Tenant Screening - What is a reasonable Credit Score?

[Troy F.]

I've heard Brandon and David talk about having a clear tenant screening criteria.  I have a 4 unit rental property in Lincoln, NE.  I am open to accepting tenants with vouchers, or Section 8.  I am wondering what is a reasonable credit score for tenant screening?  Also, if we are accepting housing assistance vouchers is the criteria of earning three times the rent out the window?  If so, is there a reasonable alternative for how much they should earn?  

We use RentRedi to manage these units. The automatic e-mail that goes out from RentRedi for prequalification asks for W-2, tax returns, prior year tax returns, employee letters, etc.  It sounds like they are applying for a loan.  We do the background checks and talk to previous landlords and employers but these other documents seem like too much.  Does anyone else out there ask for all this documentation and is it really necessary?

As always, thanks for your input.

[Sina Bigdeli]

in my honest opinion, credit score is not that important. What's critical is the tenants credit history. things like:

- % of on time payments (I like this to be 90% or more)

- debt to income ratio (how many open credit lines i.e. car payments, child payments, etc they have) and compare that to their income .

- any defaults, liens, etc on them. 

- duration of open credit lines. If they have consistently showing credit line for a month or two open, then they close it, it tells me they are not really an established creditor. 

Generally I am looking to answer "where do they prioritize their payments" in the financial life. Do I have to chase payments, or do they consider paying their bills and rents before going on vacations, etc. Credit score alone doesn't tell me this story.