Advice needed on potential tenant with high debt

[Therese V.]

I have run my first credit/background/eviction check on my first potential tenant for a new rental property (my first property had a familiar tenant in quickly, so didn't need the background check).

She is divorced, 5 kids (1 in college). She has really high debt, about $98k from student loans. The payment information shows she has refinanced it and has paid all her payments. I also see what appears to be a car that was repossessed and charged off as bad debt from 2005 and 2011. I also see a utility company and shows she paid those bills as well.

I also see something that I don't quite understand 2 lines called collection items. What does assigned mean, and what does Last Act mean? The assigned are 6/12 and 6/10 and both have the last act as 12/14. One is comed and the other is verizon wireless.

The credit score is 645. The income is a little over 3x rent.

Thoughts? Advice? Thanks in advance and Merry Christmas!

[Michele Fischer]

Therese, the student debt, vehicles and Verizon don't concern me, but the utility company and misc collections would cause me to deny.  In our area unpaid utilities can be leined against the landlord, so I consider it unpaid rent.  The misc rent could be amounts owing previous landlords, and that is a show stopper for me.  Accept no excuses or sob stories; every story has two stories, and the applicants is often fairly tilted from reality.  People can do amazing things to juggle debt, but to me the most important thing is their track record with utilities and prior landlords.