Investor · Anchorage, AK · Member since 2015 · 267 posts · 76 votes
Hello BP Folks! I would like to get as many opinions as possible regarding which service is better for tenant screening for evaluating debt to income ratio and the applicant's history of on time car payments, credit card payments, etc - the BP recommended screening tool (SmartMove) for $38 or the one from Rentscreener.com for $35?
I am concerned that, for a low income property (like one that rents for $760/mo) the Rentscreener might not have enough detail about late payments. The folks at Rentscreener.com lump all their data into a final "Rent Grade" of A, B, C, D etc but do not give you the actual data of the how many late car payments or late credit card payments someone had in 2020 or 2021. They also don't give you the raw credit score of 550, 600, 650, etc. or the total amount of debt payments like $500/mo car payment , $300/mo VISA payment etc.
Real Estate Broker · Rochester Hills, MI · Member since 2009 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
5y
While we don't use either program you mentioned (we use screening in appfolio) I would agree that the "grades" are generally useless. Maybe not for an "a" but for anything else they are using their own criteria to determine what makes a b, c, d and you may chose to use other criteria. If you don't get the raw data you don't have the ability to chose on your own. I think you are on the right track in not being happy with what you got and looking for something more useful.