Rental Applicant Refuses to Provide Credit Bureau with his SS#

[Account Closed]

seriously now.. i thought i was being mutually discreet by NOT requiring the SS# directly on the application, nor even charging an application fee, for my own properties (as opposed to properties i PM for).

but one of today's prospective tenants who seems to meet income requirements (on paystub with SS# blotted out) has refused to provide SS#,,, to the credit bureau itself!

the way it works is they sign up with a major credit bureau of their choice and provide the credit bureau with my email so the credit bureau can forward me their credit report. that way i'm not personally liable at all for any possible allegations of misuse of their SS#. its the ONLY way i will accept a credit report for persons applying for my own rentals. 

how can someone not want to provide their SS# to the credit bureau?! i mean, granted the credit bureau isn't technically a 'government agency' but then again neither is the employer that obviously has their SS# on their paycheck which applicant blotted out.

and besides, every sane person knows credit bureaus already have most everyone's SS# on file.. don't they??

ps- this is the first week/end i'm using the credit bureaus' 'consumer-initiated credit report share' feature and have yet to see how it goes.

[Steve Rozenberg]

I am sure that every state is different how things are done and legal issues. But I know that we do not deviate from any applicant the way we process them and the things we require. If we do one thing different and do not make one person do something EVER... we have set a precedent and this can be considered a discrimination violation if the denied applicant pursues legal action. It also can be a Fair Housing Violation, depending on what you did or did not require.

To be safe, I would suggest that if they do not provide what is needed you do not want them as a tenant. 

Think of it this way.... They should be on their best behavior now trying to get a place. If you are having problems now this is a HUGE red flag of things to come in your future when dealing with them.

Even in a slow market I would pass on anyone that does not follow my rules... I used to bend the rules and be "Creative" to try and get tenants into the properties... That gave me a 30% vacancy rate with my own rentals.. 

Now we manage over 450 homes and we have a less then 2% eviction rate.. Because we follow our procedures and do not waiver.

Just my opinion