Got an apartment with no deposit, 11 months post 13

[Mayo]

April will be my one year mark for 13 discharge. My family is expanding and we will be looking to move into a new home sometime this year. I decided to rent a 2 bedroom apt while we get some remodeling done and hopefully put our house up for sale in June. I got a secured Credit card this past summer to start rebuilding my credit. I use Credit Carma as a tool but I know that it isn't totally accurate, but my score on there was a 680. I have not had my credit pulled since the credit card in the past 5 years. I was nervous about the Apartment Complex pulling my credit, I even asked when I filled out the app what was the worst case scenario for being turned down or how much of a deposit I would need. This apartment hopefully will be only for 6 months and if my house sells we can then look to rent a house until I can get a Mortgage loan again. I live on a budget and this is the only way we would be able to do this right now with the mortgage and apt rent. The good news today that I was approved and would not need a security deposit was a welcome sight. Maybe the days of high interest rates and getting ripped off or nearing an end. It feels good to finally seeing signs of being back to where I was years ago with good credit and no debt.

[iswmle]

This is awesome!! One of the most discouraging things after my BK was an email correspondence I had with an apartment manager. I really, really, liked his complex, and I disclosed my BK because I figured better to let him know then find out. His response (this is C&P from the original email):

"We only rent to those with exemplary credit, of which you have proven to not be the case."

Can you say sharp, stinging slap in the face?!!?

Then about a month ago I called around to a few complexes and I brought up my BK again. It was pretty unanimous: "It's discharged. We don't care." The more distance between yourself and the BK the better.

[justbroke]

Mine was interesting. I sought to rent an apartment 1 month after discharge. They told me it was at least a one year wait from discharge to be approved. I filed an application anyhow. They came back the same day telling me that I was approved and with no deposit. I didn't rock the boat and tell them "what about that bankruptcy last month"!

As much as I despise credit scoring models, and how they only give you statistical but not subjective data, scoring helped me on that approval! They looked at the score, and not the report!

So I like the companies that don't care and look at the score. Yes, there are times when you need to explain the score, but if your score is above 620, most apartment complexes will rent to you so long as you meet the other qualifications. (Although there are still some that want your bankruptcy to be seasoned.)