Yesterday I called a rental prospect and said I am sorry but after careful review your application, I have decided not to approve your application to rent my house. At this point, the applicant hung up the phone. 5 minutes later, he is calling me back and demanding I tell him why I rejected him. I tried to let him down easy by feeding him some mild B.S. but that was not working. He wanted to know which one of this 'references' said something negative about him.

I finally 'gave-in' and told him what I had learned from screening his application. I told him,...'It has come to my attention that you have numerous unpaid utility bills at your current residence'. This information only pissed him off more and he then tells me, "My relationship with utility companies is none of your F business"! My reply was,...'this rental house is 'all-electric' and if you can't even pay your power bill, I don't want you living in my house'.

Then our conversation goes from bad to worse. He did not deny having unpaid power bills, but he demanded I tell him how I obtained this information about his unpaid utility bills. He then kept repeating over and over that his power bills are his business only and that I obtained this information illegally. My last words to him was that I do not reveal any source that I use to screen an application with and I ended the call right then.

Only via email. I don't talk on the phone very much. Someone calls me, it goes to voice mail which is translated to a text message (Google Voice) and then I email or text them back.

same as WMH, I like texting them

this has happened to me a few times in the past and some people can get very upset when you reject them.

I would just tell him that he had signed release of information form at the top of the application that DID make this my F business.

WMH,

"I would carry some mace or something in case this person shows up"

I have never had an applicant do that and would likely have ended the conversation with the first swear word.

I do explain prior to giving out an application and telling them I run a credit check is that a landlord is just another creditor which is why the credit history is important.

Yes, I had a rejected commercial applicant call up and tell me how he was going to kill and then dismember me.

I reported it to the police. They did nothing.

Simple

TahoeGal

I am so sorry, Roy, about the tenant who went nuts on the phone with you. Thank you for sharing what happened, and the posts on this thread have been really edifying and eye-opening.

Whoa, TahoeGal, that's awful and glad you're safe.

Roy, you've been doing this long enough that you should be able to skirt around this with ZERO issue at all.

A first you say???? surprised at that Roy.

Learn when you reject them they will hang up --- prepare yourself they will gather their thoughts and call back -- DEMANDING as you have just experienced.

FYI you are the end user of the credit info. You can not disclose what is in the report--- learn to say that cause it's true. If you disclose you now assume the responsibility of the report.

It's enough to just say due to the credit history. I can give you the form to inquire further. Where would you like the form (sent).

I've never had anyone do that to me exactly. Some get irate but then again, I keep it generic enough to state "background check did not come through positively".

I've never had anyone do that to me exactly. Some get irate but then again, I keep it generic enough to state "background check did not come through positively".

So, I can't help but ask: How DID you obtain information about his status with the utility companies? If you obtained it from a credit report, then I hope you followed the law with the adverse action letter -- because a nutball like this is EXACTLY the type of person to follow up and get you in trouble for violating the FCRA.

If you found it some other way, then he may have a point: anyone else releasing that information to you may be illegal or a privacy violation.

So -- I am curious -- how DID you find out?

- John...

myob: It is actually NOT illegal to disclose information from the credit report to them (at least, in most states and certainly not at the federal level). This is a long-believed myth unless other local laws apply. Experian even has it in their FAQ now that a Landlord absolutely CAN give a copy of the credit report to an applicant if they want to. They aren't required to (except, again, in some local-law situations), but they aren't restricted from doing so either.

That being said, you are correct that, in most areas, we absolutely do not HAVE to tell them -- we can just tell them that it was due to something on their credit report and they'll get a letter soon explaining how they can get their own copy if they want to check for errors.

- John...

John I did not know that. Thank you John. My app person knew that and said he thought i knew it!!!!! DDAAAAHHHHHaaa!

Why do we have the form then if we could just give them the copy?

Robert: You mentioned in your comment that "One tenant wanted to sue a rental housing provider for reporting to the credit bureaus for unpaid rent."

Somehow, sadly I see this becoming the norm someday in the future. One day we'll be forced to accept every applicant no matter how undesirable, and be sued if we deny or provide negative info about tenant.

myob: Still have to do the form because the idea is that if there is any incorrect information on their report, they can get it corrected. To do that, they still need to request their official copy directly from the credit bureau.

Also, the copy that they get from them is different (easier to understand) than our usual raw versions.

But, yes, I still don't recommend people give them. It's just nice to know that we can disclose info to them if we want to. Sometimes, I accept someone and like to tell them about something on their report just to help them or let them know. So, nice to know that, legally, we can do that in most cases.

- John...

It never stops to amaze me that them not paying their bills is your fault.

"Mr Prospect, I agree with you that your payment history is your business. Those evil credit reporting agency's are showing that you are some how not paying your bills. I would suggest that you might want to contact them. After they straighten out this matter, please feel free to contact us again".

Then block the number.

Not ever had that happen thank goodness. The first

sign of the "F" word coming out I would of just

LOL - Thank you for making me smile tonight Roy. :-). I'm proud of you and your choice in tools.

Short barrel Mossy then just toss what's left in the swamp. No shovels needed in Roy's neck of the woods. :-)

Just tell the guy you called the utility and asked. Say you were surprised they told you. Then let him freak at the power co.

This is why we never tell them if a LL reference came back bad. People can be crazy!

We never know what mental or physical state they are in - drunk, high, upset about work/spouse/kids/car...

Roy,

Your Generation is showing. We Boomers were taught to answer every phone call. You do not have to return EVERY call nor answer every call. A billionaire taught me regarding unsolicited calls, "I did not ask him to call me so why should I have to call him back?"

We're polite and treat everyone with respect, but don't alow abuse. I don't think your response about unpaid utils was out of line, it just gave him a thing to argue about. After the first call I would not have answered any more calls from him. That's why God made answering machines!

Dust yourself off and move on.

Stay strong buddy!

Brad20K,

I will continue to answer every call. If I don't answer these type calls, these people will show up at the rental house where they first met me and 'wait for me'. I much rather deal with them on the phone than in person.

After they have cursed me out and called me a few choice names(slumlord),...then they usually go away and are never heard from again. Again, on the cell phone and not in person is best here.

If I deny for credit reasons, and they contact me to see what's up, I just tell them "I'm unable to rent to you you will receive a letter in a few days that tells you how to obtain a copy of your credit report if you wish..." They always drop the issue after that. I don't get into the details of what was on their report.

If it's for some reason other than credit I try not to get into discussion at all with them, because there will usually be an argument about how something wasn't their fault.

FYI: I did not pull a credit report on this applicant. I tend to use all of my other research sources first which tend to be more reliable and up to date than a CR.

roy, using unique resources like your contact at the utility as the sole reason for a decline is a bad idea. you have no way of knowing it's accurate, no accountability for the reporter of the derog info, no way to rub the deadbeats nose in it...you got it backdoor. if the icehole applicant gets his drawers in a twist and makes a nuisance of himself at the utility they might alter their ways and cut off your recon...

better to have a credit report, at his expense of course, and just find a reason to decline them...in calif by the time a utility gets to the point of reporting to bureaus they are WAY late and you can bet they have shanked other creditors too. jagoffs like yours are easy kills. you were too kind to alert them that you learned of their electric bill troubles.

also program his phone number into your celly and let him call and issue threats to the recorder...if he gets too scary a trip to the police might be in order.

i have used Ooma VOIP for all my telecom years now and i can get a new number for $5 a month...that number fwd's to my cell and the nuts never learn my real number.