New to screening - need help

[Brian Kohn]

We have an out of state tenant that has applied for our rental.

Nice couple with 5 kids.  They want to move in site unseen because they both have job offers locally that start in the next couple weeks.  The income from their new jobs is about 4.5x our rent amount, which is good.

However after pulling credit, both of their scores were around ~560.

Multiple collection accounts, a handful of delinquencies over the past few years, and around $70k in total debt.  Looks like they are paying the minimum towards that debt each month (~1,500).

They have stated that some of the debt is medical.

No evictions or criminal records.

We are debating whether to deny outright or approve with conditions such as a co-signer and extra security deposit.

Any thoughts?

[Thomas S.]

Absolutely not, do not waste another second even considering these applicants. This will be the biggest potential mistake you will make as a new landlord if you rent to these people. There is a whole lot you do not know about them, all bad, that you will not find out till after they move in.

I counted 10 reasons in your post to justify my rejection and when I screen I generally only need one to reject.  They sound like a combination of about 5 different bad applicants all rolled into one.