credit report: Trans Union Vs Equifax

[kir]

When doing credit report, you do use Equifax or TransUnion and do you obtain the FICO score as well?



I pulled my own history using both Trans Union and Equifax and both credit report are the same.

Equifax has some details on ATB debts, but Trans union didn't. This about was the only difference. However, the score was totally different. The spread was about 100 FICO score apart.



So what good is the FICO score when doing tenant applications? I can't really say 600 is better than 650, or even 700, since my own score was 100 points apart. ...I'm wondering if the FICO score is a waste of money for tenancy applications.







Kir.

 

[KevinWeiler]

I strongly recommend Trans Union over Equifax. Too many times I`ve seen Equifax missing information on the applicants credit bureau. Trans Union seems to have more accurate information on past collections and/or judgments on their credit reports over Equifax. I`ve even had tenants tell me when applying to rent a property that they have had several things in collections in the past prior to me pulling their credit history, only to find Equifax isn`t showing it on their bureau. The PM company I work for (which pulls hundreds on credit bureau`s per year) will only use Trans Union.





Also, there are numerous things you should be looking at when reviewing an applicant`s credit history other than just their credit score. You want to look at past payment history, any past or current collections or judgments/bankruptcies, amount of credit available to the applicant vs. amount borrowed and also recent credit inquires from other companies which the applicant has applied for credit to.





Any credit score that I see under 650 I have an extremely good look at to determine why the score is where it's at - but that's just me. I know some management companies will accept any applicant with a credit score all the way down to 500 before they start asking questions. Not recommended, unless you really like to worry about your tenants not being able to pay you rent!





Hope that helps.