Discrepancies Between previous adresses tenant applying Provided and Consumer Report

[Nir]

Hi,
Would you investigate such address discrepancies with the potential tenant, and perhaps ask him/her to provide previous landlords contact again, or is it expected such errors will show on the consumer report?
Thanks.

 

[invst4profit]

I personally assume the report is correct, in order to protect myself, and place the responsibility on the applicant to straighten out any discrepancies.

Is it the present or the previous landlord information which is not matching. Have you attempted to contact the landlord in question.

Once I begin to get conflicting information on a applicant I put them under a microscope and disqualify them if the problem is not cleared up quickly to my satisfaction. When a applicant is less than candid initially and then is slow or deceptive in any way in correcting the problem I reject there application.

 

[kboughen]

It is common for people not to change their mailing address when then move apartments. Their mail may continue to go to their work address, a postal box or their parents house. When this happens, the previous address on the Tenant application may not match the previous address on the Credit report.

 

[Nir]

Thanks guys.

Greg, it`s the current and orevious that are not matching I still think i will accept her but... will ask for clarification and probably one more landlord as the current and previous provided are from the past 1-1.5 yr only.

Regards,
Neil

 

[invst4profit]

It sounds very fishy to me. I am not getting a good feeling about your applicant.
Multiple "issues" are beginning to add up that would send up red flags and cause me
some serious concern.

I would not accept her without resolving the discrepancies by confirming and speaking
directly with the previous landlords.
Confirm they are indeed landlords and find out exactly why she is moving so often.

She is showing some tell tail bad signs.

 

[Nicola]

Every time I`ve ordered a credit report for myself, it`s had all kinds of crazy, inaccurate and out-of-date information (e.g. addresses, jobs, credit card information...)

Even when I`ve tried to correct it with Equifax - so that my credit report actually agrees with what I am telling the lender- it`s never really worked properly.

(Having said that, I am out of the country, so not a lot of information gets reported about me.)

I would definitely ask her to clarify and verify what she is saying, but she may not be lying.

-Nicola

 

[PeterKinchMortgageTeam]

QUOTE (investmart @ Mar 30 2009, 12:05 AM) Hi,
Would you investigate such address discrepancies with the potential tenant, and perhaps ask him/her to provide previous landlords contact again, or is it expected such errors will show on the consumer report?
Thanks.




i`ts important to remember that a credit bureau is not a catch all for personal informaiton - it does not maintain accurate records of address records as the only time an address would be recorded is if the applicant applied for credit, giving that address. If they moved, and did not apply for credit while residing at that address, in all likelyhood, it would not show on the credit bureau.

The credit bureau is a tool that reflects an applicants credit history. It can be used as a tool to support an applicants story, but an applicants story certainly should not be discarded becuase it does not match the credit bureau. Contradictions to the information on the bureau should not only be acceptable, they should be expected especially for those clients with limited or spotty credit.

Hope that helps,

 

[OlegP]

I am with the mortgage brokers on this one - Credit bureau report does not always accurately reflect the chronology. However, Greg has a good point that it is worth asking a few questions, and calling the current and previous landlords for references.

While such gaps might mean that lack of robustness of the credit bureau file, it may also mean that the applicant was selective in choosing a reference. And there might be a good reason such selectiveness!

While this level of due diligence might appear an overkill at first glance, I was able to uncover some real Oscar winning artists by being very detailed in assessing their rental and credit history.

 

[invst4profit]

This level of due diligence in tenant screening is, by my standards, bare bones. Simply a starting point.

Unfortunately in Ontario, where it is extremely difficult and sometimes impossible to evict tenants, you can never be too careful in screening.

 

[JohnSoucie]

The credit bureau address details for my own personal report came out so innacurate that they were laughable and nothing more. For example, in the last 20 years, although I`ve only lived in 2 apartment buildings and then finally my personal residence, the apartments are listed with the correct street names, but the apartment numbers were listed as the street numbers. If you looked up those buildings, they don`t. My current residence was accuratly recorded with RR2 and my street #/name but under the previous address. Apparently I`ve moved to.....simply RR1. For people who don`t live in the country...diff between RR1 and RR1 might be 30Km! And I wouldn`t get my mail.

So having negative suspicions on an applicant based on credit bureau addresses might be a little harsh. Even employment history is funny....I used to work for "Bayer Healthcare"(blood testing machines) but apparently I actually worked for Bayer Aspirin! Big laughs on that one!!

John