very restricted. Only companies who give data to the credit reference agencies are allowed to get data out - which basically means that only money lenders, who can give month-by-month updates about a customer's conduct, can obtain credit reports.
However, information about CCJs and bankruptcies is in the public domain, which means you don't have to go through a credit reference agency to gain access to that information - it's freely available. This could be the info that the landlord's credit check shows.
I'm not saying that they definitely don't have access to your credit file, but I'd be very surprised if they did.
Perhaps someone in the know can confirm whether or not this is the case.
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moomintroll1 - most landlords would use a credit referencing company to do the check. It costs about £30 - £40 and they'll contact the tenant's employer too to check salary details. You get a score and a statement telling you whether the tenant is credit worthy or not. I assume this would show up missspeedy23's poor credit record so that the landlord could make an informed decision. It's certainly worked with other tenants with poor credit records. You don't get told who exactly the tenant has defaulted with, just a credit score.
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This got me wondering, so I did some checking into it. Landlords cannot gain access to any of the account data on your credit file. The "credit checks" that the agencies perform are based solely on public information, that is: details of CCJs, bankruptcies and voluntary arrangements.
They can't see any of the account info on your credit report (the bits that say "3 payments behind on a credit card" or "defaulted on a loan"). Furthermore, any credit score given by any of the agencies does not take into account any of that info, because the agencies cannot even see that info, so there is no way they can base their score on it.
Experian offer a tenant verification service, and even their report does not use the account info. What they will do is use their records for identity and address checking, but the actual credit info is strictly off limits.
So, to answer your question, missspeedy23, unless you have been declared bankrupt, have entered into a voluntary arrangement or have CCJs, none of your adverse credit will be visible in the search.
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Hi missspeedy23
We moved into our rented property 2 years ago, I was exactly the same as you, we had bad credit records and I kept thinking, I dont want tp pay out £250 odd pound when im just going to fail the check, ended up doing it anyway and it just went through, I couldnt believe it, I didnt want to ask how or why I was just glad we got it, as the others have said I guess its only when you have CCJ's etc. Good luck
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