Protection Alliance

You may be wondering if being evicted or paying late on rent will make an impact on your credit report. Well, it can. A landlord as a credit reference can have its advantages as well as disadvantages.

Whenever a tenant moves to another apartment, be it on their own accord or otherwise, their landlord can serve as a credit reference for financial institutions, future landlords, etc. They will regard it as proof on whether or not the tenant is capable of paying the rent. You may think that this is unfair; probably yes, but it is legal. There are a couple of benefits and drawbacks to having previous rent history show up on your credit report. If a landlord puts the wrong information on the credit report of one of his/her tenants, it can have a negative effect on the tenant. This is why you should always request a credit record every year. You can get free pre-filled forms on our home page by opting in on the right to 10 Ways to Improve Your Credit Score>>>>>

One of the advantages of having your previous landlord as credit reference is that it can increase your chance to obtain positive consideration at some point. Moreover, it can affect future landlords, banks, creditors and even employers in a positive way since they will see you as someone who knows how to handle money.

The disadvantage if you have a previous landlord as credit reference is that it shows your lack of ability to sustain basic human needs. It will adversely affect your overall score if a judgment or unpaid rent bill shows up on your credit report. Future landlords will also see you as someone unreliable when it comes to paying rent and employers may view you as incapable of keeping focus on crucial events or setting priorities.

What can you do if your former landlord gets back at you by filing a wrong report? What should you do if the balance due is incorrect? If your information is different from your landlordís, you should gather all of his/her records. This is the reason why it is very important that you obtain and keep all rent payment receipts. Cancelled checks, as well as money orders, are excellent proof, but the best ones are receipts issued to you by your landlord. 

You can use the Fair Credit Reporting Act to request that the record be fixed or removed. Under this law, the credit reporting agencies will investigate your claim within 30 days, unless they think that the claim is trivial or worthless if you disputed the entry placed by your landlord in your credit report. If the claim has been confirmed to be erroneous or unproven, it will be deleted. For more information on how to correct errors on your credit reports, check out our book: Get Your Credit Score To 740, under our E- books section.