 TITLE: What Credit Score Do You Need to Rent an Apartment? CONTENT: What Do Landlords Look for on Your Credit Report?\n-------------------------------------------------\nLandlords check your credit for many of the same reasons lenders do: They want to know if you're likely to pay your bill on time, based on your past history of paying off debt.\nIn addition to pulling your credit score, landlords may also check your credit report for evictions, bankruptcies, accounts in collections, loan defaults and late payments. Before submitting any rental applications, you'll want to check your credit report and score. You can do this for free at AnnualCreditReport.com; you can also access your Experian credit report and credit score directly through Experian. Looking over your reports and scores will tell you where exactly your credit stands, and will provide clues to what you'll need to do to increase your scores.\nIn addition to your credit, landlords may use other types of reports and background checks to screen you as a potential tenant. Tenant screening may also include criminal background checks, a review of your employment history or contacting references. If a landlord has reported your payment history to a credit reporting agency like Experian's RentBureau, you may have a renter's credit score that shows whether you've paid your rent on time.\nRenters in competitive cities like San Francisco, Boston and New York have average credit scores above 700, according to RENTCafé, so you might need to set your sights a little higher if you want to live there. END