If your lease is about to expire or you just want to get out of your current living situation, and you have bad credit, don’t worry to much. Many people have bad credit and are still able to rent to own an apartment or home. We field many calls from individuals who state that they have bad credit. But this can mean many things, and landlords and management companies are usually just interested in a few items.
So don’t worry to much about what your credit score is. Factors that will have more weight include your rental history. Do you have any broken leases or evictions? Has any apartment community assessed any damages that you have not paid off? These are things you should be concerned with. When a landlord looks at your overall application, these items will be the most important. If you have any charge offs from a credit card, this probably won’t be a major factor.
Ok, so you are aware that you have had a history of bad credit and your afraid that this may impact you negatively. What can you do? Run your own personal credit and see if any items pop up. If they don’t you may be in the clear. If they do it might be time to take care of these items. You can try the lease to own homes options. If you have any outstanding debts in regards to a previous apartment home, it might be wise to either pay them off or get on some kind of payment plan.
If this is not possible then you will have to look for smaller private homes for rent or a four-plex that do not require a background check. Check online using websites like Craigslist. Many of these individuals are private owners and just want to lease their apartment or home quickly.
If the apartment community does want a credit report, see if you can provide the information they need on your own. That way if there are any potential issues.you can address them in a letter or at that point in time. Sometimes all a landlord needs is a recommendation from a previous community that says you were a good tenant.
