Equifax Introduces Soft Credit Inquiry Checks for Tenant Screening

As of June 2018, 36 percent of all occupied homes across the country were rented, an increase from 31 percent in 2006, according to Zillow. To keep consumers from having negative impacts to their credit scores in the highly-competitive rental market, Equifax has enhanced its suite of multi-family credit solutions to include credit checks with soft inquiries for tenant screenings.

Soft credit inquiries do not impact a consumer’s credit score like hard inquiries. Instead, they are credit checks that are typically only visible to the consumer, and are not used to calculate credit scores.

“In high-density markets, renters often apply to multiple properties before securing a lease,” said Tyler Sawyer, Vice President of Rental and Real Estate, Equifax. “Offering soft pull credit inquiries will help renters find the best lease and terms without worrying about negative impacts to their credit score. This becomes especially invaluable to Millennials who may already have thin credit files.”

Equifax will provide credit reports with soft inquiries for the multi-family industry. The credit report continues to give property managers the same valuable consumer information they need to assess renters and mitigate risks without affecting an applicant’s credit score.

“We are excited about the numerous innovations Equifax has introduced that allow us to better serve our multifamily clients, and perhaps more importantly, consumers,” said Amy Maley, President, Better NOI. “The ability to provide quality resident screening without a negative impact to the applicant creates a win-win-win!”

Additionally, other multi-family solutions offered by Equifax include income and employment verification, mobile identity and fraud solutions. For more information, please visit the Equifax Multi-Family Solutions web page.