Personal Information on a Lease Application

[Roger Pokorny]

I am developing a tenant application and am a little uneasy asking for personal information.  Many applications I reviewed while developing mine asked potential tenants for bank and credit card account numbers and balances.  I am curious why it is necessary to ask for this information when most of this information can be obtained through the credit check.  In the times we live in where identity theft is very real, I would think many qualified tenants would refuse to supply this information.  

I question if it is really necessary and would be interested in hearing feedback from the more experienced property managers and landlords out there.

[Alex Hamilton]

I agree with @James Wise. It's best to assume your investors will eventually need to levy someone's bank account, so having this information before a lease up will expedite the collections process.

Also, this may sound like common sense, but be sure to get a signature authorizing the credit pull and investigation. You can be fined and lose credit access for failing to obtain proper authorization before investigating an applicant's credit history. Good luck!