Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
^^^This^^^ You will mess up your credit score if you use more than 30% of your available credit. I know it sounds ridiculous and I hate the way companies like Transunion, Experian, etc. rate people.
Example: if you have a credit card with a $1000 limit and you owe $900, you are using up 90% of your available credit. Ideally you should never have more than a $300 balance or 30% of your available credit. IMO too many companies give too much credence to credit scores without taking the whole picture into consideration. Do you have a car payment?
I agree with the poster than said ask for a reconsideration and get a letter of credit from your landlord.
My sister's friend was turned down for an apartment because she didn't make 3x the monthly rent. However, when she explained that she had no car payment and no credit card debt they reconsidered.
I seriously doubt it is a racial issue in this day and age when it comes to renting from an apartment complex. A private owner - maybe.
Well, I'm not going to take it as a race thing, but given my excellent rental history, income, references, clean record with no eviction or landlord issues, and 100% on time payments to all my accounts it would indicate how responsible I am. I do run a freelance photography business on the side so many of my expenses had to be put on credit until I pay them off with the money earned from said business.
640 credit score is not a good score. If your income comes from freelance work, perhaps it is not sufficiently documented.
Tenants who were rejected and keep calling to argue about it are not really making a good presentation for themselves. It makes you look high maintenance, so that the landlord is glad he escaped renting to you. It doesn't make the landlord realize he made a mistake to turn you down.
Because the landlord really did pay to run your credit report, I doubt that you can get a fefund. However, the landlord should be willing to give you a letter that says you were rejected because of your credit report and you can use that letter to get a free copy of the report to check it for errors. Ask the landlord for that letter.
Update: They denied my request to appeal or even re-negotiate the application. I was willing to put up 3 months of rent upfront and they refused outright.
I called once yesterday, and sent additional bank statements showing my rent being deducted every month on time, and for some odd reason they still refuse to even consider the option. I really didnt pester or try to contact them incessantly.
I'm submitting ny complaint to the FHA today regarding the matter.
Note that this is inner city Chicago Im in, not Manhattan or anywhere too posh.
Cost: 29$ to run a credit report. Wonder who is making the money for that on these rental apps?
Consider this a lesson learned in the rental world. You now know what you're up against.
The FHA isn't going to investigate this, they will tell you to seek elsewhere. The Landlord is allowed to decline any and all applications . They just have to be careful with the reason given.
Free tip: Pull your credit reports and have them handy with your rental app. this will save them time in making a decision and you shouldn't be getting charged then for the app fee ( although they will love to give a ridiculous reason why all apps are charged a fee). YOU are the prospective CLIENT, Know that you have some power walking thru those doors.
I think you would most likely be a good renter. However landlords look for renters who look to be the BEST risk available, For example instead of a person who owes 10,000 on credit cards, they will take the one who has 2,000 in savings. It's like an employer hiring the BEST qualified, not just the first qualified to apply. If the building had empty apartments sitting there, possibly they would reconsider. Unfortunately there are more renters than available rentals in many parts of the country now. I don't know if this applies in your area though.
Is there anywhere I can an article that states entitlement to a refund for app fee if they arent clear about their guidelines for qualifying applicants?
Wherever you live will have some type of housing authority that you could research or call, but my guess is that your debt to income is too high regardless of your credit score and the 600's isn't all that good either.
The app fee was to cover the cost of running the credit check which isn't free.
Chances are you could file a complaint but it sounds as if they have a preset and consistent policy for credit thresholds and you did not fit into that bracket and you would do a lot of nonsense for nothing.
Now if you were denied for some other reason such as family status, race etc. that would be an entirely different story but according to what you shared that is just not the case.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
