I am currently looking to move to another apartment when my lease expires in august.
Last year in november I got behind on all my bills. I worked out a payment plan with most of my creditors and they are showing current but with recent lates that show as 90+,and 120+ on all my acccounts except 1. I have goodwilled 2 company and they said no.
I have 3 charges off accounts that I have not been able to work with. I plan to settle with 1 before I go apartment hunting. I also have 2 recent collections. I am current on most of my accounts except the lates are hurting me the most my score is now 398.
There is a company called second chance leasing that is a company that will cosign on an apartment(Corporate leasing) with you but with lots of fees
45 application fee
100 consultation fee
service charge- 50 percent of rent
monthly fee-20 percent of rent
plus your going to have to pay the security deposit.
Being that my score is low do you think I should try my luck work on my credit and apply for apartments with out the service. I would hope my score would be higher someone in august of I can somehow get the collections of my credit report.
Or forget credit repair and utilize the service and save my money for all the fees I am going to be charged. The problem I have with the service is that they charge alot of fees and the monthly fee is high as I am trying to save and pay off my debt. but I feel like I have know other choice.

First, that co-signing service sounds like an outrageous ripoff.

I can assure you that generally you can rent an apartment even with terrible credit, without a cosigner. God knows I have. That's who apartments are built for. But admittedly I don't think I've heard of a credit score in the 300s ... is that a real FICO score from myfico.com?

There MAY be certain apartments that are more picky, but you'll probably have no trouble finding something you like.

In any case, I'd go ahead and TRY at some place, even if only as a test, before handing over your firstborn to that co-signing service.

Whoa, that sounds like a major ripoff!

Have you put your feelers out there & already been turn down for renting?
How do you know for sure no one will rent to you? If you have experienced rejection, many have rented from landlords that dont run credit checks, 1000s on craigslist.

Worth a search, I had a friend who stayed w/ his family WAY past being financially able just because he was terrified no one would rent to him with his horrible credit...today he is renting a two-bedrm apt in a brownstone from a sweet old lady [who didnt pull his credit] that he found on craigslist.

My experience with renting/bad credit is that they may want to either check with your previous landlord. Have you been late on your current place at all?

I also had to put down an extra month deposit.

Otherwise, i haven't had any trouble.

Have you had either a BK or Foreclosure?

Rent from an individual. They (typically) don't pull.

I have good rental history. Alot of landlords are picky. I noticed on ads on craigslist they state good credit as a requirement. In DC metro area rentals are in high demand so land lord can be picky.
I wont be ready to move till august so I have to start planning and saving money. The real thing is I dont want to have to keep applying to place wasting an application fee to get turned down.
I will try craiglist and hopefully I will find something.

Also...just be upfront with people when you are submitting an application. Let them know you have good references, but that your credit has taken a hit, and let them know that you would rather know upfront.

You may want to have copies of your reports that you can show them - which might save you a hard pull.

I agree that it is very possible for you to find a place that will work with you. Being up front with them about your situation is very good advice. Especially if you have VERY good rental history that you can provide references of for X years of perfect or almost perfect rental payment history. Many places I have seen in different states will accept bad credit if previous rental history is good and you can provide a larger down payment.

Also, why are you moving from the apt you are in? If you can stay for another year and fix up your credit-- show a year of perfect history and work on those baddies, you avoid the headache now (along with moving costs, another deposit, etc) and have some breathing room to grow your score so you have a shot at a really nice place next year. But I don't know your situation, so . . . just a thought!

Oh yeah, and NO DON'T USE THAT PLACE for the co-signing deal. If anything, see if someone else will cosign (you could even offer THEM dough, and it would leave you ahead).

good luck! my best friend is going through the same thing right now, and she has just as bad of credit as you.

I am moving because rent and utilities are too high its would be impossible to continue and save and pay down debt. It would take me half the time to pay of my debt if i moved into a cheaper apartment. The people upstairs are making all kinds of noise. I can hear them every time they walk around in the apartment and they walk around all day and night. They are always making some noises. I have written to management 3 times but they have done nothing about it.
Right now my budget is tight and there are better and cheaper apartments in the area that I can live in.
I will not use the service and hopefully i will find something and continue to work on my credit

I'm with the see whats on CL bandwagon, rent from an individual who won't pull credit.

As an individual landlord I call the previous 2 landlords and employer. You find out REAL QUICK if they are a worthy tenant or not Pulling credit reports is expensive for people who don't do tons of them.

The service sounds like a total rip. Even when my credit was awful, I paid my rent on time to keep a roof over our heads.

Shop around now and see what requirements people are asking for. If you have stable job & rental history, it should overcome your scores. You can offer a landlord extra $ for the security deposit if & when necessary.

The last time I rented, I was told by the leasing company that they actually have some time of rental history score thingamajig that they use and it would weigh more than FICO scores. I haven't had time to check on that, maybe I'll do that this weekend simply b/c if there are some records out there about my rental history I WANNA SEE!

Yeah I think a lot of the larger ones use Saferent. I do a lot of mystery shopping for apartments and most use Saferent which also checks background/criminal history. THey say anyone that qualifies can rent there.
If you are concerned I would be upfront in asking what they look for so you don't waste money on app fees. CL and private rentals will be your best bet IMHO.

Good Luck!

Yes, come to think of it, when I applied for my current apartment, my credit reports show that a company called Saferent checked my credit. They appear to be a service that specializes in doing risk-screening for apartments. That fact suggests that apartments use a service that mostly looks for rent-related delinquencies and possibly criminal history or something, more so than unrelated credit issues (or else my landlord firm would've just pulled a credit report directly).

Also it's possible landlords exaggerate their claims of demanding good credit in ads, just to minimize the riff-raff that comes in.

So now I'm feeling nosey. I wonder if one could get copies of this. If so, it might be a good move for the OP to do that! I know I wanna see what they are saying about me!!!

http://www.fadvsaferent.com/consumer_relations/index.php

OMG!! I was looking for the link. There is also a company called scorex

http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?s...amp;hl=saferent

+1 Saferent checked mine too. I am not sure what my scores were, but the were pretty bad. Probably low 500s. I just had to put down an extra month rent.

I was recently approved for an apartment, and they used saferent for me to, and my scores werent all that great. I agree with everybody here.

This is exactly what I'm going through right now. My EQ score was 508 the last time I checked about 3 weeks ago (I haven't checked the other 2 but I'm sure they are just as bad). I have an excellent rental history, 9 years at my previous apartment until I relocated 10 months ago. I've filled out all of my application paperwork and everything sounds good. I was upfront with the manager and told her I fell on hard times the past few months and that my credit reflects that. She told me everything should be OK as long as there a no BKs, tax liens, judgements or REPOS. I have a repo that doesn't show on my reports yet (I pulled today). I received an "explanation letter" from the bank today, I'm scared that the repo will post before next week when I return all of my paperwork.

Do you think they will accept the 3-in-1 report that I pulled today? The rental agent works on commission and she is really trying to get me in, she's even told me certain things to put on my app to boost my chances.

Give it a try...

I would get your app in ASAP. I think you can probably use your 3-in-1 to get a kind of unofficial pre-approval, but they will likely do a hard pull once you put in your app. They usually process them very quickly (within 24 hours), so just try to do it before the repo is reporting.

Boy do I ever agree with THIS... I have never had any trouble renting an apartment.

In fact, I have a BK (from 2002) still reporting and I moved into my current complex with nothing more than a normal $200 deposit. The place before this one (fresh out of a discharged Ch 7 BK) wanted a mere half a month's rent as a deposit ( for me that was $375 , rent is cheap here).

They are sometimes more concerned with whether or not you've been evicted anywhere or not -- and even if your issues were THAT serious .. as long as you meet income requirements, they may want an extra 1/2 or full month's rent as a deposit, but that's about it.

Hope that helps.

Don't use Second Chance! For anybody considering them, there was an article in the Washington Post a while back explaining how some tenants who used them were evicted because Second Chance did not pay their landlord on time, even though the tenant had been on time every month! They are bad news and can ruin your credit even more!

I agree with the OP that it is extremely difficult to find an apartment in the DC area without good credit. Almost all landlords pull credit, even private ones. A few years ago, I was in a similar situation in which I'd had some very difficult circumstances after my baby was born and had bad credit and even lates on rent. I had to move and went to apartment after apartment and was rejected. (I eventually stopped applying for anybody who said they would check credit). Saferent said no for me (probably the lates on rent).

In desperation, I posted an ad on the Craigslist "housing wanted" section and explained my situation very honestly. At the time I had a good job and could demonstrate that the temporary circumstances had passed. My current landlord contacted me; he was also in somewhat of a desparate situation. His previous tenants had stopped paying rent and left. He now had to make two mortgage payments, which was very difficult on his salary. He was in dire straits and needed tenants as quickly as possible. He met our family and did check our credit to make sure we had no record of eviction or serious debt. Since we'd explained that our credit was not perfect there were no suprises. He approved us within a week, and 3 years later I'm still in the 3 bedroom house in a pleasant neighborhood less than 10 minutes away from work, paying only about $200 more a month than I paid for a 1 bedroom apartment in a bad neighborhood with a 45 minute commute. I've now had a chance to build excellent credit and and a perfect rental history, giving me many more options if I move again.

I admit that such landlords are hard to find, and there was certainly some luck involved. However, I think in this area it is easier to let those that are ok with your situation find you rather than try to find them and experience rejection over and over again.

I should also add, if you have the option of living with a roommate you might want to try that as well. Before I had a family, I had several roommates in the area and none of them asked for a credit check. If you apply for an apartment later, they will only check your most recent housing reference, who can be your roommate if you are subletting.

Then this obviously isn`t a situation you want to get involved with. You need to LOWER your overhead, and quite possibly, lower your expectations for housing as well. You didn`t say why you want to move from where you are now, or why renewing your lease was
(or was not)an option, but it seems like you`d only be getting yourself in DEEPER by going with this "second chance"-type housing
situation you are considering. Do you live alone? If so, consider renting a small studio (or even just a room) privately, until you get
your finances in order.

Heh, off topic, I know, but that`s exactly how I got myself a new job(still working it 4 years and counting). I felt like I was throwing
an electronic message-in-bottle into an ocean of electrons. Got 2 offers within 48 hours, took the better one, and It`s been uphill
(in a Good Way) ever since. Desperation + Craigslist can = some seriously positive changes in one`s life.