Pricing
There are three different packages when using TransUnion’s tenant screening. The first is called SmartCheck Basic and is $25 per screening. This package includes a credit-based resident score and a national criminal background report. Many landlords do not consider this package worth the cost. Due to the fact that it does not include an eviction report. One of the most valuable pieces of information a landlord can know is a potential renter’s eviction history.
The second package is called SmartCheck Plus and is $38 per screening. This package includes the credit-based resident score, and national criminal background report. As well as a full credit report, and national eviction report.
The last package is the SmartCheck Premium package and is $40 per screening. SmartCheck Premium includes access to the same information as SmartCheck Plus, with the addition of income insights. Income insights is a new product that was created by TransUnion. It looks to see if a person’s credit behavior aligns with their self reported income. While this sounds great, income insights is largely based on credit behavior. Therefore, if your potential tenant is a big saver the algorithm income insights uses will likely tell you they make less than what they reported.
Pros
SmartMove is one of the best instantaneous data report options available. There are a few pros to using SmartMove that many landlords consider well worth the price.
TransUnion is a recognized and reputable company. TransUnion is the go-to company for many real estate teams when looking for credit reports. They use a more real estate friendly version of the FICO score model than their competitors. This is because it does not inflate credit scores. The fact that SmartMove is a TransUnion tenant screening product is enough to at least look into it.
Full credit report and credit score is given to you. If you do not want a pass/fail metric, and would like to see an actual credit score, SmartMove is the way you want to go.
Option is available for tenants to pay for the screening. While this is not a feature exclusive to SmartMove, it is a nice option to have.
Cons
TransUnion’s tenant screening has many great elements to it, but there are a few cons that are highly worth considering.
Does not provide criminal data for select states. Five states have decided not to allow instantaneous access to their criminal data. Those states include: Colorado, Delaware, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Massachusetts. These states have realized that they can charge consumer reporting agencies, like SmartMove, to access their criminal data. Due to this, SmartMove does not provide landlords with criminal data from those states. If your potential tenant is living in, or has ever lived in one of those states, you will not have information on if they have committed a crime there.
Instant data often has a few gaps. Database criminal reports have the tendency to in inaccurate. This is because courts and sources are not required to share their records with any particular database. It is easy to find situations where criminal activity is recorded in one database and not another. Eviction records can also be spotty when receiving instant data. There are many instances where an eviction was filed and appears on a judgement search, but that same eviction does not appear on an eviction search. The only way to get around the gaps in information is to search multiple databases. This is something that an instant report outlet that is plugged into one database can not do.
