Good income, but high debt

[Bennett Manley]

I have a possible tenant with a 638 credit score and a bankruptcy filed in 2014. She is 59 and has good rental history. She has a disabled husband and is an adult foster care worker. She has a 45 year old mentally disabled guy she cares for. They make a combined 8900 a month from work, disability, state care income, and another city position which gives her a little income. She has 141k in debt via vehicle loans, credit card loans, and student loans. She pays the bills on time and currently pays 1500 a month for rent. I’ll be charging 1700. Any suggestions? She wants to be there for 8 years which is a big plus for me. She maintains the yard at her other residence as well. I’m conflicted on the amount of debt to income. Is that normal? Please give me some insight! This is my first tenant screening. I’ve just begun my landlord journey. Thank you!

[Charles Carillo]

@Bennett Manley

They are over 5x rent vs income but then she is also making payments on the debt. Even if she is paying $2500 a month towards debt; it still is less than half of their income. You can always ask for an additional security deposit. This is something we will do if we have potential tenants with jobs and income but with credit scores that are a little lower than we want to see. 638 is not terrible and it is probably this low because of all of the debt (as you mentioned) but it would probably be lower if she was not current on it.