One of my rentals was just abandoned over the Holiday weekend. How do I report their financial obligations to the 3 bureaus? I have soc. # leases, etc.
:evil:
Did you file a small claims case?
And if they took anything they should not have - call the police and file a complaint[ Edited by linlin on Date 11/29/2004 ]
Call mark management, think they are in seminole county. I believe they will report them to the credit bureau and give the debt over to a collection agency.
Why bother?
I hate it when they abandon, but if the rent for November was paid and I have no way to locate them, I just b!tch them out in my head, clean the place up and get it re-rented asap.
I am familiar with Mark Management. I will call them.
Why bother? Principle. This allows the next landlord to see what they are in for if they pull their credit, which most do.
An eviction is better for the principle part. For example, I rent in low income areas and it is pointless for me to run a credit check but you bet I run a small claims/eviction check.
[addsig]
This is just my personal opinion on the matter of credit reporting. Did you report them when they were paying on time and give the good payments an opportunity to help them with their credit?
Probably not, but now you sure want them to pay for it for the next few months. I am not saying what they did was right either, but I personally think it should be a law that either the credit gets reported when it is good also, just not when it is bad, or not at all.
Are you reporting for all your other tenants also? It could be viewed as a form of discrimination. To me it is not worth it you are setting policy.
I see your point, but I disagree. Most things that are in your credit report involve you paying back a loan of some sort. Whether it's for a house, car, credit card, or some furniture, you either received money or a product before, and are now paying for it. If you pay for it regularly and successfully, that's reported to the credit bureau. Not so with rental property.
Similarly to buying something for cash, rental units are paid for before they are used. When you purchase something in a store and pay for it with cash, nothing gets reported to the credit bureau. But if you walk out of the store without paying for it, you'll get something worse then black mark on your credit report. I don't extend credit to my tenants. So if a tenants makes use of my property without paying for it first, I believe I should have the right to call the police and demand that they be arrested for theft (or a similar crime). Unfortunately, the law states that a tenant can steal from me and I have to go through an extensive and costly process before I can even hope to get my money from them. So reporting someone to a credit bureau for not paying his or her rent seems perfectly reasonable to me. But reporting positive information on someone for not stealing someone else's property seems a bit much. After all, they've done nothing to deserve a positive comment on their credit report.
gmoney69 - thanks for looking out for other landlords. You might look around on this website to see if they offer such a service. I've considered using this:
dnvrkid - Tenants are always free to list a landlord on an application if they want. Most landlords are decent and will tell someone if they have good credit.
If they skip out on rent, that's theft. Why not report them? This is a business, not a charity.
I would do it because there is a chance you will get paid. My cousin is a big time landlord and he always reports tenants who owe him money to a credit agency. That scum bag one day might want to buy a house, get a job with the government, etc. My cousin says that every so often he gets a phone call from a tenant of several years ago who now wants to pay his debt. Do you think that if the debt was not showing up on the credit report that the phone would have ever rung?
Just an afterthought - the tenant LIED TO ME ABOUT DYING - that's bad karma.
You think she's listed me on her most recent application? Her credit report would reflect her doings. I like to give praise where it is due, but they must earn it. I am a mortgage broker and I love to help people buy a home. They must help themselves first.
I only do MTM rental agreements. But even if I was doing long-term leases, I am not extending credit. All I'm doing is agreeing to provide something to someone in monthly installments at a set fee, but only if they pay for each installment before it is used. Others have already said it, if the tenant behaves properly and pays everything on time, my most effective long-term way of acknowledging that is to provide a positive reference. If the tenant does not live up to his obligation, my only long-term way to impact his future is through a credit report. Seems perfectly fair to both my karma and me.
I've had some absolutely wonderful tenants, and I would easily give that good information to a credit bureau. Why wouldn't they deserve to have a better credit score so they may one day own a home?
I do pull background checks on my tenants. Not always necessary. If they do not list their current landlord, or are currently living with a relative, 20 to 1 there is a darn good reason, and not the story they tell me,
On the other hand, if they do list their landlord, then I call that landlord. Most landlords are more than willing to tell you all about their tenants, the good, bad and ugly.
Much as tenants often seem like a different breed, they are PEOPLE and they deserve to be treated like PEOPLE. Until they prove themselves to be malicious, destructive animals.
Interesting discussion about credit and tenants-
Are you the cruel landlord or in my case, landlady ,because you report the facts? Bad credit is bad credit. Good credit is good credit. Tenants should always be concerned about their credit. Paying the rent on time matters- pure and simple.
Frankly, with 37 units and around 80 tenants we don't have the time to give up to date reports to the credit companies. But we will give a good recommendation at the end of the lease to anyone the tenant chooses. We will write a letter stating the tenant was a good renter and paid on time. We will not lie to anyone or for anyone and we will tell the truth. The ball is really in the tenant's court. It's up to her to give us good things to write about.
I very often threaten to report to people's credit if they fail to pay on time. It works in some cases, especially on a lease option. I have never followed through though because I haven't found a place that would do it without signing up for a monthly service that I didn't need.
I will check out the link from the earlier post.
And if a good tenant wants a good credit reporting from me, I'll happily provide one on request if they pay my costs for doing so.
Did you file a small claims case?
And if they took anything they should not have - call the police and file a complaint[ Edited by linlin on Date 11/29/2004 ]
I have no judgement against them, wondering if I could report them with lease paperwork, etc.
Call mark management, think they are in seminole county. I believe they will report them to the credit bureau and give the debt over to a collection agency.
Brenda
Why bother?
I hate it when they abandon, but if the rent for November was paid and I have no way to locate them, I just b!tch them out in my head, clean the place up and get it re-rented asap.
I am familiar with Mark Management. I will call them.
Why bother? Principle. This allows the next landlord to see what they are in for if they pull their credit, which most do.
An eviction is better for the principle part. For example, I rent in low income areas and it is pointless for me to run a credit check but you bet I run a small claims/eviction check.
[addsig]
This is just my personal opinion on the matter of credit reporting. Did you report them when they were paying on time and give the good payments an opportunity to help them with their credit?
Probably not, but now you sure want them to pay for it for the next few months. I am not saying what they did was right either, but I personally think it should be a law that either the credit gets reported when it is good also, just not when it is bad, or not at all.
Are you reporting for all your other tenants also? It could be viewed as a form of discrimination. To me it is not worth it you are setting policy.
dnvrkid
I see your point, but I disagree. Most things that are in your credit report involve you paying back a loan of some sort. Whether it's for a house, car, credit card, or some furniture, you either received money or a product before, and are now paying for it. If you pay for it regularly and successfully, that's reported to the credit bureau. Not so with rental property.
Similarly to buying something for cash, rental units are paid for before they are used. When you purchase something in a store and pay for it with cash, nothing gets reported to the credit bureau. But if you walk out of the store without paying for it, you'll get something worse then black mark on your credit report. I don't extend credit to my tenants. So if a tenants makes use of my property without paying for it first, I believe I should have the right to call the police and demand that they be arrested for theft (or a similar crime). Unfortunately, the law states that a tenant can steal from me and I have to go through an extensive and costly process before I can even hope to get my money from them. So reporting someone to a credit bureau for not paying his or her rent seems perfectly reasonable to me. But reporting positive information on someone for not stealing someone else's property seems a bit much. After all, they've done nothing to deserve a positive comment on their credit report.
gmoney69 - thanks for looking out for other landlords. You might look around on this website to see if they offer such a service. I've considered using this:
www.aoausa.com/SECURE/mrLdebtreportingservice.html
dnvrkid - Tenants are always free to list a landlord on an application if they want. Most landlords are decent and will tell someone if they have good credit.
If they skip out on rent, that's theft. Why not report them? This is a business, not a charity.
I would do it because there is a chance you will get paid. My cousin is a big time landlord and he always reports tenants who owe him money to a credit agency. That scum bag one day might want to buy a house, get a job with the government, etc. My cousin says that every so often he gets a phone call from a tenant of several years ago who now wants to pay his debt. Do you think that if the debt was not showing up on the credit report that the phone would have ever rung?
Brenda
GOOD TENANTS should get GOOD REFERENCES and BAD TENANTS should get BAD CREDIT!
Easy enough....
Just an afterthought - the tenant LIED TO ME ABOUT DYING - that's bad karma.
You think she's listed me on her most recent application? Her credit report would reflect her doings. I like to give praise where it is due, but they must earn it. I am a mortgage broker and I love to help people buy a home. They must help themselves first.
dnvrkid
I only do MTM rental agreements. But even if I was doing long-term leases, I am not extending credit. All I'm doing is agreeing to provide something to someone in monthly installments at a set fee, but only if they pay for each installment before it is used. Others have already said it, if the tenant behaves properly and pays everything on time, my most effective long-term way of acknowledging that is to provide a positive reference. If the tenant does not live up to his obligation, my only long-term way to impact his future is through a credit report. Seems perfectly fair to both my karma and me.
Well said Alex.
Trust me, my tenants are NOT people I would extend credit to. The lease is a contract, nothing else.
I've had some absolutely wonderful tenants, and I would easily give that good information to a credit bureau. Why wouldn't they deserve to have a better credit score so they may one day own a home?
I do pull background checks on my tenants. Not always necessary. If they do not list their current landlord, or are currently living with a relative, 20 to 1 there is a darn good reason, and not the story they tell me,
On the other hand, if they do list their landlord, then I call that landlord. Most landlords are more than willing to tell you all about their tenants, the good, bad and ugly.
Much as tenants often seem like a different breed, they are PEOPLE and they deserve to be treated like PEOPLE. Until they prove themselves to be malicious, destructive animals.
Interesting discussion about credit and tenants-
Are you the cruel landlord or in my case, landlady ,because you report the facts? Bad credit is bad credit. Good credit is good credit. Tenants should always be concerned about their credit. Paying the rent on time matters- pure and simple.
Frankly, with 37 units and around 80 tenants we don't have the time to give up to date reports to the credit companies. But we will give a good recommendation at the end of the lease to anyone the tenant chooses. We will write a letter stating the tenant was a good renter and paid on time. We will not lie to anyone or for anyone and we will tell the truth. The ball is really in the tenant's court. It's up to her to give us good things to write about.
Cordially,
Alice
I agree with Alex.
I very often threaten to report to people's credit if they fail to pay on time. It works in some cases, especially on a lease option. I have never followed through though because I haven't found a place that would do it without signing up for a monthly service that I didn't need.
I will check out the link from the earlier post.
And if a good tenant wants a good credit reporting from me, I'll happily provide one on request if they pay my costs for doing so.