Post #2 about the credit check and rental approval...need advice stat (apartment, evictions)
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FYI, I kinda already have a post about this, but I have an update as our rental application was denied...
Bf and I just found out our application didn't go through (we were interested in a condo rental, currently we are in a big apartment building through a management company).
My credit isn't stellar, and that's why I'm guessing it was denied...my credit scores range from 656-715 (depending on which you're using) and my debt to credit ratio is about 25%:75%. However I have no collections, judgements, evictions, etc and have NEVER made a late payment!!! Boyfriend is not an American citizen, but here on a student visa, so we provided his income through his dad's bank statement (no credit history obviously) who makes 30,000 euros a MONTH.
Regardless of my credit, im wondering why else i would have gotten denied? Even if my credit was worse, couldn't the co-signer's income be more than enough?? We had NO problem being approved for our current apartment, and barely had to pay security deposit bc of our "good credit" ( and my credit was slightly lower then!!). The place we got denied for is also a hundred dollars cheaper than what we pay now...Or could it just simply be that the condo owner was looking for someone with stellar credit?
Please help, as we need to find a place by two weeks!!!
FYI, I kinda already have a post about this, but I have an update as our rental application was denied...
Bf and I just found out our application didn't go through (we were interested in a condo rental, currently we are in a big apartment building through a management company).
My credit isn't stellar, and that's why I'm guessing it was denied...my credit scores range from 656-715 (depending on which you're using) and my debt to credit ratio is about 25%:75%. However I have no collections, judgements, evictions, etc and have NEVER made a late payment!!! Boyfriend is not an American citizen, but here on a student visa, so we provided his income through his dad's bank statement (no credit history obviously) who makes 30,000 euros a MONTH.
Regardless of my credit, im wondering why else i would have gotten denied? Even if my credit was worse, couldn't the co-signer's income be more than enough?? We had NO problem being approved for our current apartment, and barely had to pay security deposit bc of our "good credit" ( and my credit was slightly lower then!!). The place we got denied for is also a hundred dollars cheaper than what we pay now...Or could it just simply be that the condo owner was looking for someone with stellar credit?
Please help, as we need to find a place by two weeks!!!
Sounds like a fluke to me. I don't think you'll be getting denied too many places. Is your boyfriend's dad cosigning. It probably is your boyfriend not you.
FYI, I kinda already have a post about this, but I have an update as our rental application was denied...
Bf and I just found out our application didn't go through (we were interested in a condo rental, currently we are in a big apartment building through a management company).
My credit isn't stellar, and that's why I'm guessing it was denied...my credit scores range from 656-715 (depending on which you're using) and my debt to credit ratio is about 25%:75%. However I have no collections, judgements, evictions, etc and have NEVER made a late payment!!! Boyfriend is not an American citizen, but here on a student visa, so we provided his income through his dad's bank statement (no credit history obviously) who makes 30,000 euros a MONTH.
Regardless of my credit, im wondering why else i would have gotten denied? Even if my credit was worse, couldn't the co-signer's income be more than enough?? We had NO problem being approved for our current apartment, and barely had to pay security deposit bc of our "good credit" ( and my credit was slightly lower then!!). The place we got denied for is also a hundred dollars cheaper than what we pay now...Or could it just simply be that the condo owner was looking for someone with stellar credit?
Please help, as we need to find a place by two weeks!!!
Isn't there something on that credit check that you can request the answer to "why" you were denied. We would only be guessing, ask the LL you applied to.
Until they tell you why you were denied, your chasing at phantoms. In a condo rental, your dealing with a whole bunch more resons for denials than at traditional rental complexes. The only thing you can do is ask them for the reason.
You've posted a few times asking us to speculate, but have you asked the company you wanted to rent from? If so, what did they say? If not, why don't you just call them?
It doesn't seem like it could be your credit as it's not in the "abysmal" range. Did your boy-friend's father sign something to say he would be responsible for his son? Otherwise, I don't know why they would even look at his income. Does the boy-friend's student visa expire any time soon (like during the period of the rental)?
But beyond those things, the only thing I can think of is that if I were a landlord, I would not want to count the income of someone who lives out of the country, no matter how high that income allegedly is (I would not recognize foreign bank documents). So if you and your boyfriend can't afford the apartment on YOUR income (not counting his dad's), that may be the reason.
Honestly, it might not be that your credit is bad, it may just be that they received 6 applicants the same day and took the best of the bunch. I've had several people who applied for rentals recently who said "I don't even care about seeing it, I have lost out on 4 other places already and I have to find something." (FYI: "I don't care about seeing it" is not a good thing to say, it makes you sound desperate, and like the condition doesn't matter because you aren't going to take care of it anyway. So don't say that.) My point is that it may not be that your credit is bad, but rather that there were other applicants who were better.
As a landlord, I will say that credit is only one part of the picture. We look at pets, smoker, credit history, rental reference history, criminal history, etc.
If I had two applicants at the same time, and one of them had good credit, a good rental history and a small pet, and the other had ok credit, little rental history, and a wealthy cosigner out of the country, I'd personally be more inclined to take the one with better credit, even with the pet. Dealing with collecting money from outside the US is a nightmare. As far as I'm concerned, it might as well be no cosigner at all.
You've posted a few times asking us to speculate, but have you asked the company you wanted to rent from? If so, what did they say? If not, why don't you just call them?
It doesn't seem like it could be your credit as it's not in the "abysmal" range. Did your boy-friend's father sign something to say he would be responsible for his son? Otherwise, I don't know why they would even look at his income. Does the boy-friend's student visa expire any time soon (like during the period of the rental)?
But beyond those things, the only thing I can think of is that if I were a landlord, I would not want to count the income of someone who lives out of the country, no matter how high that income allegedly is (I would not recognize foreign bank documents). So if you and your boyfriend can't afford the apartment on YOUR income (not counting his dad's), that may be the reason.
I do wish you luck, 2 weeks isn't very long!!
LL of the condo we wanted to rent never responded, I emailed and texted her. Not sure what's wrong with just telling me why, especially when I thought I had built rapport with her.
New place we are applying for told us his dad can't really co sign since bf doesn't have an account that shows money is being deposited. (bf just withdraws whatever from an ATM, wire transfers would always take a week for some reason). It's just that the current place and the place before we lived were fine with copies of his dad's bank statement, some sort of statement from bf's dad he'd agree to pay, and copy of bf's visa.
As a landlord, I will say that credit is only one part of the picture. We look at pets, smoker, credit history, rental reference history, criminal history, etc.
If I had two applicants at the same time, and one of them had good credit, a good rental history and a small pet, and the other had ok credit, little rental history, and a wealthy cosigner out of the country, I'd personally be more inclined to take the one with better credit, even with the pet. Dealing with collecting money from outside the US is a nightmare. As far as I'm concerned, it might as well be no cosigner at all.
I understand about having a cosigner from out of country so I'm having my mom cosign for the co op we are applying for. The cosigner requirement for income is freaking 72x the rent, which would be 108,000...mom makes 90k. I'm submitting it tomorrow anyway, as the guy at the front desk said that it might be ok. Please wish me luck...I have until the 27th to find a place.
I'll also be paying a hefty $400 application fee ($200 for each applicant at this freaking co-op, LL will refund it if I get approved and sign a 1yr lease..). Anyone know if these fees are refundable if I am not approved? 200 is a lotttt to check credit history, let alone $400.
As for return of fees always check the forms you are signing. Have you considered using a realtor? As for what's on your credit report just go ahead and pull a free copy at https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp it's free and you can pull one annual from each of the credit bureaus. Make sure you print or save a copy of each report if you do all three.. Some people only do one of the reports every 4 months to cover the whole year.
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