first time renting with a 596 fico score

Hello.....welcome to the forum. I just want to say ( from renting myself) that most Landlords look at CR's...not to REALLY see what your score is, but, to see if you have any outstanding utility bills, outstanding rent from another Landlord that may have reported the deliquency, etc. Also......Landlords want to know if you can actually afford where you are going to rent. Just curoius..what state are you in? Hope this helps a bit.

I agree sdchargers! And in all honestly not all landlords required a credit check. But even if they do I've never heard of a landlord actually checking you credit scores as well.

Depending on how much money you make you might be able to qualify for assistance from either the state or the hospital that provided you services to pay off your old medical bills. I had to go to the hospital once without insurance and ended up with a bill for $7K. After about a year of not making payment I contacted the hospitals business offices and requested help. I had to provide them proof of my income but a month later I received a letter stating they settled the debt for me and I owed nothing. It was also completely removed from my credit reports.

You never know but its worth looking into.

Good luck.

I'm in the middle of the 'Medical Bill' thing, too. Lots of help out there...that's for sure. I live in PA. I've rented from the same people ( Housing Authority) for 8 years. I think, too, what people don't realize is that just staying in the same place for a while, working in the same place, etc. kind of gives you 'credit', too. Hope this makes sense.

If the landlord does a credit check, which a lot of them do these days, they will see the foreclosure on your credit report. Otherwise, if you know that they will not pull a credit report they have no way of knowing. You should ask them if they pull the credit report or not. Then you will have an idea of what lies ahead and be ready to explain.

I don't know if forclosure would be a negative thing or not, on your CR ( concerning the Landlord, anyway). I know a few people that did just that. They didn't have any trouble finding places to rent. However..I guess it depends on the state (maybe?) I don't know.

Hi Maya
Now-a-days most landlords check credit report before renting you a home. Actually as far as I know, they do it to see whether you are delinquent with any utility bill payments or not. It has nothing to do with your credit score and they rarely check your credit score. But if you have foreclosure in your credit report, you may have difficulty in getting a home on rent at a competitive rate.

That would make sense, because the landlord would want to see do you pay your utilities and other monthly expenses, so this may affect your ability to rent depending on what this landlord is actually looking at.

I think the outstanding utility bills, other Landlords, etc. is the BIGGEST thing, however, that Landlords DO look for. I know someone who wanted to rent an apartment in the building where I live. The person told me they couldn't rent an apartment because they owed money to a former Landlord. The former Landlord had them evicted ( from the story I got, anyway..) and the former Landlord reported the outstanding money.

I agree with you chargers. Before renting a house, the landlord looks at your credit report to find out whether you are regular at making your utility payments on time. If you are delinquent, they will generally not agree to give you rent. Even if they give you rent, they will charge a high rate. Other details like credit score are of no use to the landlord.

Because then they have all your information to either fill up your mail box or your email. So to test them out just put in bogus information until you get to the end and see the credit card information, then bail out. It will save you a bunch of advertising junk in your mail box.

you will need to go into the first email that you get from them and unsubscribe or they will fill your email up daily, it is a real pain in the butt.

That really is ridiculous when you stop and think of it. A person is simply trying to get their score and you have to deal with htis garble. I wonder if there is a way to get your credit score by mail. They should be able to send you a form or let you fill the form out online and then mail a check. I really do not like putting my cc info out there. And this is one of the reasons. I know I would have trust issues with a company who offers to give me my score and then solicits me with junk mail and asks for my cc number. They shouldn't need a credit card number if its free and if it is for verification purposes then find another way to verify.

I would think that you could call them up and order it over the phone, just google them and get the number, give them a buzz and request it.

Good advice as usual erb.

Anything that you can order on the net you can call and get.

Thats actually how I prefer to do it. Although I love my net I like a good old fashioned phone call better. Especially when purchasing anything.

I guess what ever makes you happy or what ever makes you feel safe?

Thats how I am looking at it.

to each his own, hopefully you will be okay with this.

You just hear sooo many scary stories about stole cc numbers. I guess it can really happen anywhere if you look at it. I have heard things on the news and read in the paper about people who scan your credit card and copy the numbers at retail stores and hotels. You also hear where employess at banks or other places have been cought selling your info. Another thing lots of people are not aware of is how simple it is for a teller to enter one wrong number and cha ching you now just bought shoes for someone else or made anothers payment. This happened to my sister. She worked really hard and paid off her discover ard and got a atatement in the mail with a balance due. Someone had purchased something a a shoe place in Ten. and when she called the card people straightened it out. Here there was very little difference in her card nu,ber and someone elses. She asked to be issued a new ard.

I just seen on the news where the theives are putting scanners on gas pumps and on atm machines to get your information.

That's why I don't use my Debit card in the gas pumps, etc. I DO use an ATM, like everyone else, I guess. But, ya'll are right. Debit card/CC cards can be stolen anywhere.

Yes, identity theft mostly occurs through credit cards. For identity theft, it is not necessary for the person to steal your credit card. They may copy the details of your credit card when you are making payments in any departmental store with your card. So you need to be alert whenever you are making any payment with your card. Moreover, someone may sign up for a credit card in your name if they somehow come to know about your personal details. To prevent this you can set fraud alert services with the credit bureaus.

This is what I was taliking about . This world has gone crazy and sometimes you just aren't safe anywhere. I think it was a couple years ago they were tapping into business phone lines and hearing peoples account numbers and writing them down. I have noticed that if I am ordering from the same company they don't ask for my full account number now. Usually they say "will you be using the account on file, with the ast four digits 5555." I really think that is a great idea if it is someone you do business with on a reg. basis.

I have a freind at work who went out to eat and went to use her card to pay for the meal and was turned down after she ate, she was so embarrassed about it. Apparently she had shopped at a store where they busted a ring of thieves doing exactly what Justin was talking about here, thing is the credit card company froze the cards and mailed out new ones but did not inform the customers that they were doing this. I bet she is not the only one that got caught in this situation.

wow, you would have thought that they would have contacted their customers so they did not get in this embarrassing situation, I would have been calling them up and screaming in somebody's ear about not contacting me. hope they got it all straightened out.

I would have been glad that the company did this but really peeved that they at least didn't inform me. Do you know how many people will use cc for cashback rewards and stuff like that. They will cahrge all their weekly purchases and then pay online at the end of that week. It quickly adds up in rewards. My old boss did this all the time to get the perks.
Oh the shamed face someone would get from this.

nope, no longer have any cards, except for my work one and it is not really mine to shop or do what ever I want to with, only work related travel expenses.

Hi fireyone
What I feel is that reward points on credit cards are marketing features that the credit card companies follow in order to make you spend more money on your cards. So I think, we should not go by the reward points for making payments with our cards. Rather we should concentrate on making necessary payments which we can repay back. If you spend more, influenced by the reward points and are unable to pay it back on time, your credit score will be hampered.

Some landlords, in my area, are getting tougher on their 'requirements' on renting now. Especially with the college students.....their is an University right in the town, where I live. I can't blame them, I suppose. I read about the college students 'up and fleeing', after the semester is over, and not paying what they need.

I imagine SD that renting to them would be some pretty risky business. I would not want to be in their shoes unless of course mom or dad sent me the rent check
Anthiny, I myself don't deal with credit cards much. My boss was the one who usually used the perks. The company always paid the full balance with in the month therefore not leaving much in interest and reaping the awards. I can not say myself if this is wise because I do not particioate in any rewards program myself.