If you are planning on renting a house or apartment and also have a past bankruptcy, there are some things you need to know.
First, you need to determine what you are likely to rent from – meaning a private party or a property management company.
How come it matter? Because each one of these usually approaches the rental process very differently. If you don’t understand what their process is, you could become out $30-60 in credit report fees.
There are a number of strategies will improve your likelihood of being qualified for a home or apartment rental. I understand, because I have tried personally them when renting in the past – both from private parties and property management companies.
I am not likely to cover every single strategy here, as there isn’t enough room, but here’s one you can start with:
If you’re applying for accommodations having a property management company, find out what their rental criteria is. It may sound like good sense, but a lot of people submit a rental application, with a non-refundable credit history fee, simply to be rejected due to their credit rating.
Don’t let this happen to you! If you know what the criteria is in advance, and you find out by asking, you will at least have an idea of whether you are able to qualify.
If you have a bankruptcy it doesn’t suggest you will be declined. Much depends upon the home management company’s guidelines. For example, a house management company may still rent to you – but maybe they’ll request a higher security deposit.
In After Bankruptcy Credit Solutions I go into more detail on specific strategies you can use to increase your chances of qualifying to have an apartment or home rental.
I do not have sufficient room in the following paragraphs to discuss strategies when it comes from renting from private parties. However, it can be a much different experience than renting from property management companies.
In my opinion, private parties tend to be less rigid in their rental screening process. What this means is there’s something you should NOT do throughout the rental screening process – or else you could end up being rejected pretty quickly. But I’ll save those for an additional article on renting after bankruptcy.