Renting privately with a debt management plan

astralbluz

Good afternoon everyone, first post here so please go easy.

I'm currently on a debt management plan through StepChange, and have been for quite a while now. Most of my creditors have since defaulted my accounts, and these are showing on my credit report.

I'm looking at renting privately in the near future, and I'm worried that this will show on a credit check. I've heard most referencing companies will do a soft credit search, showing public records, and things like insolvency or county court judgments which I don't have.

My first question would be if this is the same process these days, and if anyone's had any luck renting privately with similar circumstances?

I've been looking at OpenRent, and I've noticed their reference company ask for a list of your credit agreements (probably because they don't have access to that information) and I don't feel entirely comfortable listing my creditors. My second question would be if this is a common thing to ask when renting privately?

I might be looking into things too much here, but I've worried myself about what they can see and whether I'd be refused there and then, for having a number of debts through a debt management plan.

Hope this post makes enough sense. I haven't rented privately before, and can provide references from my current tenancy with a housing association.

sourcrates

All depends what type of credit check the landlord or letting company run on you.

They can do either a full credit check, which reveals everything,

or,

what`s called a "landlord check" which just checks public information about you.

fatbelly

You are correct. A prospective landlord will only see CCJs and insolvency. I've cut and pasted the following

Letting agents and landlords will carry out a Soft Search during your application, which only looks at information on your Credit Report that’s publicly available. These are different to the searches carried out by lenders, which focus more on money that you’ve borrowed and repaid.
Primarily landlords are only looking for verification that you are who you say you are, along with any court information, such as County Court Judgments, that might be related to you having missed past payments, all of which is available with a Soft Search.
Soft Searches can only be carried out with your permission, but when signing letting agents’ paperwork it might be hidden in the small print. 

So why are you leaving your Housing Association property? That sounds like a backward step.

Pixie5740

sourcrates said:

All depends what type of credit check the landlord or letting company run on you.

They can do either a full credit check, which reveals everything,

or,

what`s called a "landlord check" which just checks public information about you.

Landlords and letting agencies don't have the facility to run a full credit check on a prospective tenant the same way a lender does for a credit card or loan.  Credit reference agencies such as Experian do offer landlords a credit referencing facility but all the fancy traffic light really tells you about the credit file is that the identity checks out and there are no CCJ or insolvency.

Pixie5740

astralbluz said:

Good afternoon everyone, first post here so please go easy.

I'm currently on a debt management plan through StepChange, and have been for quite a while now. Most of my creditors have since defaulted my accounts, and these are showing on my credit report.

I'm looking at renting privately in the near future, and I'm worried that this will show on a credit check. I've heard most referencing companies will do a soft credit search, showing public records, and things like insolvency or county court judgments which I don't have.

My first question would be if this is the same process these days, and if anyone's had any luck renting privately with similar circumstances?

I've been looking at OpenRent, and I've noticed their reference company ask for a list of your credit agreements (probably because they don't have access to that information) and I don't feel entirely comfortable listing my creditors. My second question would be if this is a common thing to ask when renting privately?

I might be looking into things too much here, but I've worried myself about what they can see and whether I'd be refused there and then, for having a number of debts through a debt management plan.

Hope this post makes enough sense. I haven't rented privately before, and can provide references from my current tenancy with a housing association.

I don't think it is common to ask tenants to provide a list of all their creditors. I have been both a tenant and landlord and is is certainly not something I or any letting agency I have used has asked for. I have certainly heard of letting agencies asking for copies of bank statements though which I also find intrusive but if you have a "clean" current account which you set up just before starting a DMP it won't tell them much. My brother was once asked for a print out of his Experian credit file which he duly gave and was rejected because it was riddled with late payments and defaults.