How do I report a delinquent tenant to the credit bureau?
Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 at
1:29 am
Elizabeth asked:
I have a tenant who is currently 5 months behind on his rent and is scheduled to move out in the beginning of April. I realize that I may never get the money that is owed to me and I want to report him to the credit bureau so he doesn’t do this to any one else?
I have a tenant who is currently 5 months behind on his rent and is scheduled to move out in the beginning of April. I realize that I may never get the money that is owed to me and I want to report him to the credit bureau so he doesn’t do this to any one else?
Tagged with: April • Credit Bureau • Delinquent Tenant
Filed under: Credit
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Just send him to a collections agency and let them do all of the hard work. They will try to collect your back rent, even though they will keep about 30% of the amount collected, PLUS they will do the reporting for you! That is a win-win situation for you and the best way to make this tenant’s life miserable for screwing you out of rent!
You need to get a form from the credit bureaus to fill out to report the non-payment. It will be pretty self explanatory, but you will list the total judgment amount, and then also the amount the is behind right now.
You cant report him to the credit bureau, you would have to be a member. You can turn him in to collections and they will be a member and take care of it for you.
You can report the tenant’s debt to all three credit bureaus, here:
You might be better served getting a court judgment. Even though you may not collect on it, it will get recorded and go on their credit. Plus, the judgment will accrue interest. A judgment is good for 10 years in most states and can be renewed for another 10, so you have 20 years in which to collect.
This way, you can garnish wages or bank accounts or place liens on personal property, if the deadbeat ever has a stable job or owns anything of value.
At some point, the deadbeat may actually want to buy a house and would have to pay you off.
RYAN M is exactly right. The collection agency > credit bureau route is the way to go. Many collection agencies don’t even charge you to submit an account (because they get a split of whatever they collect.) We’ve had great luck with our collection agency over the years, and they have collected thousands of dollars for us. Our split is 40/60. We get the 60%, and the satisfaction of knowing that these deadbeats take a hit on their credit report.
You first must take them to small claims court and get a judgment against them. Then take them to collections. If the collections company cannot get them to pay then they should handle reporting it.