Minimum Credit Scores

[Nicholas Bolcon]

Hello everyone,

 I am set to close on my first rental property on Monday (fingers crossed it all goes well but it is conventional financing and not a short sale or foreclosure so there shouldn't be any surprises).  The house is a side by side duplex in West Warwick, RI. I figured I would get a head start on figuring out tenant screening and that is where I am in need of advice.

What do people (especially in RI, MA, and CT) set as minimum credit score for applicants?  I understand that there are varying opinions on if minimum scores should be set, and I also know that just the credit score is hardly the whole picture.  But I am looking to see if anyone has good/bad experience with setting a minimum score in this area.  Will 650 be too high and leave me with too few applicants?  Thanks for all the knowledge everyone brings together on here.

[JD Martin]

I don't look at credit scores without context, i.e. the entire credit report. Someone with a somewhat lower score that was only brought down by a major illness? They may qualify if everything else is a go. Someone with a somewhat higher score but are maxed out on a lot of stuff or have a lower score because they are deadbeats? They get the boot. So we don't even advertise a minimum/maximum credit score. I want that determination to be completely subjective, at my discretion, because I really don't want someone who just beats the minimum score and owes money to 20 different credit cards and a car loan and almost everything is maxed out.