Renting w/ bad credit? (legally, finance, move out, money)
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Well, I was evicted in the early 90's when I was a single mom, for being "newd in front of the window"
It doesn't matter why you were evicted. Having the eviction on your record implies that you were asked to leave and refused to leave. That's the key issue. No landlord ever wants any tenant who will refuse to leave. Refusing to leave gives the landlord a headache, because there is no way to know how long they have to wait before they can get the place ready to rent out again. What if their maintenance person wants to go on vacation? He has to delay his vacation while waiting for you to move out, not knowing when that's going to be. What if he has airline tickets for his vacation, and they're going to become worthless, because they're for a particular date? If he goes on his vacation when scheduled, and you move out the next day, the place will be vacant till he has time to do the work after his vacation. It's very important to landlords to know when tenants are moving out. They give you a certain number of days to move out. Eviction means you refused to cooperate.
But, you're in luck, that a lot of landlords look at how long it's been. If you were evicted that long ago, a lot of landords would rent to you anyway, on the theory that you've probably grown up since then, and are more responsible now, and will leave when asked to leave. But they might require an extra deposit.
Late payments on utilities don't report to credit bureaus unless it reaches a point where the debts are handed off to collection agencies. ..........
I see lots and lots of late payments for cell phones on assorted credit reports and I just got one that shows late payments on the electric bill. I wouldn't count on the utilities not reporting late payments. Each utility company will have their own policy.
Really, though, check your credit report to see what is on there. It's not unusual for me to see judgements for very small amounts that could easily be paid off. It looks a lot better to have a paid off judgement than a judgement where you refused to pay the debt.
For a rental, the most important things are that you don't presently have any unpaid debts, that you've never been evicted or arrested, and that no landlord is going to say you left a big mess or moved out in the middle of the night without notice. If you meet those qualifications, you're golden, even without credit.
Utilities should also be on that list. Most property managers and landlords will not rent to someone who doesn't pay their utility bills. So if the "many late payments" were late enough that they were reported on the OPs credit, that would be a problem, also.
I agree with those who said to pull your credit report from annualcreditreport.com or creditkarma.com and see what you are dealing with. No credit is easier to fix than bad credit.
In December, my son's roommate moved out on the 11th without paying his portion of the rent. (Both names are on the lease.) My son was able to pay the remainder of the rent, but because it wasn't paid in full on the 10th, eviction process had been started. He managed to pay the $250 attorney fees, and they allowed him to stay. It never went to court. He chose to honor the lease and see it through until the end (July 7... don't ask why it's an odd day, because I don't know!). If he had moved out, he'd still be responsible until the lease was up or they found someone else. Plus, he'd have that bad mark from breaking the lease that would follow him around. He struggled to pay the $1050/month rent by himself, which meant some bills fell behind. He paid his rent every month, but most of the time it was between the 5th and the 10th due to the way his paychecks fell. His car was repo'd but we were able to pay to get it back the next day. Still, that's another bad mark on his record.
Now that the lease is coming to an end, he's struggling to find a place to go. He had one, and they were so excited to be moving in this week. Today, the landlords pulled it out from under him because of the credit. (Credit report still shows an outstanding car loan balance, even though it is current.) To top it off, because his former roommate never signed to be released from the lease, it's now on a month-to-month basis at $1500/month!! He can't get out of the lease until the roommate signs.
I am heartbroken. He's a good man who wanted to do the right thing, and he's going to pay dearly for the actions of someone he considered a friend. One property manager told him that karma would eventually catch up with the roommate. He hasn't tried to get a loan or a lease since all this happened. My son had excellent credit until 6 months ago. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. I understand the reason behind the rejections, but it doesn't make it any easier.
My only advice is that great beer drinking buddies don't necessarily make great business associates. A very hard lesson for your son to learn. Just because you like hanging out with someone doesn't mean you should tie your finances up with theirs.
I assume mama has no money at all and could not help her son out for a few months, since it wasn't his fault (other than bad taste in friends)
I think he should sue the friend for all the rent that wasn't paid. Maybe your son will have to serve a court order on the roommate to get him to sign off.
My only advice is that great beer drinking buddies don't necessarily make great business associates. A very hard lesson for your son to learn. Just because you like hanging out with someone doesn't mean you should tie your finances up with theirs.
I assume mama has no money at all and could not help her son out for a few months, since it wasn't his fault (other than bad taste in friends)
I think he should sue the friend for all the rent that wasn't paid. Maybe your son will have to serve a court order on the roommate to get him to sign off.
He definitely learned a lot from this! We have helped him as much as we can financially. We will be helping him get what's needed for small claims court. He had absolutely no warning this would happen. Sadly, rent is so high in our area, he just about has to have a roommate to share the burden. Now that his credit is ruined, he's having trouble finding a place to live. Even private landlords are hesitant, and I understand that.
He definitely learned a lot from this! We have helped him as much as we can financially. We will be helping him get what's needed for small claims court. He had absolutely no warning this would happen. Sadly, rent is so high in our area, he just about has to have a roommate to share the burden. Now that his credit is ruined, he's having trouble finding a place to live. Even private landlords are hesitant, and I understand that.
Time to turn to your private network - friends, friend of friends, your church if you belong to one - what you are looking for is something he can afford, even if it's only a room in someone's house, being offered by someone who is willing to help out and provide a reference. After six months or so, he'll have established a better record and can start looking for something better. Too much stuff for one room? Put it in storage and/or sell it.
Time to turn to your private network - friends, friend of friends, your church if you belong to one - what you are looking for is something he can afford, even if it's only a room in someone's house, being offered by someone who is willing to help out and provide a reference. After six months or so, he'll have established a better record and can start looking for something better. Too much stuff for one room? Put it in storage and/or sell it.
We have never done a credit check, but assume we have bad credit as we have had many late payments on utilities & etc. Never had a credit card. Want to move to a better state (we're in Kansas - 'nuff said.) for our kids, as the youngest is disabled & services here are Horrid & about to get worse. Any idea what we can do to improve our credit? I'm sorry but I know next to nothing about finances, so would appriciate any help/advice.
Some landlords would be willing to rent to you with bad credit they would just ask for a extra month of security. That's what happened when I got my first apt with bad credit and had to give 3 months security instead of two months.
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