Oregon Renters' Handbook - OSPIRG

Chapter 1: Finding A Place To Livefor “Housing Authority”, or askyour local social service agencyif there is a Community DevelopmentCorporation (non-profitlandlord) in your area.Credit ChecksMany landlords will check yourcredit history to see if you typicallypay your bills on time.Tenants should get a copy oftheir own credit report toverify that everything included isaccurate before they apply forhousing. You are entitled to one freecredit report per year from eachagency. (See Appendix C for contactinformation and instructions)Credit reporting agencies collectinformation about you fromvarious sources. Such informationmay stay on file for up to 10years and may include: meraddresses, Social SecurityNumber, birthdate, currentand former employers, type ofjob, income, spouse information,and whether you rent orown your home; credit accounts, or took outa loan, and the terms of theaccounts; insurance, mortgages, etc.; amounts, how often you paylate; ceivedand any limits on yourcredit card accounts; judgments, liens, write-offs orrepossessions.If you are refused housing, oranything else, because of informationon the credit report, youmay obtain a free copy of yourreport by requesting it from thecredit reporting agency (in additionto your annual free creditreport). You may also submit apersonal letter of explanationto your file. Be careful in whatyou say when you do this, andmake sure you take responsibilityfor any mistakes you mayhave made. You can also disputeany items that you don’t thinkwww.ospirgstudents.orgOSPIRG5