Turning down an approved lease for an apartment... (apartment complex, leasing)

[coldwaterbottle]

Hello,

My room mate and I was recently approved for an apartment.

We paid the following:
- Application Fee
- 100$ Commitment Deposit (To Hold the Unit during Approval/Application Process)

We were originally going to schedule a day to go into the office to sign the lease and get the keys.

However, due to financial and person reasons, we do not think it would be in our best interest to get the apartment because we would be paying paycheck to paycheck.

In this case, do we get penalized for calling the leasing office and say we have to decline the apartment? And would this hurt our credit scores since we applied for the apartment, was approved but decided not to rent it?

We did not pay a security deposit or sign any leasing documents. The only signed documents are the application and background check documents. The $100 commitment deposit was through a signed check to the apartment complex, which stated above was to hold the unit until a lease was signed.


Basically, will turning this apartment down hurt our credit scores? Would the credit score be reflected on my online FICO score?

Thank you!
Sam

[DPolo]

no, and you get to complain about not getting your 100 back

[coldwaterbottle]

Wait, so it won't hurt my credit score right because no lease was ever signed? lol

And yeah, I pretty much accepted that the $100 is gone, but I think it's worth the headache of possibly signing a contract for a year with a bigger dent to my money.

[foodyum]

If the leasing office did a "hard check" for your credit then it will effect your credit score. They may have made the inquiry. This will show up on your credit report when you review it. You can check through credit karma for free.

[coldwaterbottle]

Yes I googled information regarding soft and hard checks. But the hard check would only be effect my credit score ONCE for that single hard check right? I think it would be better than missing payments and feeling financially stressed if we were to sign for the apartment officially.

[ansky]

A credit check from an apartment leasing office is not going to hurt your credit score. Don't worry about it.