TenantAlert offers an array of tenant screening services that will do the job for most landlords. Their solid, yet unspectacular reports and application process are available at middle-of-the-road pricing compared to the competition.
Sample Reports: Basic ($24.95), Plus ($29.95), Pro ($39.95), Premier ($49.95)
What is Tenant Alert?
TenantAlert is a tenant screening service that provides credit and background checks on rental applicants.
Features and Facts
| Feature | |
| Time to Get Results | Immediate |
| Data Source | Experian, TransUnion, Equifax |
| Who Pays | Options for either landlord or tenant |
| Type of Application | Online application through their portal |
| Hard Inquiry | No |
| Nationwide Criminal & Eviction Check | Yes |
| Felonies & Misdemeanors | Yes |
| SSN Fraud Check | Yes |
| Terrorist Check | Yes |
| Sex Offender Check | Yes |
| State-Specific Applications | Yes |
| Income Verification | No |
TenantAlert Pros & Cons
- Thorough Address History – They provide up to 8 past addresses, allowing landlords to further verify rental history.
- Extra Reports – In addition to standard reporting, they offer terrorist, sex offender, Telecheck, and social security number checks.
- Instant Approval Recommendation – Based on a set of criteria, including credit and eviction history, TenantAlert gives landlords an instant recommendation before even opening up reports (note that this approval does not include TeleCheck, income, or criminal histories, so it should only be used as a piece of the puzzle).
- Incorrect Data – Some debt payment figures and past employment data turned up incorrect in reports.
- Not Enough Data Collected – This isn’t out of line with other tenant screening services, but landlords will need to follow up in order to get information such as pets, vehicles, and any reference contact information.
- No Financial Reports Included – Some other tenant screening services provide insight into bank accounts or does an initial verification of income. TenantAlert will verify employment and income with prior employers, but at a cost of $16.95.
TenantAlert Tenant Screening Prices
| Package | Cost | Features |
| Basic | $24.95 |
|
| Plus | $29.95 | Basic plus:
|
| Pro | $39.95 | Pro plus:
|
| Premier | $49.95 | Premier Plus
|
TenantAlert Walkthrough
Here’s how TenantAlert’s process works for creating the application, the applicant’s process, the landlord’s process, and what the reports look like.
1. Create Application
The first step (after creating an account) is to add your rental property’s information:
Once you’ve set up your property, you can then send an application for that property to a prospective tenant. Like most other tenant screening services, you do have to gather the applicant’s information before you can send them the application, rather than have them independently find your application and click a link to start.
You can then select any of their packages, but we’d recommend the Premier Package (which is what we’ve done for this walkthrough). You’ll also notice that you can select to bill your applicant—which is almost always what landlords will do:
2. Tenant Application Process
Then, the applicant will receive an email address to initiate the application process:
They are taken to this introduction page where they are told that it’s a soft pull. Thankfully this is noted here, but it’s not found anywhere else on their website without contacting support.
The first page of the application asks for the standard personal information:
Then, they will give the landlord authorization to contact any sources necessary to make a determination about the applicant:
Here, the application makes very clear what reports will be sent to the landlord, which acts as giving authorization:
After the applicant pays for the report, they then have to answer a few security questions as an added layer of verification:
3. Landlord Reports View
When you first click on a report for the new applicant, you’ll see TenantAlert’s TenantSelect rating. This isn’t an end-all be-all score as it doesn’t include criminal, income, or TeleCheck checks. It can be used as a quick metric to inform a landlord that there are negative marks on the eviction or credit report.
4. Credit Report
TenantAlert’s credit reports are fairly standard. The information isn’t overly user-friendly, but you can still find what you’re looking for quickly. We’ll first see a big graphic for the credit score:
Next, there’s a section for personal information (which is mostly redundant from other areas), however the employer history is worth noting here. Unfortunately, the information only contains 2 of the past 4 employers for this applicant. This makes it harder to verify and contact previous employers.
Then, we get a nice summary of the applicant’s history. One issue here is that some of the information here is wrong. The total monthly debt payments were incredibly off, in fact, the real debt payments for this applicant are about 5 times higher than what this credit report pulled (it’s redacted here for privacy reasons). However, it’s likely that TenantAlert is normally accurate in their reporting as they’ve worked with millions of properties and utilize legitimate sources to pull data. Furthermore, the debt number can be verified on each of the individual tradelines farther down.
Next is the standard summary of the open trade lines for this applicant (in other words, who do they owe money too). For each trade line, landlords can see if payments are all up to date, if any were paid late, and the payment amounts each month:
Then you’ll see the inquiries made by the applicant (e.g., applying for credit cards, mortgages, or other loans). These drop off after 2 years. Below that is a summary of the credit score factors:
The Previous Address History report shows up to 8 past addresses, allowing landlords another check on their identity. Unfortunately, you’ll be unable to follow up with prior landlords without either doing some digging to find the landlord, or gathering contact information from the applicant. You can also pay to have TenantAlert do this step for you.
5. Criminal & Eviction Reports
First, you’ll see the Nationwide Criminal Search report, which looks fairly standard compared to other services:
Then, you’ll get the Nationwide Eviction Search:
6. Other Reports
One area that TenantAlert shines is in providing extra reporting included in their packages that not all others have. The TeleCheck Check Verification assesses how likely it is that this applicant will write a bad check:
Then, the Sex Offender Search helps ensure the safety of the neighborhood and the reputation of your rental unit:
Then, the SSN Verifier will provide another check on the identity of your applicant:
Lastly, the OFAC, Terrorist, & Federal Search report will help ensure that you’re not getting a tenant who could potentially be dangerous:
Should You Use TenantAlert
Overall, TenantAlert is a solid service that landlords and applicants alike should be able to navigate easily. They don’t have the prettiest interface or reports, but they do have a wide variety of information they provide to landlords. Unfortunately, two critical pieces of information are either wrong or incomplete (debt payments and prior employers). This is likely an uncommon occurrence, but it’s something landlords should keep in mind.
TenantAlert mostly delivers. At the price range for their most comprehensive service, they provide about what you would expect when compared to other tenant screening services. They are a competent service that likely won’t let you down.
TenantAlert Frequently Asked Questions
These are the most common questions asked about TenantAlert:
1. Is TenantAlert a Legitimate Site?
TenantAlert is a legitimate site and tenant screening service that has been in business since 1998, servicing millions of rental units in that time.
2. Does TenantAlert Run a Hard Credit Inquiry
Credit checks from TenantAlert are done via soft inquiry and will not affect the applicant’s credit score.
3. Are TenantAlert’s Tenant Screening Reports Accurate
Their reports are pulled from Experian, a trusted credit bureau. Despite a few discrepancies found when using their tenant screening service, most of the data was perfectly accurate.
