I am using an online tenant screening service to do credit, eviction, criminal, bankruptcy checks etc…and I need some help in the interpretation of the results.
The applicant has a series of credit cards that looks like this:
CREDITOR = AMEX
OPEN DATE = 05/01/2004
LOAN TYPE = CREDIT CARD
CREDIT LIMIT = $13000
BALANCE = $8425.00
PAST DUE = $8425.00
STATUS DATE = 04/15/2019
STATUS = CLOSED
COMMENTS = ACCOUNT CLOSED BY CREDIT GRANTOR
The applicant has six credit cards of this nature with high balances that were closed by the credit grantor. All happened in 2019.
First, what does this mean? Does it mean the applicant maxed out his cards, then refused to pay, and eventually the CC company closed his account and wrote it off as a loss?
Because the accounts are closed the screening service says “active credit card balance” is $500, and does not take into consideration of the total of $5000+ in all those accounts that were closed.
Is my interpretation that those accounts are debts that were never paid?
Since there’s no indication that these accounts were charged off, then it appears that the card holder either closed the accounts with a balance outstanding, or there is a balance outstanding, and the creditor closed the accounts.
Either way, until the creditor charges off the balance, it will likely continue going after the balance owed.
It’s only been four months, and the card holder may be negotiating with the creditors, and so the creditor isn’t pursuing collections, or legal action …yet.
Since the report shows several accounts similarly outstanding and closed, it’s likely the card holder lost his job, or had some catastrophe happen. You don’t get that much credit, without some history of stability.
*** I would simply ask the applicant what is going on. You don’t have to be a mind reader.
You just say, “I’m seeing several outstanding credit balances that aren’t being paid. What’s the deal?”
Then you make up your mind how you want to go forward with the information the applicants gives you.
Meantime, crap happens. But you want to make sure that the applicant’s crap isn’t habitual, and/or isn’t going to morph into explosive diarrhea and hit the fan.
You left out the most important part. What’s their credit score?
Investopedia considers anything under 670 as subprime. Subprime lending is what led to the US mortgage crisis in 2008.
They have six credit cards like this? Equifax would usually put someone like this in the subprime score range. Personally, I’d pass. They can’t live within their means, are financially irresponsible, too impulsive, and there’s a high risk of not getting your rent. If this person has mental illness, you’re in for quite a ride.
I had a guy with great credit who decided to leave the country and didn’t sign they were moving out. I couldn’t find a contact who knew what happened to him and evicted for non-payment of rent. It took me 7 months to evict for non-payment of rent! This was uncontested, but because unluckily I got a very left leaning judge that made an error in law to deny the eviction (which I believe was based on personal bias and hatred of landlords) that I had to appeal and they agreed it was an error and finally issued the eviction. The courts are so busy that each hearing takes several months. Now, let’s try this with someone with bad credit who’s contesting the eviction. How long will it take with judges usually siding with the tenant? Thanks, but no thanks. I’d rather keep it empty than take a chance on someone with bad credit.
He didn’t move out most of his stuff or give me any notice he was moving out. He never returned any phone calls or sent me another dime.
He left the country and never came back. He never told me this–I found after calling all the numbers on his application and then following up each month. If I threw out his stuff and rented it out and he showed up later, I open up myself to a lawsuit for not having a court order. On advise of my lawyer, I went through the whole process of evicting him for non-payment of rent. Once the sheriff let me change the locks, I threw his stuff out. That took me seven months.
Evidently, the laws are different in your state. All I have to do is post a 10-Day Notice to Pay or Quit on the door.
Then, I assume the unit is in danger of being vandalized by being empty, since my leases have abandonment clauses in them, giving me the right to assume abandonment, if the unit remains empty for seven straight days, without prior written notice. I mean, tenants do go on vacation, but usually they pay their rents before they go to Disney World. Meantime, I seize the unit, and proceed to empty it into a locker.
If the rent isn’t paid, then I assume a skip.
In the event the skip returns (which has happened twice in probably 50 times), and he wants his stuff back, he first has to pay me the rent he owes, and then I give him his stuff back.
Actually, once I get the unit re-leased, I’m done. I just give the deadbeat his crap back, which never consists of anything valuable.
Filing an eviction for me would be a superfluous, expensive and inefficient strategy, since the laws allow for abandonment claims where I own real estate. I mean seven months in lost rents? Pffft