Power Over Tenant's Credit Score
- How It Works -

A: No. Most of your service providers are NOT handling tenant's personal information so set-up is easy. If you're managing renters insurance, furnace filters or renters insurance, the tenant's personal data is not being transmitted over multiple platforms. When you're dealing with names, birthdays, social security numbers and amounts unpaid, the credit bureaus and data collection companies are VERY SENSITIVE about who is in this program and are they really managing the property. You'll be asked to prove you're in the management business (or own the property if you're a private landlord), have E&O insurance, have a real estate license (when required with the state to manage rentals) have an actual management agreement (just one, not one for each property managed) (or lease if you're a private landlord), have a business license if one is required in your state and so on. The bar for security of the data is set very high by the credit bureaus so the appropriate level of scrutiny with the manager is necessary. You'll have to demonstrate you are for real.

A: The first month you're in the program.Since this is a fully automated system, ALL tenants are reported the first month even though you're paying nothing for the service. As you move new tenants in (and execute lease renewals) they will execute the Credhub agreement and start paying their monthly fee to you. Once you're receiving income from the tenant you begin paying Credhub. You make no payments to Credhub until the tenant is paying you.

A: About 30 days.

A: No. Appfolio reports to Experian only and does not report unpaid charges. Their system only reports that the tenant rents from you, not unpaid balances. The Experian reporting does not lower the tenants credit score when balances linger unpaid for months. This system gives you REAL POWER OVER TENANTS CREDIT.

A: Once it's set up it will require a few minutes a month to select which tenants will be reported PAID AS AGREED or with an outstanding balance. Smaller companies will take 5 to 10 minutes while larger ones 15 to 20. When they owe a balance you can REPORT PAID AS AGREED or let the system report outstanding balances as they show up on their ledgers. All the outstanding balances are accumulated at the top of the report so it's easy to see those who need reviewing.

A: Lots.

1. You control what day of the month the tenant data is pulled. This decision is made as you're setting up your system with Credhub.
2. You control what outstanding balance is auto-reported PAID AS AGREED. If you select amounts under $51 the system will report all balances under $51 as PAID AS AGREED. If you select $101 all balances under $101 will be reported PAID AS AGREED. YOU control the minimum amounts that are auto-reported as OUTSTANDING or PAID AS AGREED. The system auto-reports based on YOUR set up.
3. You get to override the system every month as you audit the report. You get to decide who is reported PAID AS AGREED or THERE IS A BALANCE DUE. If you made a deal with a tenant to pay off their balance over the next three months you might report them PAID AS AGREED and give them time to bring their account current. If a tenant is refusing to settle outstanding balances you'll let the auto-reporting system report them with an UNPAID BALANCE. This is REAL POWER OVER TENANTS.
4. Ultimately you control the monthly reporting date to the credit bureaus as well. Credhub pulls the data on the day of the month you select. You get to audit the report and sit-on-it until you want to submit to the bureaus. 

A: Your fee to Credhub is $5 per month per property no matter how many adults occupy the property. The $5 is FULL REPORTING (positive and negative) while the $9 is REPORTING AND IDENTIFY THEFT PROTECTION for the tenant. Managers often charge tenants $8 to $10 per month PER TENANT (you get to decide) depending on what you think the threshold is for your tenants. So, you'll likely make $5 to $10 per tenant per month net profit PLUS what you charge owners. There are lots of training videos on this topic. Remember: you don't start paying Credhub until the tenant is paying you.   

A: It depends. For the tenant to start paying for this service there is a Credhub document for them to sign. How fast can you get your tenants onboard? Some managers get tenants on this program as new leases are executed or renewed. If you adopt this method it will take a year to get everyone on this program. Other managers are more aggressive and send all current tenants a digital document introducing the new service and encouraging them to SIGN UP TODAY. It depends on how aggressive you want to be. We have sample letters to your current tenants to help you implement this service faster.

A: People like to GET CREDIT WHEN CREDIT IS DUE and love the idea that YOU ARE HELPING THEM BUILD THEIR CREDIT. We did this for 30 years and tenants loved it. If they hesitate, you should question what kind of tenant they expect to be. Remember: you're not sending your report to the credit bureau until the end of the month (typically the 27th through the 30th) so if they haven't paid by then, they SHOULD be reported accordingly.

A: To keep administration to a minimum the reporting software can't determine WHO IS PAYING THE MANAGER AND WHO ISN'T. ALL tenants are reported EVERY MONTH whether they are paying the manager or not. So, TO BE FAIR TO EVERYONE, it's a mandatory service, just part of the managers program. It's such a small amount (and the benefit is so great) tenants won't object. It fits into the normal manager offered ancolory services package you're offering to all your tenants whether it's furnace filters, renters liability insurance or pet fees. We told residents it was just part of our RESIDENT REWARDS package.   

A: Whether it's a monthly pet fee, filter charge, renters insurance or credit reporting charge, every manager has a leasing program and tells tenants what costs are involved to rent from them. This just becomes one of the parts of your model.

If they push back you might comment "maybe we should reconsider having you rent from us if reporting to the credit bureau is a problem for you." After all, THEY SHOULD BE THRILLED THAT YOU'LL BE BUILDING UP THEIR CREDIT SCORE. Also, since you get to submit your data to the credit bureau on the day you want to, it's likely done near the end of the month or the 5th of the next month. If they won't be okay with paying their rent by the end of each month, then maybe you shouldn't rent to them. They generally have plenty of time to pay and have their credit score impacted in a positive way. They still might owe a late fee but the reporting will likely be near the end of the month.

A: Absolutely! This program is MOST APPRECIATED BY SECTION 8 TENANTS because they, more so than others, need help getting off government assistance and standing on their own. No one likes being a Section 8 tenant and now you can help them get out of that program.

A: Most definitely. The requirements are different. They have to prove ownership and self management but that should be easy.

A: The same as it does for married couples. Every adult on the lease pays for the service and everyone's credit is built up (or brought down) as reporting is done. All payers benefit (or suffer) depending on their payment history.

A: Yes. As long as YOU are paying the monthly fee ($3) Credhub will keep reporting their outstanding balance. This opens up a new opportunity for a post move-out collections business which we have lots of experience in. Post move-out collections is a specialty of Training Property Managers not Credhub. Get the Credhub system implemented and contact us for more on post move-out collections. See the Initiate A Conversation on this page for more on Post Move Out Collections.

A: Crown Investor Institute LLC is the company behind this site  TrainingPropertyManagers.com and as a management company (Crown Realty and Management in Atlanta) has 30 years of hands-on experience with this type of service. Credhub engaged Crown to help managers become aware of their service. We are helping them communicate the benefits of the service to prospective customers and helping the customer support services of Credhub. Crown can also coach the Credhub customer with the initial implementation of the program and the post move-out collections side service where the really big money is made.