Best Tenant Screening Companies

[Mason Jeffries]

What is, in your opinion, the best tenant screening company online and why?

I looked at options like Cozy and MySmartMove. They seem to require the tenant to create an account basically run their own reports. Is there not a way to run them myself without the need for the tenants involvement?

[Dave Spooner]

@Mason Jeffries Not all platforms require that the tenant create an account (Innago, for example, permits anyone to come in and apply). Some will even create a dedicated url for you that you can share on Zillow, Craigslist, your website, etc.

You cannot simply go to a service and run the background check yourself due to consumer and privacy protection laws. In order for you to screen tenants directly yourself, you need to become authorized. This typically includes paying a fee and passing an on-site visit. An independent verification service will evaluate your business to ensure you're taking the proper precautions to protect consumer data (like properly storing and disposing of the information you receive), and to prevent any nefarious access to that personal data.

In addition to the liability you then take on in managing the data, you also likely will be doing what's called a hard inquiry on the applicant. This actually lowers their credit score. Services like Cozy, MySmartMove and Innago do a soft inquiry that has no impact on the tenant's credit score.