How long do you keep rental application information on file? Especially on denied applications.

What about income to rent ratio- what’s your limit that says you can’t afford this find a cheaper place? I recently rented to a single mom, a fourth grade teacher. The rent was almost half what she made. She ended up getting evicted after five months. I think the usual rule of thumb is rent should be no more than one quarter the income- but that’s not always realistic.

Ooops. I just kinda skipped the answer to your question in my first response. We currently use FABCO. For credit reports, most of the services typically draw on one of the majors, such as Experian. As for criminal records, I do not know how FABCO or others compile the information, but we’ve certainly picked up convictions for the occasional applicant. In the rare case, I’ve run some of my own searches on court dockets, which are also available online for many area. Oh, and the primary reason for FABCO vs. others is pretty simple–price.

Do you have a service that you use to run credit and background checks? I ask because its always nice to know how others do things.

FYI, Connie at http://conniebrz.com/ has a good Background Check Manual that can be downloaded from her site. She used to be in the background check business.