Section 1014 criminalizes the act of making false statements to a financial institution.

If the applicant comes from the pool of people that I or my tenants know, I use real estate as a way to give back as many of my tenants will not qualify credit wise or may even have a criminal background or would struggle for another reason if I were to just stick to the "background/credit check" criteria. 

However, aside from that, I couldn’t find much information about them, and the only online presence seems to be the wife’s LinkedIn profile (though I’ve never met her in person and am just going off her profile picture on Zillow).After submitting the application through Zillow, we attached our income (two months of pay stubs for each of us from our current jobs), work references, credit and criminal background, rental history, and the contact info for our current landlord (who just so happens to be my fiancé’s father).

@Paloma Wodehouse I started by going to Housing Court sessions and hearing the Cases and their "Dispensation of Justice".

For example, I mention that every adult must pay a $30 application fee, pass my credit/criminal background, make a combined income of 3x the rent, and whether or not the property accepts pets.

Coghill they are trying to take care of several things:1) Approval to access credit reportsA video tour of my home office (required by the credit repository to show security, so access to office & computers is limited to avoid data theft)Credit checks on me and my partner (required by the credit repository to make sure you are not criminals looking to steal others' data)Copies of the deeds for every property we own (required by the credit repository to confirm you aren't just self-serving)A copy of my partner’s home lease and utility bills (required by the credit repository to prove his legal address, so they can pursue him criminally if he steals data)Business phone bills (required by the credit repository to prove an actual business)2) Approval to use banking ACH system to accept tenant payments and pay ownersBusiness phone bills (required by banking industry to prove business legitimacy)A signed letter from the bank verifying our accounts (to prove legitimate business banking accounts.

Because of Seattle's hidden criminal history I got stuck with a criminal.

That is where the concern would be for me.Yeah, older tenants may think that it automatically makes someone a criminal of something, but I would just explain the card and that it at least, in theory, has a medical purpose, unlike cigarette smoke which kills the smokers and everyone else around.

Padsplit residents can cause problems with neighbors and other residents because many have substance abuse and/or criminal histories. 

There are many scammers out there, with histories (criminal and financial) that they are not proud of, trying to raise money.