How Tenants Can Get Their Own Screening Report

What’s in a tenant screening report

A tenant screening report is a consumer report put together for landlords. Depending on the package the landlord buys, it can include:

• A credit report and often a tenant-specific score, such as TransUnion’s ResidentScore.
• Eviction records, usually court filings in landlord-tenant cases.
• Criminal records and sex offender registry searches.
• Identity checks, such as Social Security number verification.
• Income estimates or verification, sometimes from a linked bank account or payroll.

Landlords use different services, so there’s no single report on you. TransUnion SmartMove, RentPrep and the screening built into apps like TurboTenant all pull from different combinations of sources.

Your free copies

Credit reports

Equifax, Experian and TransUnion each give you a free credit report every week at AnnualCreditReport.com. That’s the official site. Others advertising free credit reports often sell subscriptions.

Pull all three before you apply anywhere. Landlords may see any of them, and they don’t always match.

Tenant screening files

The Fair Credit Reporting Act treats nationwide tenant screening companies as specialty consumer reporting agencies. That means you can ask each one for a free copy of your file once every 12 months. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau publishes a list of consumer reporting companies, tenant screening included, with contact details and how to request a file.

You also get a free report any time a landlord takes adverse action against you because of a report: denying you, asking for a cosigner, raising the deposit or charging more rent. The landlord’s notice must name the screening company and tell you how to get the report. Ask within 60 days.

How to dispute an error

Tenant screening reports get things wrong. Common problems:

• Mixed files. A record belonging to someone with a similar name or birth date.
• Eviction filings that went nowhere. A case dismissed or won by the tenant that’s reported as if you lost.
• Sealed or expunged records that shouldn’t appear.
• Old information past the seven-year limit for most negative items other than criminal convictions and bankruptcies.
• Debts already paid but shown as open.

Send a written dispute to the company that made the report. Explain what’s wrong, include copies of your evidence (a court order, a dismissal, a receipt), and keep proof of when you sent it. The company generally has 30 days to investigate, and must correct or delete information it can’t verify. If it won’t fix a clear error, you can file a complaint with the CFPB.

If the error came from a source, such as a former landlord reporting a debt you don’t owe, dispute it with the source too.

Portable and reusable screening reports

A portable tenant screening report is one you get once and share with several landlords, so you don’t pay a new fee for every application. State rules vary. Washington lets landlords choose whether to accept them, and Colorado requires landlords to accept a recent one in many cases. A handful of other states have added rules of their own. Check your state’s current law before you count on it.

Even where landlords aren’t required to accept one, some will. Ask before you apply. Many prefer that the report come straight from the screening company, or through their own system, so they know it hasn’t been edited.

What it costs if you run one yourself

You don’t need to pay to see your own files, but some applicants buy a screening report to share. Prices for landlord-ordered reports give you a sense of the range: TransUnion SmartMove packages run $25 to $49, RentPrep’s credit-only report is $29, and app-based screening such as TurboTenant’s costs applicants $55 ($45 on its Pro plan). Before you buy anything, ask the landlord which service they use and whether they’ll accept a report you bring.

How to explain a problem before the landlord finds it

If your report has something accurate but bad on it, such as an old eviction, a collection or a conviction, you’ll usually do better raising it yourself than waiting for the landlord to see it.

• Keep it short and factual. Two or three sentences: what happened, when, and what’s different now.
• Bring proof. A payment plan letter, a paid-in-full receipt, a court dismissal, a reference from your current landlord.
• Offer something that lowers the risk. A cosigner, a larger deposit where your state allows it, or proof of savings.
• Ask about their criteria up front. Many landlords publish them. If a record will rule you out, you save the application fee.

If you’re in a city or state with fair-chance housing rules, the landlord may not be allowed to ask about criminal history until later in the process, or may have to consider your explanation. Check the local rules before you apply.

Credit freezes

If you’ve frozen your credit, a landlord’s screening service can’t pull it. Lift the freeze temporarily at each bureau before you apply, and put it back after. A freeze that’s still in place is a common reason an application stalls.

For landlords reading this

If an applicant hands you a report they ran themselves, check how recent it is and how you can confirm it’s genuine. A report sent straight from the screening company, or one the applicant runs through your own screening tool, is harder to alter than a PDF. Where your state requires you to accept reusable reports, follow its rules on age and contents.

Whatever you use, the Fair Credit Reporting Act still applies to your decision. If you deny or add conditions based on a report, send an adverse action notice naming the company that supplied it. Source-of-income protections in many states and cities also apply if the applicant pays rent with a housing voucher.