[quote=spdrun]I just check references, interview, and do a Google search for any news about violent crime in the prospect’s name. I don’t ask for an SSN to run credit — too much liability in case of ID theft in future. No point to check pay stubs either. Too easily forged.
Getting 3-4 friends to agree on reference stories is surprisingly difficult.[/quote]
I tell tenants up front there is a $30 application fee IF you want they want me to pull their credit and do a background check.
If, however, they do the experian tenant credit check, they pay experian $15, and grant me access to view their credit file, that blinds out the SSN. Plus for them, they can reuse the credit file in case they decide not to rent from me….Since it comes from experian directly, you know they couldn’t have faked a scanned copy.
Regarding background checks, I haven’t had to do a background check, because the tenants that responded to my ad first all work for a large tech company. So I’d assume the background check was already done by that company. I do request them to give me proof of employment and verify that with a call to the company…
