Renting and credit checks

JimTracy

Hi,

I am currently looking to rent a property but worried I wont pass the credit checks.

To be brief-
I have below average credit in that in the past ive defaulted and been late on some payments, however I have never had a CCJ or bankruptcy.

Ive heard people say before that lettings agencies can only see "public" credit record so can only see if youve had a CCJ or bankruptcy.

Also found this on a website
"Employers and landlords can also check your credit report, although they will usually only see public record information such as electoral register information and whether any County Court Judgements (or Decrees in Scotland) or insolvency records are held against you."

and it pretty much says the same here http://uk.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/landlords-employers-check-your-credit-1356.php

But, the lettings agencies always seem to mention credit scores which suggests they delve deeper, so im a bit confused, is there anyone with good knowledge in the field can tell me what the actual deal is ? As I know id pass the "public" credit but maybe not the "private" one.

thanks !

squeeks

Really don't worry about it, just proceed as if everything is fine, until someone tells you otherwise.

From past experience they may not even do a credit check but will quite happily take your details and your money.

If the estate agents do discover any issues with the credit history then it is still up to the landlord, who may or may not care anyway. Remember the landlord may refuse to accept a tenant for any reason anyway, so it isn't worth getting up tight about. The worse that happens is you have to look for another property.

annmaria2

Hey dont worry too much about it. Last year we rented a house with my partner who had - 3 defaults! Estate agent and landlord never mentioned anything however they did credit search

whalster

If a prospective tenant tells me they may have a low score beforehand I am much more likely to rent the property to them .however this is doing all my own letting as a private landlord ,you may find an agent just uses it as an excuse to screw more money out of you

squeeks

whalster wrote: »

If a prospective tenant tells me they may have a low score beforehand I am much more likely to rent the property to them .however this is doing all my own letting as a private landlord ,you may find an agent just uses it as an excuse to screw more money out of you

My understanding is that the type of credit score available to EA is quite high level. My understanding is that only IVA's, CCJ's and bankruptcies will be visible. Late, missed payments and defaults don't appear, so these are things you really don't need to tell anyone about.

Even IVA's, CCJ's and bankruptcies may not be an issue, but it is at the desecration of the landlord.

I understand that landlords and estate agent may think they should have access to every private detail of a tenants life, but the reality is they only have access to this information if you volunteer it.

jeanee

We recently went to view a property in Greater Manchester using Your move agent. we were so pleased with the property that we immediately went to the agent and paid our set up fee of £240 and gave all the information needed to obtain credit checks etc.

Your move used Clear View tenant referencing agency who came with the following incorrect information:
1. we had 7 CCJ's ( Not correct we don't have any )
2. we owed over 11,000 in debt. (again incorrect)
3. we had a very poor credit rating. (Wrong)

I don't know how they came up with their information, but they asked me to forward my Experian report which I did, (no ccj'd, fair credit rating and less that 8,000 owing.) Clearview still declined us. hence we now have 4 weeks to find somewhere to live as I start my new job in 4 weeks.

I would like to know who to complain to regarding this. just so that we are successful next time.

squeeks

jeanee wrote: »

We recently went to view a property in Greater Manchester using Your move agent. we were so pleased with the property that we immediately went to the agent and paid our set up fee of £240 and gave all the information needed to obtain credit checks etc.

Your move used Clear View tenant referencing agency who came with the following incorrect information:
1. we had 7 CCJ's ( Not correct we don't have any )
2. we owed over 11,000 in debt. (again incorrect)
3. we had a very poor credit rating. (Wrong)

I don't know how they came up with their information, but they asked me to forward my Experian report which I did, (no ccj'd, fair credit rating and less that 8,000 owing.) Clearview still declined us. hence we now have 4 weeks to find somewhere to live as I start my new job in 4 weeks.

I would like to know who to complain to regarding this. just so that we are successful next time.

I'd check with the other credit agencies (call credit, experian and equifax) and see if you have any linked addresses or people that shouldn't be there.
http://www.ico.org.uk/for_the_public/topic_specific_guides/credit

Regarding clear view, the website is next to useless or my google foo is failing me. Contacts for the parent company ldl can be found here: http://www.lslps.co.uk/contact

Companies have an obligation to ensure any data they hold about you is accurate, so you should be able to get it resolved.

Experian_company_representative

Any credit score a landlord or letting agent might obtain would be compiled using only data they're entitled to access, so certainly not your private credit history data.

James

JimTracy

Please can you explain why the website claims they check credit scores .. im confused http://www.experian.co.uk/background-checking/tenant-check.html

ifarag

Hi,

I had the same problem with Your-Move. The agent claimed that I have a delayed financial history, that was verbally that Your-Move never agreed to give me a formal feedback on the reasons of having my application refused. Your-Move collected from me around GBP250 only for credit checking, afterwards they claimed that I have poor credit report depiste I explained to them everything at the very begining. They even refused to show me my report and I printed to the report from Experian. It was averaged "Fair" as I explained to Your-Move from the very begining but they still got my application refused and didnt even approve to refund my credit checking fees. I lost the chance to find any other property and had to compromise a deal with Your-Move as to increase my deposit. I want to file a complain as well