A rental credit or background check usually looks at more than just a credit score: payment history, eviction or housing-court records, income verification, and sometimes criminal history all typically factor in — along with a rent-to-income ratio many property managers set on their own.
There's no single national standard for what a landlord's screening report includes, but according to the Federal Trade Commission, the reports tenant screening companies produce commonly draw on several categories of information.
On that last point: many property managers, especially larger, professionally managed communities, independently require that your gross monthly income be at least three times the rent (some use 2.5x in more affordable markets, or 4x in especially competitive ones). That's a separate benchmark from the personal budgeting rule of spending no more than 30% of your income on rent — the two happen to land in a similar place, but one is the landlord's screening cutoff and the other is a guideline for your own budget. We cover that in more detail in our post on how much rent you can actually afford.
If a landlord denies your application because of something in a background or credit check, the Fair Credit Reporting Act gives you specific protections: a written, electronic, or oral adverse action notice naming the screening company, the right to a free copy of your report from that company within 60 days, and the right to dispute anything inaccurate — the company then has 30 days to investigate. Negative information also has limits on how long it can be reported: generally seven years, ten for bankruptcies, and no federal limit at all for criminal convictions.
To be direct about it: ApplyOnce never runs, requests, buys, or shares a credit check, credit score, credit report, or background check for any renter, full stop. If a property manager wants to run their own screening as part of reviewing your application, that happens entirely on their side, outside of ApplyOnce, and we never see the results.
Commonly: credit history and payment records, eviction or housing-court records, income verification, and sometimes criminal history. Many larger property managers also weigh a rent-to-income ratio, often around three times the monthly rent in gross income.
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, most negative information can't be reported after seven years, and bankruptcies after ten. Criminal convictions have no federal time limit on how long they can be reported.
The landlord must give you an adverse action notice naming the screening company. You can request a free copy of your report from that company within 60 days, and dispute anything inaccurate, which the company must investigate within 30 days.
No. ApplyOnce never runs, requests, buys, or shares a credit check, credit score, credit report, or background check for any renter. If a property manager runs their own, it happens entirely outside ApplyOnce, on their own tools.
ApplyOnce won't touch your credit report, but it will keep your documents, income, and references organized in one verified profile — so you're not scrambling for paperwork the moment a property manager asks for it.
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