Summary Of Consumer Rights Under State Laws
In addition to your rights outlined in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureauâs âA Summary of Your Rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act,â several states give consumers specific rights as outlined in individual state fair credit reporting acts. Like the FCRA, state fair credit reporting acts are designed to promote accuracy, fairness and privacy of information in the files of âconsumer reporting agencyâ operating in that state.
As not all of these rights apply to LeasingDesk or are available in every state, it is important that you carefully review this document and Consumer Financial Protection Bureauâs âA Summary of Your Rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.â Whether or not your state is specifically identified, you still may have additional rights under state law. You may wish to contact your state or local consumer protection agency, or your state attorney general to learn about those rights.
Your rights under the state credit or consumer reporting laws may include:
In addition to these general state guidelines above, some state laws provide other specific rights for their residents. Likewise, you may wish to contact your state or local consumer protection agency, or your state attorney general to learn about those rights, or consult the referenced statutes.
Colorado Residents. You have a right to file an action in court or to submit to binding arbitration if you believe a CRA has not met its obligations under the law.
Vermont Residents.
Can I Sue Realpage For Errors
You may have a case and be able to sue in Federal court if the following have happened to you:
- You were denied housing or an apartment due to the incorrect information in your RealPage LeasingDesk reports
- A background check was done without your permission
- You were delayed in getting a rental property due to incorrect information in your RealPage LeasingDesk reports
How Landlords Learn Your Secrets: Special Credit Reports
Finding the perfect house or apartment to rent is pretty tough you have to consider your budget, your commute, your needs and wants and even your credit report, which has become a standard part of the application process. But once you’ve put in a rental application, the landlord may also be scouring a specialty credit report for your rental history that judges your past performance and character as a tenant.
Some landlords use these renter’s reports to decide whether to rent to you. But how do you know what those reports say about you? Unfortunately, as a renter, it can be difficult to check your own residential or tenant history report until after your rental application has already been denied. By then, the rental property you wanted is gone.
The Rental Credit Reporting Companies
There are hundreds of sophisticated data companies collecting and selling this information to landlords. For most consumers, the information in a specialty renter’s report is more expansive and detailed than in a financial from the three major financial credit reporting agencies.
Specialty rental reports contain intimate personal information, including: property rental addresses for previous 7 years, rental payment performance history , average length of past rentals, pet ownership, cleanliness of living conditions, reason for renting , civil court records, criminal background check, financial credit reports, past evictions, tenant history scores and lease risk scores.
The Watchdogs
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The Company Wont Turn Over My Score What Can I Do
Next steps could include consulting a lawyer or sending a formal records request by mail. I mailed a certified letter to RealPages corporate headquarters, asking for my full consumer file, including my tenant reports and scores and the dates those scores were calculated. I also asked them to provide a list of landlords or companies who had received information about me.
How Does Leasingdesk Work For Realpage Inc
LeasingDesk will automatically and instantly rescore applicants to determine if approved applicants qualify for a higher priced unit, or if declined applicants qualify for a lower priced unit. RealPage, Inc. is classified as a nationwide specialty consumer reporting agency under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act .
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Better Screening Better Tenants
What is a good credit score for tenants looking to rent your properties?
With the information you learned today about credit scores and why a credit score can be a good way to screen tenants, you should have a better idea of what to look for.
Remember, credit score can show you:
- How risky it might be to rent to a tenant
- If they have a record of keeping up with payments on time
- If they have many financial obligations right now
Knowing these three things can help you feel more confident in your decision to deny or accept a prospective tenant. Remember, tenant screening is a process you should put some time and effort into. Ensuring you get the right tenants into your property will help hold your bottom line as you find success in the rental industry.
How To Get A Tenants Credit Score
Landlords who havent used credit scores as a screening factor before or are new to the rental industry might not be sure how to find out this private information about their tenant. Do you simply ask your tenant to tell you their credit score? Can you trust this information?
No that is not the right way to find out a tenants credit score.
Here at RentPrep, we offer two services that provide tenant credit score information. Our credit check is a pass/fail based system that provides you a range to choose from. This does not provide the specific credit score.
We also offer our SmartMove reports for those who would like to see the specific credit score with a full credit report.
If you want to learn more about how credit scores can and should be used during screening, this complete review can help. This will give you insight into different ways to run a credit score, the benefits of each method, and how you should consider this as you move forward with business.
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How To File A Realpage Consumer Report And Leasingdesk Screening Score Dispute
You can dispute an error on your background report online, over the phone or through . When you file a RealPage background check dispute, RealPage then has 30 days to look into the complaint. If the investigation affirms that the information is incorrect, the error must be fixed immediately.
However, if the dispute is unresolved or ignored, you have the right to sue. Additionally, there are many errors that dont even require a dispute. You may be entitled for additional damages if the error caused you to lose a rental or housing opportunity. Learn how you can get free legal help today.
Does Getting Fired From A Job Show Up On A Background Check
While getting fired does not go on your criminal background check, there are other ways a prospective employer can learn of a termination. It is important to remain truthful throughout the hiring process, as lying about your work history is usually more problematic than having a termination in your past.
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Understand The Benefits Of A Good Credit Score
A credit score in the good range may reflect a relatively short credit history marked by good credit management. It may also characterize a longer credit history with a few mistakes along the way, such as occasional late or missed payments, or a tendency toward relatively high credit usage rates.
Late payments appear in the credit reports of 36% of people with FICO® Scores of 675.
Lenders see people with scores like yours as solid business prospects. Most lenders are willing to extend credit to borrowers with credit scores in the good range, although they may not offer their very best interest rates, and card issuers may not offer you their most compelling rewards and loyalty bonuses.
Get Legal Help To Resolve Your Realpage And Leasingdesk Dispute
Depending on the type of error, you may have the right to sue. You may be entitled to more damages especially if you have lost a rental or housing opportunity because of an error from RealPage and LeasingDesk.
A 2018 RealPage lawsuit from the Federal Trade Commission found that RealPage did not have the appropriate policies set in place to ensure the accuracy of its practices. Consumers records matched criminal records with only names and birthdates as the criteria. RealPage agreed to pay a $3 million settlement to the Federal Trade Commission.
Contact the consumer protection attorneys at Francis Mailman Soumilas, P.C. today to get a free case review about your RealPage LeasingDesk issue.
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Can You Get An Apartment With A Credit Score Of 500
In short, yes! A credit score of 500 is low, but its not insurmountable. It would be best if you planned some extra time for your apartment hunt with scores this low, but you can still rent an apartment. If you prefer to find a no credit check apartment, your best bet is to go with a private landlord.
Identity Theft & Fraud Alerts
You have a right to place a âfraud alertâ in your credit report, which will warn anyone who receives information in your credit report that your identity may have been used without your consent. Recipients of your credit report are required to take reasonable steps, including contacting you at the telephone number you may provide with your fraud alert, to verify your identity prior to lending money, extending credit, or completing the purchase, lease, or rental of goods or services. The fraud alert may prevent credit, loans, and services from being approved in your name without your consent. Fraud alerts may cause some delays if you are trying to obtain credit. For example, the fraud alert may prevent credit, loans, and services from being approved in your name without your consent. However, you should be aware that taking advantage of this right may delay or interfere with the timely approval of any subsequent request or application you make regarding a new loan, credit, mortgage, insurance, rental housing, employment, investment, license, cellular phone, utilities, digital signature, Internet credit card transaction, or other services, including an extension of credit at point of sale. To compensate for possible delays, you may wish to include a cell phone number, where you can be reached easily, in the fraud alert. You also should keep all contact information in your alert current.
Initial Fraud Alerts â Generally
Extended Fraud Alerts â Generally
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Whats The First Thing I Should Do When Looking For A House
The first thing you should do before searching for rental homes is decide on an ideal budget. Consider how much of your income goes towards bills and what you have left over at the end of each month. Also, remember that when first moving in, you will need to account for at least a deposit and first months rent.
How To Get Rentgrow Off Your Credit Report
If you applied to rent a new house or apartment recently, or your lease was up for renewal near the time of the hard inquiry, you probably wont be able to get it off your report.
The best approach to legitimate hard inquiries is to let them fall off your report naturally.
However, if you didnt do anything to trigger a credit inquiry from RentGrow, you need to get it off your report ASAP.
Not only is it damaging your score unnecessarily, but it could be a sign of identity theft.
Here are a few tips to help you get the hard inquiry off your report.
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How Can These Scores Affect Me
Landlords may use tenant scores to decide whether to rent to you or how much to charge you for a security deposit. We have heard from tenants who say scores have impacted their ability to find housing. Other renters have reported being denied for apartments or asked to pay double in security deposits because of their tenant scores.
How To Dispute The Information In Your Report
If you find information in your consumer report that you believe is inaccurate or incomplete, you have the legal right to dispute the reports content with the consumer reporting company and the company that shared the information to the reporting company, such as your lender. Under the FCRA, companies must conduct free of charge a reasonable investigation of your dispute. The company that has provided the incorrect information must correct the error, and notify all of the consumer reporting companies to whom it provided the inaccurate information.
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Denied Housing Due To Onsite Background Check
Were you denied housing due to errors on a RealPage On-Site screening report? Was your move in date delayed due to errors on your On-Site background check? If you answered yes to either of the above you may have a case.
Fill out the Free Case Review Form on this page or call us now at 1-877-735-8600.
Rp Onsite Background Check Errors
While instant background checks sound great, since approvals happen fast, they can be harmful. Many instant background checks are prone to errors. Incorrect information on a background check can be due to similar names, addresses and birth dates. Incorrect criminal history can cause denial of an apartment or housing.
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act you have the right to dispute errors on your background check.
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Credit Score: Is It Good Or Bad
A FICO® Score of 675 falls within a span of scores, from 670 to 739, that are categorized as Good. The average U.S. FICO® Score, XXX, falls within the Good range. A large number of U.S. lenders consider consumers with Good FICO® Scores “acceptable” borrowers, which means they consider you eligible for a broad variety of credit products, although they may not charge you the lowest-available interest rates or extend you their most selective product offers.
21% of U.S. consumers’ FICO® Scores are in the Good range.
Approximately 9% of consumers with Good FICO® Scores are likely to become seriously delinquent in the future.
Common Problem: Insufficient Credit On A Credit Report
New tenants often wonder the same thing: what credit score do you need to rent an apartment? These same tenants might not have any idea what their credit score is, and that can lead to some confusion for both prospective tenants and you, their future landlord.
What happens if their credit report comes back and says they have insufficient credit history to create a credit score?
More often than not, a designation of Insufficient Credit means the tenant does not have enough tradelines or credit-impacting accounts. We often see this with students or younger people, older people with no credit activity in years , and a spouse who has nothing in their name.
In these situations, it will be up to you to determine whether or not you can prove the tenants financial risk through other means.
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Local Bureaus: In Addition To The Big Three There Are Many Companies That Combine Experian Equifax And Trans Union Reports Into One Credit Report Or Might Use One And Incorporate It Into Something Like A Rental Report
Local Bureaus: In addition to the Big Three there are many companies that combine Experian, Equifax and Trans Union reports into one credit report or might use one and incorporate it into something like a rental report. If all three are combined into one report, this is called a trimerge. Trimerges are usually used in mortgage lending. Since the trimergers parrot the Big Three, you should concentrate your efforts on Experian, Equifax and Trans Union and the others should fall into place. Hopefully now you understand what is a credit report.
- Check Screening Certegy Check Services ChexSystems TeleCheck .
- Business credit: Dunn Bradstreet reports on the creditworthiness of businesses.
- Medical history: Medical Information Bureau compiles and stores your confidential and private medical information for use by insurance . These can easily help you understand what is a credit report and gain useful insights on medical history information.
- Rental reports: Various companies. Typically combine civil and criminal case information with a single CRAs credit report. Contemporary Information Corp. CoreLogic SafeRent First Advantage Resident History Report Leasing Desk Tenant Data Services .
- Employment History Reports. Accurate Background EmployeeScreen HireRight First Advantage Verifications and many others can help you understand what is a credit report.
Summary Of Consumer Rights Under The Fcra
Note: A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act is also available at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureauâs website at www.consumerfinance.gov/learnmore.
Para informacion en espanol, visite www.consumerfinance.gov/learnmore o escribe a la Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 1700 G Street N.W.,Washington, DC 20552.
A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act
The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act promotes the accuracy, fairness, and privacy of information in the files of consumer reporting agencies. There are many types of consumer reporting agencies, including credit bureaus and specialty agencies . Here is a summary of your major rights under the FCRA.
For more information, including information about additional rights, go to www.consumerfinance.gov/learnmore or write to: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 1700 G Street N.W., Washington, DC 20552.
In addition, all consumers are entitled to one free disclosure every 12 months upon request from each nationwide credit bureau and from nationwide specialty consumer reporting agencies. See www.consumerfinance.gov/learnmore for additional information.
States may enforce the FCRA, and many states have their own consumer reporting laws. In some cases, you may have more rights under state law. For more information, contact your state or local consumer protection agency or your state Attorney General. For information about your federal rights, contact:
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