How to Screen Tenants for FREE with Cozy

See the full blog post at: retipster.com/propertymanagement101

Get started pulling your credit reports at: retipster.com/cr (REtipster affiliate link)

How to Create Rental Listings with Cozy: youtu.be/is8SQ7XrHU4

How to Accept Rental Applications Online with Cozy: youtu.be/7ECZfQKsXd0

The Easiest Way to Collect Rent from Tenants Online: youtu.be/NV9QcIYM5BA

One of the biggest innovations Cozy brings to the table is with their tenant screening tools.

When you start getting applications from potential tenants who want to live in your property, something you'll want to do as part of your screening process is get the applicant's credit report and a background check (to make sure this person has a history of paying their bills and NOT committing any felonies).

Getting this kind of information has never been easier than it is today.

If you need to see a credit report or a background check, here's how it's done:

1. Go to this page, scroll down and click on Request Screening Reports (if you don't have an account yet, sign up - it's worth it).
2. Select which report(s) you want to generate.
3. Type out the first name, last name and email address of the applicant.
4. Enter your free account information (it takes less than 10 seconds).
5. Click on Send Requests.

...and Cozy will handle the rest.

As you can see, the website is beautifully designed and very easy to follow (for both parties). If you know how to use a computer and check your email, it's basically impossible to get lost or confused during the process.

For the person requesting the credit report (i.e. - YOU), it doesn't cost anything... which is an amazing thing.

The reports are clean, concise and easy to read. You don't have to be a banker or finance professional to understand what you're looking at.

RELATED: How to Read a Credit Report

If you want to use the service to handle other aspects of your rental property business (e.g. - property listings, finding tenants or payment collection), it can do a lot of other stuff too.

And when it comes to credit reports, there's another important thing to keep in mind.

When most conventional lenders and creditors “pull credit” on their applicant, it’s usually a one-sided transaction that has no involvement from the tenant or borrower. As a result, it lowers the applicant's credit score with every inquiry (this is why they call it a “hard inquiry”).

However, Cozy DOES involve the applicant in this process (as shown in the video above) and as such, the credit bureaus treat it as a “soft inquiry”, which doesn’t ding their credit with every inquiry. It’s treated the same as if the applicant pulled their own credit - which they don’t get penalized for.