TurboTenant screening services provide some of the cleanest reports and best overall user experience in the industry. And through a recent partnership with Rent Butter, the company offers higher accuracy than many of its competitors in the space, depending on the state in which landlords operate.
For example, TurboTenant’s background checks analyze multiple data sources to check criminal histories, rather than relying on a single data provider. And when it comes to income verification, the service can now directly check with financial institutions to analyze financial information, rather than relying simply on credit scores.
Sample Reports: Standard Screening Report ($55),
What is TurboTenant?
TurboTenant is a property management software provider that offers credit and background checks on rental applicants. While TurboTenant offers many resources for property managers, this review will focus on their tenant screening service.
TurboTenant Features and Facts
| Feature | |
| Time to Get Results | A few minutes after the application is submitted |
| Data Source | Rent Butter |
| Who Pays | Landlord or Tenant |
| Type of Application | Online through their portal |
| Hard Inquiry | No |
| Nationwide Criminal & Eviction Check | Yes |
| Felonies & Misdemeanors | Yes |
| SSN Fraud Check | Yes |
| Terrorist Check | No |
| Sex Offender Check | Yes |
| Income Verification | Yes, with an annual membership |
TurboTenant Pros & Cons
- Incredibly Simple Process – Everything for both landlords and applicants is streamlined with no extra steps.
- Beautiful Interface – One of the best-designed landlord dashboards of any tenant screening service.
- Application and Tenant Screening Combined – Some services don’t capture thorough application information along with a tenant screening request. TurboTenant does this brilliantly.
- Expensive for Applicants – Many applicants may not follow through due to the $55 cost (although this can be reduced to $45 if landlords pay $149 per year). Additionally, landlords have the option to cover the cost.
TurboTenant Screening Pricing
| Package | Cost | Features |
| Standard | $55 |
|
| Premium | $149 per year, $45 per report | Standard Package plus
|
TurboTenant Walkthrough
Here’s how TurboTenant’s process looks when creating the application, filling it out, viewing the landlord’s dashboard, and reviewing the reports.
1. Create Application
First, you’ll create a landlord account:
You’ll then continue on through their (beautifully designed) account creation process:
It’s nice to see that TurboTenant has several resources for property managers, but we’ll go ahead and click “Screening” here.
Then, you’ll come to a simple screen where you’ll add your unit’s address:
You’ll see a little preview of what their screening reports look like, as well as the cost. It’s pricey at $55 per applicant, which may turn off some of your potential renters (if you’re having them pay for it). But, you’ll gain access to some of the most accurate reports available.
You’re a bit limited in that you can only send an email invite rather than having a link to put online. However, TurboTenant’s screening process doesn’t incorporate a full application process, so they assume you’ve already gathered your applicant’s information, making sending an email invite the logical choice.
Next, you have to comply with some requirements to be able to have screening reports sent to you:
For this walkthrough, we selected the $55 option:
2. Tenant Application Process
TurboTenant allows you to send an invitation for either tenant screening or a full application, including tenant screening. We love when tenant screening services provide this option In this example, we sent an invite for a full application plus screening:
Right away, the applicant is told what to expect, with the price mentioned here being especially noteworthy. Some applicants will likely leave at this step.
The applicant then creates an account and adds some basic information:
Then, the applicant can put in the desired move-in date, co-signers, and total property residents.
Now, landlords can collect residential history as well as contact information for landlords:
Up next is employment information, including employer contact information:
Does the applicant have any other sources of income?
Now, we’ll collect some general information, with the ability to expound on certain answers:
Now, the applicant will see one of the most important steps: background information. If the applicant has had any issues with evictions, convictions, or bankruptcies, they can explain the situation here. This allows the landlord to see if there are any extenuating circumstances before throwing aside an applicant.
Next, the applicant adds their emergency contact:
This next step should be standard among all tenant screening services, as adding these documents goes a long way to verifying your potential tenant’s information.
Finally, we get to the payment page:
This is a bit of a long process, but it should be a long process to gather the relevant information. It’s done about as seamlessly as we’ve seen from other tenant screening services. However, they do omit gathering personal references, but those are less important than employer and past landlord references.
3. Landlord Report View
In line with everything else by TurboTenant, the reports are easy to navigate. Everything looks clean:
Most tenant screening companies provide immediate reports, but TurboTenant takes a few minutes to give you theirs. It’s not a big deal, but rather a slight inconvenience.
4. Credit Report
First, landlords get this excellent TurboTenant credit check screen to summarize the credit report:
This is followed by address history and current employment:
Now, landlords will see a summary of the tradelines (or credit accounts). This person has 33, which seems like a lot; however, these reports also show closed tradelines as well as open ones. Furthermore, student loans often appear as multiple smaller accounts.
The most important information on this view is to see the “Total” under the “Payment” column. This tells the landlord how much the applicant pays per month in debt payments. From there, you can calculate an accurate debt-to-income ratio—which is far superior to rent-to-income.
Here’s a summary of total debt:
Next, you’ll be able to see information on any specific tradeline. For example, here’s one for a mortgage. You can see how much is owed each month, the remaining balance, as well as their history of on-time vs late payments.
5. Criminal & Eviction Reports
Per usual, these reports are very simple, however, TurboTenant manages to display in a cleaner way than most:
Should You Use TurboTenant?
TurboTenant screening allows landlords to easily order screening reports, and the process couldn’t be simpler for the applicant as well. The price is higher than most other services, meaning that many of your applicants will likely choose to apply elsewhere. Reports include the basics, but nothing more.
Overall, while they have a good service, landlords can find more complete options at a better price in the marketplace.
TurboTenant Frequently Asked Questions
These are the most common questions asked about TurboTenant:
1. Is TurboTenant a Legitimate Site?
TurboTenant is a legitimate site and service. They’ve had over 800,00 landlords use their rental management and tenant screening services.
2. Does TurboTenant Run a Hard Credit Inquiry?
Credit checks from TurboTenant are done via soft inquiry and will not affect the applicant’s credit score.
3. Are TurboTenant’s Tenant Screening Reports Accurate?
Powered by Rent Butter, TurboTenant’s reports are thorough and accurate.
