Verifying Military Employment and Pay

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Real Estate Broker · Cody, WY · Member since 2010 · 28k+ posts · 41k+ votes

1y

1. Military pay is documented on a Leave and Earnings Statement (LES). Ask the applicant to provide you their LES for the last three months.

2. Anyone can fake a pay document. You should contact that individual's unit to confirm they are a member. Do not call the number provided by the applicant! All the military units have websites, so you can look them up online and call using the number you find there. Introduce yourself as the landlord and tell them you need to verify the individual is a member of their unit.

3. A military member is less likely to get kicked out of their job than a civilian is to be fired. You can't approve or deny someone based on something that "may" happen.

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Nathan GesnerBusiness Member

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Real Estate Broker · Cody, WY · Member since 2010 · 28k+ posts · 41k+ votes

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Here's an example.

- Match their name and social to their application and their credit check.

- Pay date is the YY/MM/DD.

- ETS is when their current enlistment ends.

- Military members are usually paid twice a month, on the 1st and 15th. The "Deductions" column shows their first payment and the column on the right shows their second payment.

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Mark F.

Rental Property Investor · Northern NJ · Member since 2019 · 672 posts · 677 votes

1y

Quote from @Krystl Tanouye:

Hi. I will preface this by saying I know nothing about the military so I apologize in advance for this question. I also looked at the old posts and google and haven't had any success with this topic.

I am having a hard time verifying military employment and pay. I have called multiple supervisors and they all have said they don't know the applicants pay. One even said they were a reservist, but the applicant is claiming they are active duty. How can I verify that they are active duty and getting the amount of pay they claim? Usually with civilians, we call the HR department and they give us that information. I have looked at the DFAS website, and haven't gotten very far because I do not have their SSN. RentRedi "stars" it out, so would it be appropriate to ask the applicant again for their SSN? Their LES (like any other civilian paystub) can be fabricated, so how do you know it is real? Also, how can you confirm that they are going to continue to be in the military for some time, and not going to get kicked out or discharged, or already has been? Same thing like how do you know if a civilian will keep their job? Through employment verification, which I can't seem to do with the military. Any details on how everyone verifies their military applicants would be great! Thank you in advance!

Since Nate gave you a great answer on the LES, I’ll answer the rest. I was in the military for 5.5 years active and 2 reserve.

You can ask them when their discharge date is. Usually enlistments are for 4 years but there’s so many variables after the first enlistment that I would ask them how long they have left. On getting kicked out, you won’t know like you said but most of the time those take months and from my experience, wasn’t super frequent for the military to just boot people out. It’s totally reasonable to ask him/her when they’re due to rotate (as they’d be moving) and when they’re getting discharge. He will know both.

To add on, usually verification isn’t difficult. You do what Nate said; you find out what base they’re stationed at and call. Never call phone numbers listed. When you call, tell them why you’re calling and who you’re calling about. If it’s a small base you’ll probably won’t have much of an issue getting ahold of someone who knows him/her. If it’s a large base you’ll need some sort of supervisor name/rank or department to get you started and it may be a bit of work.

On the active duty/reserve bit you said, try and get clarification. They could be a reservist but on active duty orders which is just AD for a time but can be extended. I met guys who were “reservist” but just kept extended AD orders and were retiring soon. Let us know if you have any questions.

Oh and his supervisors wouldn’t know his exact pay but it’s public record. You need his rank, time in service (you can even guess really, doesn’t vary a ton), and zip code. He’s getting BAH I’d assume since he’s living off base so you find a military pay calculator and bam, there’s his pay.

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Krystl TanouyePro Member

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Member since 2024 · 4 posts · 1 vote

1y

Quote from @Nathan Gesner:

Here's an example.

- Match their name and social to their application and their credit check.

- Pay date is the YY/MM/DD.

- ETS is when their current enlistment ends.

- Military members are usually paid twice a month, on the 1st and 15th. The "Deductions" column shows their first payment and the column on the right shows their second payment.

Thank you so much for all that info!! I will try calling on Tue since tomorrow is a holiday.

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Krystl TanouyePro Member

OP

Member since 2024 · 4 posts · 1 vote

1y

Quote from @Mark F.:

Quote from @Krystl Tanouye:

Hi. I will preface this by saying I know nothing about the military so I apologize in advance for this question. I also looked at the old posts and google and haven't had any success with this topic.

I am having a hard time verifying military employment and pay. I have called multiple supervisors and they all have said they don't know the applicants pay. One even said they were a reservist, but the applicant is claiming they are active duty. How can I verify that they are active duty and getting the amount of pay they claim? Usually with civilians, we call the HR department and they give us that information. I have looked at the DFAS website, and haven't gotten very far because I do not have their SSN. RentRedi "stars" it out, so would it be appropriate to ask the applicant again for their SSN? Their LES (like any other civilian paystub) can be fabricated, so how do you know it is real? Also, how can you confirm that they are going to continue to be in the military for some time, and not going to get kicked out or discharged, or already has been? Same thing like how do you know if a civilian will keep their job? Through employment verification, which I can't seem to do with the military. Any details on how everyone verifies their military applicants would be great! Thank you in advance!

Since Nate gave you a great answer on the LES, I’ll answer the rest. I was in the military for 5.5 years active and 2 reserve.

You can ask them when their discharge date is. Usually enlistments are for 4 years but there’s so many variables after the first enlistment that I would ask them how long they have left. On getting kicked out, you won’t know like you said but most of the time those take months and from my experience, wasn’t super frequent for the military to just boot people out. It’s totally reasonable to ask him/her when they’re due to rotate (as they’d be moving) and when they’re getting discharge. He will know both.

To add on, usually verification isn’t difficult. You do what Nate said; you find out what base they’re stationed at and call. Never call phone numbers listed. When you call, tell them why you’re calling and who you’re calling about. If it’s a small base you’ll probably won’t have much of an issue getting ahold of someone who knows him/her. If it’s a large base you’ll need some sort of supervisor name/rank or department to get you started and it may be a bit of work.

On the active duty/reserve bit you said, try and get clarification. They could be a reservist but on active duty orders which is just AD for a time but can be extended. I met guys who were “reservist” but just kept extended AD orders and were retiring soon. Let us know if you have any questions.

Oh and his supervisors wouldn’t know his exact pay but it’s public record. You need his rank, time in service (you can even guess really, doesn’t vary a ton), and zip code. He’s getting BAH I’d assume since he’s living off base so you find a military pay calculator and bam, there’s his pay.

Thank you so much for all that information and adding onto Nate's reply. You guys are awesome and I know this will help me so much!

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Verifying Military Employment and Pay

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