Explaining our background/credit reports to new property managers has become a common occurrence for our property management department. With so many REALTORS® adding property management to the services they offer, it’s time for Property Management 101: Background Checks.

Merchants Info Background Checks

We’re all about Merchants Info. They’re the service we use to perform background checks for our property managers.  The official name of their report is the Premiere Resident Profile (PRP) with Criminal.

PRP with Criminal includes:

• Experian Credit Report
• Merchants Resident History Database
• Merchants Apartment Address Summary
• Instant Single State Criminal Search
• Instant Nationwide Sex Offender, Most Wanted, & Terrorist Searches

Merchants Info has published a PDF with common questions and answers in regards to these reports.

Important: Our agreement with Merchants Info states we (meaning you) are not allowed to give the applicant a copy of their background check. If you deny the applicant based on the report, you are to provide them a reason for denial – not the report. If the applicant would like to further investigate what Merchants Info is reporting, they can do so with Merchants Info directly.

How do Property Managers order a background check?

John Hall & Associates has a rental application available (intranet link) in the Library -> Documents -> Leasing & Property Management section of our intranet. The key pieces needed for the background check are the applicants full name, current address, social security number, date of birth, and signature. Once you, the property manager, receive a legible completed application, simply email it to creditreports – at – johnhall.com.  Be sure to include your name in the email or on the application so we know who sent it.

After we run the report, a per applicant charge will be added to your office bill and the report will be returned to you via email.

Reading the Report

(click the images to see larger versions)

National Risk

This score is generated based on the applicants payment history and available credit. The range for the risk score is 1-1000; the lower the better.

Experian Scores

This score is more like a FICO score.  The range is 1-950; the higher the better.

The applicant in the example above has really good scores. Here an example of the opposite…

Profile Summary

This section is a summary of what’s to follow.  It’s a way to get an overview of an applicants credit history.

The key pieces to look at here are Public Records and Delinquencies. Public Records refer to liens, judgments, etc. Delinquencies are a summary of payment history.  If your report shows 0 public records and 0 delinquencies – that’s a good thing!

In the event your report has delinquencies, it’s worth further investigation. Look to see what kind of accounts went into collection. The first services to report late payments are typically cable, utilities, mobile phone, and medical companies. Below the Profile Summary you can see what kinds of bills the applicant has pushed off or quit paying. Are they housing related?

The status of each account will be in the left column. Examples: PAID SATIS, COLLACCT, DEEDLIEU, BIKLIQREO, etc

Criminal Report

Be sure to check out Merchants Info explanation of their Criminal and Eviction Reports. Ideally, your applicant will have no criminal activity.

However, that’s not always the case.

Don’t panic. Often times, this report includes people that are not your applicant. Look over the report and eliminate the people that aren’t yours!  As the PDF explains, the criminal reporting isn’t always accurate.

Hopefully this helps new property managers understand what is contained in the background reports from Merchants Info.