Renting after Bankruptcy

[mass2010]

That is VERY positive to hear! thank you for sharing. What state are you in? I was afraid to file ch 7 because of this reason. I have small children and will need to rent in CA but am afraid of not getting a rental now. I have great credit now but won't once I file....thank you.

I had your same worries, we just filed chapter 7 and are currently waiting for our bk to discharge. THEN we get the horrible news that our apartments are being converted to Condos. We do not have a lease as my husband is a Courtesy Officer working for the apartments manager. *we get free rent for this service* SO we will have to move as soon as it is sold and our thirty day notice is given.

I started looking ASAP. I was up front with the managements of every place I called. Only one complex turned us away and one Realitor. I actually signed our lease for our new apartment last week. We are still waiting for discharge too! I called out attorney, they wrote a letter to the management of the new complex that we would not include them in the BK. The manager asked for a hirerdeposit but not an insane amount, only the same as one months rent. It was actually easier to find someone to sign us now than before our BK.

Good luck and I say file now get your life and credit back so you can go on and learn from your mistakes in the past

[notavictim]

Similar note - if you've been renting without issue for years is there a way your landlord can report this to the credit agency? As a good thing?

[Jimmy17]

I hope my story helps someone out. All this just culminated yesterday so..

I had been at my current apartment for almost two years when the complex just started getting too noisy and dirty - mind you, this isn't a bad neighborhood, just poor management.

Anyway, having just filled for Ch.7 at the end of last year and having it discharged a few months ago, I was sweating bullets trying to figure out how I was going to find another place.

First, I began checking my credit scores and found that they weren't too bad. To my surprise, they ranged between 596 and 639. Still, I knew the bankruptcy was going to be a tough hurdle.

After finding a nice apartment, I had a talk with the mgr. I told them about everything and how I used to have great credit and pretty much the whole reason for my bk. They told me that nowadays, a lot of ppl are filing and it shouldn't be a big deal but, it's really up to the owner.

I drafted up a nice letter to be faxed to the owner explaining my situation and that I'd be more than willing to pay a higher deposit or whatever he wanted to work out.

Yesterday, I went in to turn in my app and for them to run my credit...

I move in on the first!!

That said, be honest, be upfront and it is in your best interest to deal with a private owner as well as someone running the office who seems understanding of things. It is not impossible.

[Abbie64]

it good that you got it sorted and being honest with the owner is great as it shows that you got nothing to hide and be a more trusted tennant.

[eastbaybk]

If you read the responses you'll see that the pattern is to 1) be honest, 2) be creative and offer a higher down payment and/or a couple months of rent paid in advance. If, after disclosing you situation, you get flack about it from your possible landlord then that's a pretty big sign that you are likely to have problems with them even if they rent to you so I say run the other way - you don't want to rent from folks that aren't understanding.

[pris72]

I am worried as well about getting approved to rent. I can't quite understand why most apartments want really good credit? Wouldn't most families with good credit buy vs. rent? My Chapter 7 was discharged on 6/14/10. My lease where I live is up in Nov. I do not want to renew it, because I want to move to a better area that has better schools and less traffic.As long as they do not require a huge deposit, I have no issues with paying one.Prior to our chapter 7 filing before we rented this place we applied for an apt. We were upfront about our credit problems. They told us they only looked at rental history(which has always been good), and to see if we owed any utility bills, which we don't. If we did we wouldn't have lights,water,gas,phone and cable. We have always lived in the same area using the same utility companies. Well they turned us down. They didn't offer to allow us to pay a larger deposit. No explanation as to why we were turned down either. Normally you get a letter explaining why they came to that decision, but nothing. We were only out $50 for the application fee, but it took them over a month to credit us back the $150 holding fee.

[eastbaybk]

Sorry to hear that they turn you down. Most apartments want "good credit" because they want to ensure you don't default on rent and have to then deal with a possible eviction. Did they check references for you? It sounds like there must have been something else that they relied on in making their decision (i.e. references, income, eviction, etc.).

[kclovis]

I was approved to rent at a decent complex owned by Lincoln Properties. BK discharged 1/7/2010. Signed my lease 7/20/2010. One month's rent and one month's deposit.

[pris72]

I have no evictions on my credit, excellent references, time on job, and income was over 4X the amount of rent. Oh clean criminal history also incase they did do a background check. She said they only looked for evictions or owed utilities. We were up front about the other things that were on there at the time, which eventually led us to file chapter 7.She said they did not look at those things. Now I worry once again, because my husband is looking at a company out of state. I worry with the Chapter 7 on our credit that nobody will approve us if we have to move.

[eastbaybk]

Sounds like you should have had a fair shot at that apartment pris72. With the many of people declaring bankruptcies (approximately now 1 million a year) it is common for landlords to see more and more people with a BK on their record and so being denied constantly for an apartment should not be the norm. Don't give up. Seems to be you're doing everything you possibly can to influence the result and so you'll just have to keep trying.

[pris72]

I hope we are able to get approved somewhere else whether we stay in this state, or move. Our FICO score through equifax has shot up 60 points since our discharge in mid. June. I checked my score through them, since they seem to always show the lowest of the 3 with trans union normally showing a higher score.I would love to buy a home, but I know that is atleast 2 yrs off from everything I have been told.It just stinks that we had to file chapter 7 to begin with, but being laid off from work for 11 months-sacrifices had to be made. Those sacrifices caused our credit to tank.

[eastbaybk]

The first two years after a bankruptcy are undoubtedly a challenge. Long term (and even short term by the sound of the increase in your FICO score) a bankruptcy can truly be an investment financially in your future. Best wishes pris72 as you embark on a new financial chapter.

[queenfluff]

Thanks for this thread! I am a little over one year discharged. I am worried about this too. My last rental was before my BK and I had excellent credit before (never not paid, late) that I never got turned down for an apartment. Now I am not renting so I don't have to worry about it. But witht the economy the way it is, I keep getting send jobs that are out of state - I have no money and can't really afford to move (not to mention I really don't want too) but would if I did consider a out of state job and moved - would I even able to rent any place?

It sounds like it is best to wait a few years before attempting new rentals etc? I know lots of people have crappy credit right now so who even knows how much of an issue it is.

Question: Does it look better to have a BK more in the past for applying for a rental? Or how about the amount you BK'd? Do they look at that? Mine was a relatively small no asset case - Bk'd because of the economy and not being to find a job in time before I ran out of money to pay my cc bills.

[Amy26]

I wouldn't worry too much about getting approved at rentals... if you're going the landlord route via a realtor or the paper etc, I'm sure you might find the odd "no" but as everyone else said just be honest and you'll probably get in with a bigger deposit. On the other hand, with apartment complexes... they are being much more lienient these days.

I have been in an apartment that we got just before I filed in 09 and we're now moving in 2 months to get a lower rent payment... we found a new property that is being built right now and we were approved no questions asked and no deposit etc... they said bankruptcy is not an automatic denial and its even in their documentation.

So, we move on 12/29.

[treehuggie]

So relieved. I recently accepted a job offer across the state, which meant moving and looking for an apartment. I had a back up plan to stay with a friend if I couldn't get an apartment. My BK is less than a year discharged. Well, I got approved for an apartment through an apartment complex AND I didn't have to pay extra security deposit. Yeah! Moving in on 11/13.