Tenant Screening Reports
Tenant Credit Reports, Criminal Checks & Eviction Reports
(Free for Landlords!)
Tenant screening reports – chargeable directly to your applicants.
Full credit reports with FICO score. Nationwide criminal background checks. Nationwide eviction reports. And you can request a rental application at the same time!
Full Credit Reports
SparkRental offers full credit reports, complete with credit score, debt summaries, payment history, public records such as bankruptcies and judgments, and more.
No inspection required, either. Most “mom and pop” landlords don’t want to go through the hassle of a site inspection by the credit bureaus, in order to run credit reports.
As part of the process, we verify the applicant’s identity, too. We confirm you’re actually leasing to the person they claim to be!
The applicant approves your request electronically, and as soon as they do, the credit reports are released to you. When the applicant approves your request, they’re charged directly for the credit report and other tenant screening reports.
Nationwide Criminal Background Checks
Want a violent ex-con living in your property? What about a sex offender? Or hey, what about a check fraud artist?
We have you covered, with our nationwide criminal background checks. Federal, state, and local criminal records – all compiled into one report.
And yes, we check the sex offender registry.
Not only can criminal tenants be dangerous to you, they can be dangerous to neighbors and other nearby tenants. Physical danger aside, fraudsters who have stolen from others in the past hardly look trustworthy to pay your rent on time!
Nationwide Eviction Reports
Want to include eviction reports with your tenant credit report and criminal background check? You can, and should.
We actually feel strongly that the eviction history report is the most important tenant background check of all. It gets to the heart of what you really need to know: whether a renter has ever violated their lease agreement before, and needed to be evicted.
Find out if your applicant has a clean rental history – or whether they’re a professional tenant bouncing from one lease to the next, always needing to be evicted for their landlord to be rid of them.
Free Built-In Rental Application
Tenant screening starts with a detailed rental application. After all, what good is a credit report if you would never have accepted the renter anyway, based on their 90-pound pit bull?
Our rental application is free (good start, right?) and sent electronically by email. No printing necessary! You can also select to include credit reports, criminal checks, or eviction reports with your rental application if you like.
Just enter your applicant’s email address, they fill out the rental application online, and as soon as they finish we email you to let you know it’s ready for you to review.
Happy tenant screening!
What Do the Tenant Screening Reports Cost?
Transparent pricing: refreshing, right?
Here’s what you’ll pay for full credit reports, nationwide criminal background checks, and nationwide eviction history reports at each membership level:
Most Tools Free, the Rest Transparent
Fill Vacancies Fast
- Online Rental Application
- Full credit report with FICO score, nationwide criminal background check including sex offender searchFull Credit & Criminal Report Package
- Nationwide Eviction Report
- Posts your listing to Apartments.com, ForRent.com, Apartment Finder & more with one clickOne-Click Vacancy Advertising
PLUS 6 more - Includes address history, SSN verification, and known aliases. First report free, then $1.99.Free Tenant ID Check
Move-In & Leases
- Free General Lease Agreement
- State-Specific Lease Agreements
- Edit the legal clauses directly (at your own risk, of course!)Direct Lease Clause Editing
- Convert Rental Application to Lease
- E-Sign & Store Signed Docs (state leases only)
Manage Rents & Finances
- Online Rent Collection
- We report your tenant's rent history to the credit bureaus to incentivize them to pay on time every month!Rent Reported to Credit Bureaus
- Fully integrated with online rent collection system, with manual entry features too. Income & Expense Ledger
- Receipt Storage
- Detailed financial reporting including: Income & Expense Reports, Live E-Payment Tracking, and Upcoming Scheduled Payment Reports.Financial & Tax Reporting
Simplified Management
- Eviction notices for all 50 states, plus free landlord letters!State Eviction Notices & Tenant Letters
- All landlord-tenant communications logged and recorded through a unique tenant portal.Maintenance & Communication Logging
- # of Units
Premium Course Access
- What you'll learn: how to double rental returns, while working half the hours. How to automate, delegate, and eliminate the most common work and expenses in managing rentals.Property Management Pro:
Double Returns, Half the Hours
Free Account
$0 — Forever
- Free for Landlord, Tenant Pays $29.95
- Free for Landlord, Tenant Pays $4.95
- $19.95
- Tenant can pay by ACH (free) or credit card (they pay a 3.99% convenience fee)Free for Both Parties
(tenant pays 3.99% if credit card) - Unlimited
- $697 Included
Note: Any landlord can request tenant-authorized credit reports, no site inspection required.
Charge the tenant screening reports directly to the applicant, so you don’t even have to collect an application fee!
Tenant Screening 101 with Brian & Deni
Our co-founders Brian Davis and Deni Supplee review the six parts of tenant screening that landlords should do with every single applicant.
(Most are quick and easy!)
Frequently Asked Questions
Who pays for the tenant screening reports?
A
Most often the applicant will pay for the tenant screening reports themselves. However, ultimate level members get to choose whether the applicant or the landlord will pay!
How do you verify rental applicants' identities for tenant screening?
Very carefully. Let’s face it, with technological progress, we will see an advance in fraud. That makes identity verification a must when it comes to tenant screening reports.
However, when using the tenant background check services through the Spark Landlord Landlord App, the credit bureau Experian’s Precise ID verifies all rental applicants. This verification happens not only through the renter applicant’s identifying information (name, address, date of birth, Social Security Number, etc.) but also through their recent credit history and transactions.
Spark Rental takes privacy and security extremely seriously. Our website meets Level 1 PCI Compliance, extremely powerful SSL encryption, and we even partner with ThreatMatrix to maximize security.
What's the application process like for my renter?
Once you invite an applicant to complete a tenant background check
1. They will be taken to an online portal where not only will they fill in a rental application online (that you can print).
2. The rental applicant will be asked for all sorts of Information, including contact Information, address history, employment, any other income, assets, liabilities. They will also supply references, asked if they have pets and what kind of car they drive. All topped off with the names of all occupants, and an electronic signature providing authorization to run all background checks.
3. They will go through a verification process, just to be sure they are who they say they are.
4. And then payment is made
Is the credit report pull a "hard inquiry" or "soft inquiry" for my renter? (E.g., does it ding their credit?)
The credit report results in a soft inquiry on your applicant’s credit, so it doesn’t hurt their credit score, or even show as an inquiry on their report.
My applicant has a good credit score. Do I really need to check references?
Yes, yes and did we say yes? A good tenant credit report score is an excellent measure. However, it should never be the only one.
How will you know if your renter applicant will take good care of the property? How do you know if your tenant applicant has a good, strong employment history? A credit score will not provide these answers.
That is why we strongly urge landlords and property managers to not only speak to the current landlord but also the one before.
Make sure you ask these landlords questions such as:
1. How did the applicant care for the property?
2. Did you have to make any deductions from the security deposit?
3. Did the renter cause any nuisance complaints?
Similarly with the employer. Besides verifying the income, ask other important questions.
1. How long was so-and-so employed?
2. Do they show up for work every day?
The idea is to get as much of a background as possible to eliminate possible problems later.
Can I print the rental application?
Of course. We make it easy for to save off a PDF version of the rental application or print it directly within Spark Rental. When viewing the applicant, there is an option to “Download (PDF)”.
Do I need to have a site inspection to run credit reports?
You can either run the reports instantly or request them to be tenant-authorized.
However, if you choose to run an instant tenant credit report, you will need a one-time site inspection. It’s the law! If you choose this route, there is a set-up charge.
However, you DO NOT need an inspection to run tenant-authorized credit reports including, criminal and eviction reports instantly. This means that your tenant goes through an easy process all done online to verify information and complete a free rental application.
Not only can you charge the tenant screening reports directly to the applicant, so you don’t even have to collect an application fee but it in many ways it is much easier all around.
