10 Best Tenant Screening Services

RentPrep is a company that was founded back in 2007. Ever since that time, they have been providing ease for property owners.

They came up with the idea of RentPrep in order to serve small landlords. Since that time, landlords have been using RentPrep to keep a record of their tenants and to find better clients.

RentPrep is certified by FCRA which makes it a trustworthy service. It is a well-known and reputable service, and the online reviews for RentPrep are generally highly positive.

But what makes it among the best? Well, RentPrep provides you the following information about your tenants:

• Address History
• Check for Social Security Number
• Aliases
• Court Eviction
• Criminal Check
• Bankruptcy

Rentprep uses manual methods of sorting through tenant information to provide reports about the tenants. Therefore, it takes about an hour to come up with the report. The report-making process doesn’t start until the tenant verifies it.

RentPrep is a great tenant screening service for people with multiple properties because bulk plans are cheaper than plans for fewer properties.

Pricing

RentPrep has two plans. The first plan costs around $19 per month, while the SmartMove full credit report plan costs $30 per month.

The cheaper plan is for people who only want basic information like nationwide eviction history, bankruptcies, addresses, and social security number verification.

More features are included in the SmartMove plan. However, judgment and liens, and income verification are add-ons for both plans for $4.95 and $10 respectively.

My Rental is made by CoreLogic, a company that has been around since 2010. The purpose behind this service is to help independent landlords and real estate agents. My Rental is among the best known tenant screening services in the country.

The best thing about My Rental is that it doesn’t require the involvement of tenants. Some services don’t start making a report until tenants approve, but this is not the case with My Rental.

My Rental provides you authentic background checks and accurate information about your tenants. This way, you can avoid the chance of criminals and irresponsible tenants from inhabiting your property.

My Rental provides you with the amont of risk each prospective tenant brings. This score is based on all the information gathered by the service.

You can avoid tenants with high-risk scores without going any further. This feature can save you a lot of time.

Pricing

With My Rental, you get all the information you need, like criminal and sex offender background, address history, loan history, eviction history, and more.

My Rental also has two plans. The basic plan costs $24.99 monthly, and he premium plan goes for $34.99.

If you don’t want a premade plan, you can also build your own plan.

For this, you have to add up all the features that you need. This is best for people who don’t need a lot of features in their tenant screening services.

Avail is one of the best tenant screening services due to its low price. Moreover, it includes different features other than tenant screening.

Avail's features include online rent collection services, lease management, and rental property marketing. So, if you need an all-in-one package, then Avail could be the best option for you.

Avail has been in the market since 2013 and has been providing great services to all sorts of landlords, property managers, and real estate agents.

Another great thing about Avail is the quick turnaround time. It provides you with criminal backgrounds, eviction reporst, and credit reports right when you need them.

If you need detailed criminal and sex offender histories then you should consider getting your hands on Avail. Avail provides in-depth reports with comprehensive information about tenants. It also tells you about any red flags so that you can avoid problematic tenants.

Avail is here to serve small landlords that own up to 10 properties, and also has services for landlords that are operating on a bigger scale. In fact, any rental property owner can take advantage of this tenant screening service.

Pricing

Avail has property managing software that costs $5 for each unit.

You can add tenant screening services for $30 for each feature, including eviction history, credit report, and a criminal record check.

The company that provides the service E-Renter was founded by property owners in 2003. As such, they have a solid understanding of what landlords require in a tenant screening service.

E-Renter is another tenant screening service that is certified by FCRA. E-Renter is famous for providing fast reports about the tenants.

You can expect the reports to be provided quickly, and the information available in these reports is considered reliable.

They promise to provide reports within an hour, but often they appear within fifteen minutes upon request. So if you are looking for fast and reliable tenant screening services, E-Renter may be the best option for you.

E-Renter provides you information about judgments and liens, address history, SSN verification, bankruptcy, as well as sex offender and criminal checks.

In the ultimate plan, you get much more such as validation of name and address. You also get validation of the tenant by SSN.

Pricing

E-Renter has three plans. The basic plan costs $19.95 and it only includes background checks and identity verification.

The premium plan costs $29.95 and also includes credit checks. The ultimate plan costs $34.95 and includes a credit check, name history, address history, and rent check advisor.

Experian Connect is the best tenant screening service for people who just need financial data. It doesn’t provide you with other data such as criminal history. So, if you want only information about finances, Experian Connect can be a great choice.

Experian Connect provides you in-depth information about the financial status of your prospective tenants. This information includes credit score and rating, addresses, employment information, credit accounts, bankruptcies, and more.

The financial information that Experian Connect provides can be counted on. You'll be able to get a reliable sense of whether tenants will be able to pay rent on time or not.

Pricing

Experian Connect has a simple fee of $14.95. With this fee, you get all the features mentioned above.

Tenants with a criminal background and who don’t pay rent on time can be hard to handle.

But SmartMove is aimed towards providing you with great tenants. It tells you all sorts of information about prospective tenants so that you can make the right decision every time.

SmartMove is a tenant screening service from the well-respected company TransUnion. It provides you with credit reports, criminal backgrounds, and eviction checks. Moreover, you also get an income report and recommendation from SmartMove, in order to find the most suitable renters.

The great thing about SmartMove is that it works quickly. If you want a credit report about a client, it can take as little as fifteen seconds. It is because SmartMove takes these reports directly from its parent company, TransUnion.

As the information that SmartMove provides is from a credit bureau, it's trustworthy. In this regard, SmartMove is one of the best tenant screening services available.

Pricing

SmartMove has three plans. The first plan costs $25 per applicant. The basic plan charges $38 per applicant. Lastly, the premium plan goes for $40 per applicant.

Real Page makes this list because it offers unique researching features aimed at gathering useful information. Real Page comes from a company that was founded in 1998.

It is one of the oldest companies that provides a tenant screening service, which could be a feature if you value reliability.

Real Page uses an artificial intelligence program and comes up with thorough information about the tenants.

Not only does it provide you with relevant information, but it also gives you predictions as to whether each tenant will pay rent on time or not.

If you want to make your life as a property investor easier and get an idea of whether your tenants will make timely payments or not, then Real Page is for you.

Real Page also provides you identity verification, rental, and criminal history. As such, it will help to protect your property from criminals and fraud.

Real Page doesn’t make predictions based upon income levels. In fact, it has come up with the conclusion that high-income earning people are not always the best tenants and often don’t pay on time.

Pricing

Real Page doesn't specify their pricing plans online.

You have to call them by yourself to ask for a quote that's specific to your situation. The pricing may depend upon your demands, or the number of units you own.

TenantAlert is another established company that provides tenant screening services. In fact, the company was founded back in 1988. It provides you with 4 types of reports with in-depth information in each section.

Tenant Alert takes income information from the bank or the employer of your tenants. Proof of income is one aspect that helps you judge whether the client will be able to pay rent on time or not.

It provides you with a credit report, eviction report, income report, and criminal history. The income report is one of the top features of TenantAlert.

You only need the email and name of your tenants to find out plenty of information about them. The rest of the work is done for you by Tenant Alert.

Pricing

Tenant Alert offers you 4 plans. The basic plan costs $24.95. The plus plan charges $29.95. The pro plan charges $39.95 while the ultimate plan costs you $49.95.

They offer a discount for people with more than 10 screenings per month, so this is a great option for people with multiple properties.

Verifirst is another tenant screening service established in 2004. The original aim of this company was to help employers find the best available employees. But Verifirst is also a great company to provide information about tenants.

Verifirst gives you different types of reports such as criminal reports and credit reports. It also provides you authentic information about the background of tenants.

The best thing about Verifirst is that it is verified by FCRA. Moreover, the employees of Verifirst are also approved by FCRA.

The information of Verifirst is comprehensive. In fact, this tenant screening service ranks highly in this regard. It provides you in-depth detail about the information you need to succeed.

Moreover, the reports are immediate, so you won't be wasting any time. Only court records are not available on an immediate basis, as they take time to process.

Pricing

Verifirst also doesn’t provide pricing information online.

You have to fill a form to get a quote. You can customize your plan according to your needs.

Cozy is a tenant screening service that is best for both small landlords and landlords with large-scale businesses.

Not only does it provide you information about tenants, but also includes features including property marketing tools and online rent collection.

Cozy can provide you a thorough credit report with employment history, income, and residence history as well.

It does a complete background check of tenants on your behalf. Moreover, Cozy makes simple credit reports that help you go through multiple clients in less time.

You get all the information you need about your tenants such as criminal and sex offender check and eviction history.

Pricing

The pricing of Cozy isn’t mentioned on their website. However, they offer you a free trial before buying any plans.