If you’re not doing tenant credit and background checks but are in the investment real estate or property management business, why aren’t you?  The most important thing you can do to protect your investment is to properly and thoroughly screen potential tenants before you ever hand over the keys.

Doing a cursory background check to verify the basic information obtained on your application will go a long way toward sorting out who the real candidates are.  Once you have it narrowed down to one or two potential new tenants, then do a full FCRA compliant credit check to be absolutely certain the person you’re renting to is credit worthy.  A rental credit background check is your best defense against bad credit tenants.