Rental Kharma for Landlords

[Nathan Seltzer]

Greetings, I'm currently renting and I signed up with RentalKharma so that my rent would get reported to the credit bureaus and help build my score. They have been reporting my rent (can't say it has a made a difference in my credit score, but it hasn't been long and my score was already pretty good).

I'm currently in the process of buying a duplex. We'll be living in one side, and renting out the other side. Rental Kharma has a process for Landlords to get tenant screening when tenants sign up (prospective tenant pays) and then they build their credit every month when they pay on time. It seems like a win-win to me.

Has anyone used this? How effective is the screening? It says it checks criminal history, eviction records, credit scores, etc. Just wondering if I can really use this as a one-stop screening (plus my own sniffer) for screening tenants.

Thoughts? Experiences?

[Rick S.]

Originally posted by @Nathan Seltzer:

Originally posted by @John Anderson:

RentalKharma only reports to TransUnion, not Experian. I don't know who accepts what type of payments because I don't work with any of the bureaus, but I can screenshot my TU report if you want evidence. :)

Originally posted by @Rick S.:

Disclaimer: I work for a rent payment service

@Nathan Seltzer look into a rent payment service that will process the payments electronically and report the payments to the credit bureaus as I would imagine that may cost less than RentalKharma charges for just reporting payments. Please send me a message if you want more details. Thanks.

I don't want to get anyone in trouble but can you freely talk about your rent payment service? What kind of fees do you charge? RentalKharma charges the tenants $5/mo to report it, and I don't pay anything, but I have to process my own rent obviously.

The landlord service for screening renters is called TransUnion SmartMove, and I don't know if they pull reports from any other bureaus. Would it be thorough enough with just a TU credit pull?

 Hi Nathan,

Yes, we charge $3 currently but are working to add a monthly pricing option as our transaction fee includes the electronic processing and there is no charge for the reporting option for tenants.  We currently report to just TransUnion but as my other post stated we are working to add the other two bureaus along with adding background checks to our service.  Here is a link to see the other companies that currently report to Experian:

http://www.experian.com/rentbureau/rental-reportin...

In regards to SmartMove we highly recommend that service for screening as it doesn't pull from other bureaus as far as I know but it includes the credit, criminal, and eviction check and is a popular option on BP.  You would still need to check references, call prior landords, etc. but SmartMove gives you good background/credit data.  Let me know if you have any other questions, thanks!