 TITLE: How to Get Approved for an Apartment CONTENT: Check Your Credit Report and Score\n----------------------------------\nKnowing what's on your credit report ahead of time can help you prepare for the application process. It's ideal to do so three to six months in advance so that, if necessary, you have time to address your risk factors and potentially improve your score before apartment hunting. Paying down debts, for instance, can increase your credit score and improve your odds of getting approved for an apartment.\nWhen a landlord pulls your credit, they're looking for any information that may suggest you'd be a risky tenant. Negative credit information such as late payments, delinquent accounts, a lot of recent credit inquiries or a bankruptcy in your past can all work against you. You should also be prepared for a landlord to look over your tenant history report, which shows them information about your previous leases, including whether you missed payments or were evicted.\nIn terms of the minimum credit score required to rent an apartment, there's no hard-and-fast requirements as things can vary by landlord and locale. That said, the average credit score of renters in the U.S. in 2020 was 638, according to a recent RENTCafé analysis. Renters in major cities and in high-end units have higher credit scores on average. END