CoreLogic SafeRent or National Tenant Network? Better for screening?

We are looking for a new resident screening company, and have briefly looked into CoreLogic SafeRent and National Tenant Network. I’ve seen both at a trade show, and they seem like solid companies. But I’d like to hear 1) Any testimonials or stories about them, and 2) Any others in the resident screening space I should consider.

Properties are located in Florida. Any other resident screening companies are welcome to say hello!

We've been using Screening Reports (betternoi.com) for the last year and have been VERY pleased with them. We had issues with two prior providers missing criminal & eviction records, have not had that problem with Screening Reports.

To answer your question, using an online company only to do your rental screening may not be the best way to go as few have a system to verify results, therefore the chance of mistaken identity exist.
This is particularity true with very common or foreign names, hyphenated names or women who use maiden and married names. In addition the site returns a credit score only..ever wonder how old the score is. In truth just a number does not tell you the fallibility of the applicant to pay the rent on time. A hands on screening of civil court records in every county the applicant has lived for the past 5 years is the best method to determine if the applicant has been sued for non-payment, evicted, foreclosed, wages garnished, has a civil action in place..again results need to be verified. I am always available to answer questions

Hi SueAnne,

Tre Sedminik from The Screening Pros here. We are an industry boutique firm with more than 25 years of applicant screening experience. Although our primary focus is mitigating applicant risk through more effective credit and criminal screening, we also offer solutions that streamline your entire leasing process; from allowing the prospect to apply on-line, to gaining federally compliant e-signatures on all of your leasing forms.

Having previously worked at CoreLogic SafeRent for 10 years, I welcome the opportunity to share the advantages our solutions offer. Please feel free to contact me at 800-877-3908 xtn. 345 or by email [email protected] to set up a time that is convenient for you to view a web demo.

Sandy, I want to take a moment to Thank You for shedding light on some of the caveats associated with background checks. Too often many instant criminal reports are plagued with false positive or negatives for that matter. It is this exact reason why we invest in extra due diligence. Our trained staff reviews all possible criminal record matches prior to dissemination to hopefully prevent our customer’s frustrations. After all, our business is to mitigate risk for our clients not increase their exposure to it.

-Tre

I know this topic is old, but I figured that someone who is looking for answers to the same question can at least benefit. Another service that you can look into is TransUnion's CreditRetriever (more for larger property management companies) or TransUnion's SmartMove which is intended for smaller companies or individual landlords. Neither is worse or better than the other, they are just two different services intended to accommodate different business models. The reason I know about this product is because I am currently in their sales department. Before you all run for the hills I just want to say that we try our best to not be pushy sales people as we want the value and quality of our services to speak for itself. We are also a part of the credit bureau so we have additional insights that not everyone will have. The information I provide below is independent of whether or not you use the products mentioned above. When deciding on a provider here are some considerations:

1) Customer Service- We've all been there where we have had terrible customer service, the last place you want customer service to fall through is with your screening provider. Screening applications can get complicated, so you want a customer service team who is not only attentive to the primary decision-makers, but also the leasing agents or property managers as well. If the system goes down or a question arises (especially when it comes to legalities) you and your leasing agents should be able to reach a customer service agent in a timely manner and receive accurate and helpful information.

*In my department we assign a dedicated team (an account executive and account manager)to manage the accounts from the primary decision-makers all the way down to the leasing agents. It is not a phone service so agents are able to call or email directly for all questions and concerns and our agents are fairly knowledgeable so they resolve the majority of issues on their own and if they don't know the answer, instead of forwarding you on to someone they will find out for you.

2)Liability- Screening falls under a multitude of regulations. State, FCRA, and Fair Housing. This is where not all screening is created equal. You want a screening provider who has preventative measures to prevent liability on your part. As an example, if you use criminal reports you want to make sure your provider filters out reports you are not allowed to make a rental decision on. Not all providers filter and it only takes a well-informed individual to return to you with a lawsuit because you made a leasing decision based on information you shouldn't have. Certain states have time limits on certain information and some even limit the use of the national sex registry and it doesn't matter if your property is not located in one of those state, the applicant just needs to be a resident of one of those states. Other factors you might want to consider are recommendations that keep leasing decisions consistent. When you have leasing agents and multiple property managers you open yourself to risk especially with Fair Housing. If leasing agents make exceptions or inconsistent decisions they open up your company to liability. To counter that, you might want to look into recommendation services where your agents aren't even allowed to view the reports and are just given a decision by your provider to prevent liability.

*TransUnion CreditRetriever provides recommendation services where they have a dedicated team to physically view reports and send back a decision. Your policies are also factored into the decision-making and if you are a new company they can makes suggestions based on similar properties in your area.

3) Coverage- Credit reports are pretty standard amongst all three bureaus and rarely vary so it's not too much of a concern. They are also associated with a social security number so there isn't much risk for false positives and their other identifiers that help identify the applicant such as address history. The reports you want to be concerned about is criminal and eviction. Criminal and eviction reports vary state to state and even month to month as court houses can change the way they report. Until criminal and eviction reports are standardized nationally, there will always be gaps in coverage. Some companies have a bit more coverage than others and it helps if that company you apply with is consistently trying to cover gaps. Sometimes its impossible to get coverage in certain areas, but your provider should be actively obtaining updates.

*We have a dedicated team who constantly updates our coverage reports and actively reach out to sources to try and fill in the gaps.

4) Subject Selection- Criminal and eviction reports are not associated with a social security numbers and as such there is room for many false positives and it's possible to miss reports when people use AKA's or maiden names. If for example you have a common name as John Smith more than likely you will return a large number of records that aren't yours. In this case less is more. The less reports you have the more efficient your screening process will be. You want your provider to have a system in place that prevents these false positives as well as identifies people who go under different aliases.

*The products stated above have subject selection which will minimize false positives and identify aliases so that when you make a tenancy decision, for the most part you can be confident that you have the reports of the correct person.

5)Use of Scoring Models- Scoring models have historically been used to predict risk. We are all familiar with the term FICO and Vantage Score and while we would assume that these scoring models will suffice to determine if someone will pay rent, what many don't realize is that FICO and Vantage scores have differing models that have been tailored to specific industries (mainly auto and financial institutions). Auto loans, mortgages, credit cards all use different scoring models as they all differ greatly when it comes to factors in their industry. Rental screening is no different. If you are relying on a scoring model you want to know how it will benefit your business when it comes to predicting risk. Don't just fall for the term credit score because the score is only worth it when it prevents losses. Consumer behavior changes (economy, history, culture changes, etc.) and as such the scoring model you use should be updated at least every 5-7 years.


*The products mentioned above will provide a ResidentScore which will predict how good of a renter they are. The scoring model compared around half a million records to predict behavior in the multi-family industry. We are actually coming out with a new ResidentScore that is predicted to reduce eviction rates by 15% compared to a generic score.

6) Human Piece of the Whole Matter: It may seem like you are just pulling reports, but these reports are a deciding factor in not only losses to your company, but it also determines whether or not someone will have a roof to go over their head. Certain housing markets are more difficult than others so for some it can mean homelessness. You don't want to turn away potentially good applicants for reasons of incorrect identity or misinterpretation of records. As an example, an eviction report might return on your applicant. Just because an applicant has an eviction report does not automatically mean they are a high risk. With some states the eviction process can be lengthy so often times landlords and property managers will submit a civil filing even if a tenant is one day late with their rent. Even if a tenant is not taken through all the stages of an eviction, they can have an eviction report. When one is not well-informed many agents will automatically reject someone for just having an eviction report, not really understanding how to read the report and what the legal jargon means (a judgement could have been in favor of the tenant for all they know). Remember, reports are intended to evaluate risks for your company and as such risks should be properly evaluated to be fair.