Renting and past debts

Jane_Doh

My son paid off all the money he owed on some debts he had two years ago. I would have thought this would mean that he was clear of debt as he had not defaulted on any of the accounts. He had joined a DMP and then inherited a small amount of money which enabled him mto clear his debts. Will he be in a good position to rent a flat or will this impact on his ability to rent somewhere? Any advice would be really helpful!

happy_bunny_2

Credit checks only see public records, such as CCJ, IVA, bankruptcy.

They can't see defaults, DMP, account history or current debts.

They may of course ask to see bank statements, which may reveal payments etc.

antonia86

I'm not sure that is quite correct happy_bunny - as when I was checked for the house we are renting now a missed payment showed up and I had to explain the situation to the letting agent and get the landlords agreement to proceed.


Jane Doh - they'll largely look at affordability. If he paid all debt off two years ago and has managed well since then, this is all positive. Honesty is probably the best policy though. He will not be the first renter with a less than perfect credit history.

happy_bunny_2

antonia86 wrote: »

I'm not sure that is quite correct happy_bunny - as when I was checked for the house we are renting now a missed payment showed up and I had to explain the situation to the letting agent and get the landlords agreement to proceed.


Jane Doh - they'll largely look at affordability. If he paid all debt off two years ago and has managed well since then, this is all positive. Honesty is probably the best policy though. He will not be the first renter with a less than perfect credit history.

Interesting, that seems to go against other posts on here even one I have seen by the a Experian rep.

sirwiggum

When I was renting I had landlords run credit checks.

My credit file had 3 defaults and an arrangement to pay on it, but I still got a rental contract.

I think they're looking for IVAs, bankruptcy etc. and even at that, may just ask for a large upfront deposit / guarantors.

JKSandy

Some letting agencies seem to run a check on your actual file now, this is what happened to me last year.

Tixy

Lettings agents/rental agencies cannot see a person's consumer credit account history from performing a credit check.

This has been confirmed many times by the experian rep on these boards - see here for several examples http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=63305422&postcount=23

Some lettings agents apparently ask potential renters to obtain their own file in full and show that to them but they cannot access it otherwise.