Dealing with multiple applicants

[Angela Smith]

I have a bleeding heart and at least I know it. I had a lady give me an application and fee and in the process, she mentioned how she had already paid an app fee somewhere else and didn't get the apartment. Talk about guilt-trip. She is a single-mother with a low-income job, but she is on HUD so I shouldn't really worry about her income. I received an application from a young couple before her and had started processing it before I had received hers(but i never mentioned that I had received another application). I have since approved the couple but didn't actually run her application so I could give her back her fee, since she doesn't make as much as the couple(her $1600 vs their $2600). My bleeding heart says to not run her application due to this and give her her money back, but my brain says to run it and see what happens, even though I have a strong feeling she won't make it. Most articles I see on tenant applications have to do with running the application and using the fee, but I haven't even ran it out of fear and disappointing her(unrealistic). In all fairness, my hubby would rather the HUD lady but he left it to me to decide, and I did. Maybe I shouldn't be making these decisions being 2 weeks from birthing our first child :)