We have pretty straightforward financial requirements for tenants: monthly income 3x rent, credit score >= 600, no bankruptcies or evictions. I put it in the ads, I tell people about it at showings, I put it in emails when people ask about the property. Despite that, I still get applicants who plainly do not qualify going through the whole process.
Last re-rent, a couple with a kid came in. They made about $55k/yr between them, but he said they didn't hit the credit score. I told him I could work with scores that were a little lower if didn't have any bankruptcies or current delinquencies and were otherwise solid. I also made a point of telling him that he's paying for the credit check, and there are no refunds. So he puts in an application, puts down "no bankruptcies" where it asks, and pays for the credit/background check.
Of course I wouldn't be talking about him if it was good. Turns out he ran 3 accounts into collections in 2012, declared bankruptcy in 2013, and has since run 3 more accounts into collections. She has $20k of credit card debt, and an auto loan that's 60 days late. Their credit scores are in the mid-400's. So their credit is more than "a little" bad, and he lied about the bankruptcy both to my face and in writing.
Naturally I tell him this is not going to work. He actually emails me back and says that I'm making a mistake, they both have good jobs and would never miss rent. Of course they had those same jobs for years before he declared bankruptcy, and he made the same promise to all those accounts that are in collections, but never mind that.
That was the most egregious case, but I've had other people apply with sub-500 credit scores and multiple accounts 90-days delinquent, student loan payments more than their claimed income, and on and on. It just blows my mind that these people pony up for the credit check when they have to have some idea what it says.
Does this kind of thing happen to everyone else, or do I just have "big softie" written on my forehead?
