Welcome to Rate-A-Renter! 

Rate-A-Renter is designed to serve our busy Residential Property Managers by providing them with the single most important pre-qualification tool available to making a credit or leasing decision -- the world-renowned FICO Score.  And all you need is a phone to get your answer within 2 minutes.

With the recent proliferation of requirements that plague legitimate users of credit reports for decision-making purposes, Rate-A-Renter has found a way to stay well within compliance guidelines -- without the hassles associated with using full-blown credit reports.  

How does Rate-A-Renter work? 

Simply complete 3 easy to steps to establish an account and receive your account number. (click here if you are ready to go now)

When you need to run a report, you will have to disclose to the applicant (consumer) that you plan to obtain a credit report as part of your tenant qualification process. 

Once a signature is obtained by the applicant, you can dial our Rate-A-Renter toll-free telephone number (no computer is required) enter your account ID, and the Social Security number of the applicant.

Within two minutes, you will be provided with the applicant’s FICO score, upon which you can immediately determine if your candidate is worth pursuing further.

Keep in mind that we consider a FICO score to be a first step in the tenant screening process.  In some cases, you will need to go further and you can find those services by clicking here.

How does the scoring model work? 

Our recommendation is as follows: 

1. Anything higher that a 680 (to a maximum level of 800) is a relatively sure thing.  This applicant has proven he/she can perform on its debt, has low “associated” or “relative” risk, and will most likely have no trouble paying the rent. You will need no, or minimal additional qualifiers.
   
   We suggest that the Rate-A-Renter score, in addition to an eviction report, and/or verification of employment, should get you all of the information you need to make an effective rental decision.   Many of our clients opt to use only the FICO score, but that is up to you.

2. The applicant who has a FICO score between 560 and 680, also known as “sub-prime,” is a candidate for additional research such as an eviction check, employment verification, and prior landlord contact, as well as a determination as to how long they have had their bank account open.   Call 800 277-2733 for more of our services.

3. If the candidate is below 560, it is our advice that this applicant may not be able to pay the rent, and, if you still feel the need to rent to them, do so with additional deposit for any possible shortfall or delay in payment of rent. 

APSCREEN, the parent company of Rate-A-Renter has been in the tenant qualification business nationwide for over 27 years and is the undisputed leader in tenant qualification.

We are unable to guarantee any decision you make using our information, because we can’t control either end of the information or decision spectrum, but we can tell you that this scoring method, coupled with the suggested additional research modules, is the best process we’ve seen in over 27 years.   

In the end, you are the only person making the decision, so if you feel you do not have enough information upon which to make an effective decision, a Rate-A-Renter consultant will be happy to assist you. 

We think you will be amazed at how wonderful it is to have an easy process to follow to get an instant rating on your potential candidates, without the physical inspection, file retention, and security requirements now associated with accessing credit reports. 

What’s next?  CALL US at 800 277-2733 and we’ll get you started on the road to making easy decisions.

Rate-A-Renter, it’s all you need.