Income Verifying process

Verification of Income Procedures

At the very start of the application process, make sure your potential tenants provide the following:  drivers license or other photo ID, and or Social Security Card and a recent paystub from employer showing income with year to date totals.

By retaining a copy of the Paystub you have a chance of seeing the applicants earnings and any garnishments that are being taken out. Even when the screening company is able to obtain wages it is still a good practice to always require this documentation of the employees paystub. Plus, if you do end up sending them to collections for money owed the collection company will have more information on how to proceed against them.

Self employed applicants will need to provide 2 years tax returns or banks statements showing deposits in a regular pattern equaling what they state they make each month.

Retirees, unemployed and other income recipients will need to provide proof on income by showing bank statements, retirement funds, or other statements showing proof of the amount they get each month.

When the screening company is able to verify the employment reference themselves, it should be just a standard back up to what you the landlord have already been provided by the applicant.

The trend seen today is for many of our corporations to have passed this  Human Resource service to a third party call center, such as 900 Number /Work Number or some online employment verification companies. These are not cheap and require added fees. Many times they will only release minimal information such as hire date and position only.