Apartment Evictions Impacting Credit Scores – Episode #108

Do Apartment Evictions Impact Your Credit Score?

One of challenges of being an credit expert is that sometimes you get to close to your subject matter. I never would have thought of this question but it’s a great one.

Right or wrong, most apartment experiences don’t hit your credit report. In fact, here’s a short list of rules:

• Applying for Apartments – Does impact your credit file, as your credit report will be pulled by a apartment management company. This won’t be a hard inquiry in most cases, so your score won’t go down, but it will get checked.
• Apartment Rent Payments – Do not impact your credit file. Some companies are trying to change this, but they are struggling to get traction with the bureaus. Don’t expect to see late payment history on rent in your credit file.
• Apartment Rent Late Payments – Often are not reported, so they won’t hit your credit report as well.
• Apartment Rent Collections or Evictions – It depends on whether a judgment is awarded. There is no “evictions” section on the report. If this appears, it will appear in the judgment section under public records. . Most often not reported to the credit reporting agencies because most apartment management companies simply take your security deposit.

Key tidbit: just because an eviction won’t appear on a credit report, doesn’t mean it won’t catch up to you. Many landlords use services that offer bundled background check services. These will include credit checks, as well as public records checks and often include a service where your old landlords are contacted. As your previous addresses are in your credit reports, they can find your old landlords whether or not you provide this information.