Many private agencies generate and prepare credit reports and other information to be sold to consumers. Landlords looking forward to renting out their property can make optimal use of online credit reports for landlords and check the credit history of the prospective tenant with minimum one credit reporting agency and see if the applicant is responsible, financially sound, and manages his money well. 

Credit Report- A Goldmine of Information

A credit report generated by a credit reporting agency holds a lot of information that helps a landlord make a well-informed decision to rent out his property to a prospective tenant. A lot can be found out from this report. It helps if the applicant has been-

1. Delinquent or late in paying bills or rent

2. Convicted or arrested for a crime in many states.

3. Evicted by earlier landlords. The landlords have a right to know about prior evictions. 

4. Involved in a lawsuit.

5. He has a good credit history and is financially active. 

The report has information from the past 7-10 years. 

Based on the report ordered at a credit report agency, the landlord can also find out about the credit score of the applicant. FICO Score is the most commonly used score which ranges from 300-850. It is prudent to note here that placing too much value on high credit score is not safe as it does not reflect several of the good tenant characteristics which are equally important when letting a property on rent to him. 

When planning to run a credit check, the landlords need to have the name, address, ITIN or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number and Social Security Number. All this information is available in the consent to a background check and rental application filled by the prospective tenants. The tenants authorize landlords to run a credit report through these credit reports. 

With technology solving a lot of renting related issues, the lives of the landlords have become simpler than ever. Landlords can also use online rent collection software that avoids the challenge of chasing down rent payments. 

The software helps in scheduling recurring payments avoiding the need to rely on envelopes, checks, and stamps. Studies indicate a growing number of renters using software to make rent payments. This helps landlords by saving a lot of time and effort that goes into going to the bank to deposit waiting for the check to arrive in the mail. It also avoids the need for manual recording of payments in accounting ledgers. 

The renters can make timely payments as they are regularly notified and reminded about upcoming rent payments. The rent is directly deposited in the landlord's account without tenants getting access to his bank information. 

The landlords can check rent payment status real-time skipping paperwork. This online platform notifies about rental payments deposited in the account by notifying him through email or a text message. All these features of the software have helped landlords streamline their renting business to a considerable extent.