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TazWorks Tenant Screening: The tools you need to succeed

The materials available in this article are for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice. You should contact your own advisors with questions regarding the content herein. The opinions expressed in this article are the opinions of the individual author and may not reflect the opinions of MeridianLink, Inc.

 

In the background screening industry, the focus is often on employment screening rather than tenant screening.

However, selecting the right tenants is one of the most important decisions landlords can make as a quality tenant is more likely to pay their rent on time and take care of the property. Landlords that don’t screen their prospective tenants risk the security of their rental properties as well as any other tenants who share those properties.

Although it’s critical for landlords and property management companies to get the most complete tenant screening report possible on their applicants, they must ensure they’re following the Fair Credit Reporting Act’s tenant screening rules.

Given the complexity of the rules, many landlords outsource this critical task to third parties, such as tenant-focused screeners and consumer reporting agencies (CRAs) with tenant screening divisions. These CRAs provide landlord and property management companies with background data on their tenant applicants, including credit reports, liens, criminal histories, bankruptcies, employment and income verifications, and evictions.

To ensure they obtain high-quality tenant screening results, CRAs must partner with a tenant screening software provider, such as TazWorks Software, that offers industry-leading technology.

TazWorks’ Products To Help CRAs Build Their Businesses

From QuickLease Pro to Tenant Scorecard to Credit Connect and more, TazWorks offers end-to-end tenant screening solutions and integrates with all the leading property management systems. CRAs can expand their tenant screening businesses by upselling these products to landlords and property management companies.

For example, TazWorks’ QuickLease Pro software is a mobile-friendly digital tool that enables landlords and property managers to securely collect rental applications and electronically generate and sign digital lease applications.

The Tenant Scorecard is a recommendation tool for property managers and landlords that can analyze credit as well as criminal and eviction histories to generate a pass, fail, or conditional status based on the criteria the user applies. Configurable options include credit scores, income-to-rent, income-to-debt, delinquent accounts, collections, and bankruptcy.

TazWorks’ Scorecard Pro is an easy-to-use and customizable template that landlords and property managers can use to analyze tenant applicants and evaluate tenant scoring. Similar to the Tenant Scorecard, Scorecard Pro offers more and better options, making it easy for landlords and property management companies to analyze and accept or reject tenants quickly. Tenant scoring is based on income, credit, income-to-debt, delinquencies, collections, bankruptcies, criminal histories, evictions, residential verifications, employment verifications, and liens.

In most states, it’s legal for landlords to charge prospective tenants a fee for the cost of securing their credit reports. Credit Connect offers a self-pay feature where loan applicants can pay for their credit reports. While this product can help landlords and property managers increase their profits by saving them thousands of dollars on credit pulls, it can also act as a sort of “filter” that underscores a prospective tenant’s commitment to completing the application process.

With Property Management Systems & TazWorks Integrations

In addition, many property managers use property management systems (PMS) to manage tenant background checks, and they’ll only use CRAs that integrate with their systems.

TazWorks offers integrations to numerous property management systems, making it easier for landlords to manage such operational tasks as maintenance, work order requests, tenant information, etc. Utilizing integrated property management systems enables the use of accounting tools, lease management, and also improves communication.

Since TazWorks offers a single solution that handles all aspects of tenant screening and also integrates with the leading property management systems, it has helped our tenant-screening clients to thrive and continuously grow.

“If it wasn’t for QuickLease Pro and TazWorks screening solutions, we wouldn’t be in business today,” says Cole Hockett, Senior Product Manager, ACRAnet Inc, a tenant focused CRA.

To learn more about how TazWorks’ tenant screening tools can help your business, you can book a demo below.

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