Future garnishment could be a purpose.

Does this prospect write checks? If so they are giving their account number freely to anyone they right checks to.

Liz, I advise that you pass on this applicant. His concern may sound reasonable, but he is being non cooperative with you, and my guess is that you will find that he has a scapegoat for every blemish on his credit and rental history.

Thanks sisco!

At the application phase, I only ask if they have an account and at what bank. This is simply an fyi to me as far as how we can set up their payment if they are approved. I also use it later if they get evicted and garnishment is required.

Sisco may be right about this guy being overly sensitive, but I think I'd be a little skittish too if my ID had been stolen. If he has been cooperative up to this point, explain that you need this information for payment purposes, and then if he still refuses you can wish him good luck on his search for housing and deny the app.

My app used to ask that too and I finally removed it. It was fairly worthless information and a pain for people to provide.

I now ask IF they have a savings or checking account and, if so, at which bank. It's enough to tell me that it exists.

- John...

John And Sid thnx for your perspective! It’s such a fine line between being strict and demanding they give me what I ask for without question, and being more considerate of their request without appearing wishy-washy.

He has been cooperative up to this point.

Sid- when do you request the bank info if not at the app phase?

Liz: In Michigan, garnishing from a bank account is actually a bit of a pain. You need to go to court for an inquiry into their balance anyhow -- so THEY have to bring their bank account balance info to court. If they are going to lie to the court, they'd lie to me anyhow -- so there really isn't a need to get it up front.

When we garnish, we garnish at their employer.

Basically, by the time you need to garnish, it is usually because they don't HAVE any savings/checking money left. So the only way to get anything from them via garnishment is to get a piece of their paycheck. So, employer is much more important than checking account number.

(Note that you should also garnish their Michigan tax return.)

- John...

You should remind him that every time he gives someone a check his bank info is printed on the front of the check. We required bank account info to confirm they are able to pay electronically. No checking account or second chance bank accounts is a rejection.

Liz: Well, verifying self-employed is indeed a bit different. In that case, we usually get copies of a few months of bank statements and, more importantly, copies of two years of tax returns.

We've only had ONE person take us up on that. So, it isn't that common for us.

- John...

NC Investor: Does anyone write checks any more? :) I haven't had an applicant write a check in a long while now...

- John...

Yes, I get that -- I was just joking around. But, the reality is that most younger folks today do not write checks.

Heck, I'm older and used to write them all the time, but now it is very, very rare. It's all digital now.

- John...