Find the Company Behind Your Apartment Screening Report

What this guide covers

• Finding the company on your paperwork
• Official places to ask for your report
• Keeping a report contact sheet
• How screening companies get records
• Why a cleared record can keep showing

Start with the paperwork

Before you apply, ask which company runs the criminal and rental screening report. A property may use more than one source. If you're turned down over a report, use the contact info in the adverse action notice. Don't buy a report from some other company hoping it matches what the apartment saw.

Official places to ask for your report

• RealPage Consumer Support lets you ask for your report or dispute it.
• TransUnion Resident Screening FAQs explain how its resident screening works.
• The CFPB consumer reporting company directory lists reporting companies and how to ask each one for your report.

This is a starting list. Not every Texas property uses these companies. Match the company name to your own notice before you send ID or documents.

Keep a report contact sheet

Write down the property name, the date you applied and the company name. Add the company's official consumer website, your report number and your dispute number. Note who at the property decides on your application and who at the company fixes the report. A screening company can fix a report, but that doesn't approve your application.

See how to read an adverse action notice to get your report after you're turned down. The screening company's name won't tell you a property's approval criteria.

How screening companies get records

Each company pulls from its own mix of sources:

• County and district court records.
• Texas DPS conviction records.
• National data sellers that buy and store public records.
• Eviction case filings.

The mix and the update schedule differ by company. That's why two reports on the same person can look different.

Why a cleared record can keep showing

Some companies keep stored copies of court records. When a court clears a case through expunction or nondisclosure, a stored copy may not update right away. You can dispute that entry with the company. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, a company usually has 30 days to look into a dispute.

What this means for your search

• A denial at one property isn't a denial everywhere. Each property sets its own rules.
• Dispute a wrong entry with the company named on your adverse action notice.
• We check each community's criteria against your record, so you're not applying blind.

Published by the Felon Friendly Apartment Team. This is general renter information. Each property makes its own decisions, and questions about your own case belong with a lawyer or legal aid.