Background Screening

At RSI we work with lots of small businesses and property owners and the one question were asked most often is how to read credit. If you need a credit report we can provide you with one. We can also walk you through the credit report over the phone or provide you with a cheat sheet. But what if you didn’t have to analyze the credit? What if you setup specific standards and the credit was matched up to pass or fail those standards? If that sounds interesting to you, I would recommend talking to someone at our office about Insta-Chek. Rental Services has offered a scoring model for several years with great results. You set credit standards for your applicant. If they meet the criteria we give you a pass recommendation. If they don’t meet your standards we issue a fail recommendation. Insta-Chek can also be setup with a conditional recommendation to give you additional flexibility in screening credit. The benefits of Insta-Chek are straight forward. No more trying to decipher credit ...

On Thursday, March 3, the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on the Small Business Paperwork Mandate Elimination Act of 2011 (H.R. 4), which would repeal the expanded IRS Form 1099 reporting requirement. Under current law, businesses will have to prepare and file 1099 forms for each vendor to which they pay more than $600 during a calendar year, beginning with payments made in 2012. As members of the U.S. House prepare to vote on this bill, they need to hear from YOU! Tell them to repeal this burdensome tax reporting requirement and vote YES on H.R. 4.

Everyone at Rental Services would like to wish you a happy Valentines Day. We would also like to thank you for your continued support. Our company tracks all of our marketing and advertising sources and customer referrals continue to be the number one source of new clients. We hope you will follow, share or bookmark us using the link below. Again thank you from everyone at RSI.

Let’s talk about Data and not that robot from Star Trek. If your going to order a background check you need to make sure you have good data. Old or inaccurate data makes it hard to make an informed decision about an applicant. I recommend asking your screening company where they get their data from and what it covers? Do they have access to proprietary databases developed and constantly updated by them and their customers? I know many of you reading this blog already use Rental Services, so I want you to know the answer to all of the questions listed in this article are YES. We use current and up to date information sources that are reviewed for quality. We update our own proprietary database with records collected manually by RSI. Clients also contribute to our large collection of records.

If you use credit reports for screening residents or employees you will need a physical onsite inspection of the place used to store your records. Don’t blame Rental Services Inc. or RSI Screening for this new rule. The inspection process was the brain child of Experian, Trans Union and Equifax. Each bureau now requires inspections from an independent third party company as part of the credentialing process. If your company operates from a commercial address the inspection is required once. If you’re operating from a residential address the inspection is required annually. All inspections do require a fee. To pass an inspection you need three key elements. First, you will need a dedicated office space. If working from a residential office the space needs to be separate from living space. Second, you need a way of securing information. A locking filing cabinet, locking desk drawer or safe will meet the requirements. Finally, you will need away to destroy credit information. A shredder w...

The answer is YES, YES, and YES! If you’re only looking at criminal records and a credit report, you’re not getting the whole story. In today’s economy not only are homeowners losing their homes to foreclosure, people who rent are losing their homes to evictions. Lost jobs, medical bills, poor credit decisions and divorce have caused the number of evictions to skyrocket over the past few years. If you’re not looking for eviction records you’re not getting one of the most important pieces of screening information a property owner can use to make an informed rental decision. Someone who has been evicted has given up one of the basic necessities of life, shelter. If you’re not ordering a separate eviction report and rely solely on the credit report for eviction information, you’re missing out on 75% of the evictions filed. The only eviction records that show up on the credit report are monetary judgments which can take up to 90 days to show up on the credit report. If you’re not getting a...

Many property owners ask for co-signers in situations that involve students with limited income or renters with poor credit. If you ask for a co-signer you will need them to complete a separate agreement that stipulates that they agree to pay rent and damages if the primary tenant fails to pay. Most property owners get into trouble when they make changes to the lease with out the co-signers written approval. This can be adding or deleting a person to the lease. Adding pets to the lease or even renewing the lease if the co-signer does not sign the new lease. How do you avoid problems? Its easy, just make sure you get the co-signers signature every time you make a change to the lease agreement.