Membership | Compliance and the Consumer Report

Tenant Screening is governed by federal regulations and requirements as well as state and local statutes and therefore compliance must be adhered to. We have provided access to and explanation of three types of compliances below:

Please review all below to become familiar with the the issues and the stipulations put on both providers and end-users of consumer data.

Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) Regulations
Credit Bureau Requirements (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion)
Security Requirements (Access to Call Eleanore OnLine System)

Federal FCRA Regulations

The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) regulates the collection, dissemination and use of consumer information including consumer credit information and is enforced by the US Federal Trade Commission. The FCRA regulates the permissible purposes for obtaining consumer information and the requirements of those who obtain consumer information. The sections of the FCRA which most apply to you as an end-user in the rental arena are listed below.

§ 604 Permissible purposes of consumer reports
§ 615 Requirements on users of consumer reports
§ 616 Civil liability for willful noncompliance
§ 617 Civil liability for negligent noncompliance
§ 619 Obtaining information under false pretenses

The entire FCRA can be found on the Federal Trade Commission's website.

Call Eleanore Screening Services and other companies like ours have always been required to perform due diligence with regard to this legislation and make sure full compliance to the FCRA is met. Due diligence also means we must verify the identity of our clients and verify their permissible purpose for obtaining consumer report information. We offer our clients full compliance to the FCRA regulations through our forms, procedures and resources. As part of the sign-up process, we will request information and documents from you that will ensure we are both in full compliance to the federal regulations. As a result we all do our part to protect the confidentiality and accuracy of consumer information.

Credit Bureau Requirements

In an attempt to combat identity theft and fraud, the three major Credit Bureaus, Experian, TransUnion and Equifax, have established more rigorous requirements with regard to the protection of consumer information and the procurement thereof.

As it pertains to the rental screening arena and more specifically the procurement of the credit portion of a screening report, we have summarized their stand on the two most important issues here –

(1) There must be a legitimate and verified business entity in order to procure a credit report (in other words, Call Eleanore Screening Services and companies like ours must adhere to a specific verification process with regard to establishing the legitimacy of a business entity before we can provide consumer credit data – more on this process below); and (2) a credit report shall not be made available to individuals for their own private use (to clarify, the bureaus define independent, private landlords and homeowners as “individuals”and therefore access to a credit report is restricted.

So whats to be made of all these regulations? Well... not to worry! Call Eleanore has put all the pieces together to provide our clients full compliance to all regulations and requirements and to obtain the necessary information needed for a comprehensive, in-depth screening report. Please see the appropriate sections below.

Property Management Companies & Owners with Rental Property Business License
With regard to establishing the legitimacy of a business entity before a credit report can be provided, an on-site inspection of your business location must be performed by a third party who is authorized to perform these inspections. The inspection process takes no more than 10-15 minutes and is meant to verify your business and location, and assess that consumer credit data is stored and disposed of in a secure manner. See detailed information regarding a site inspection here.

Have a business license but don't want to go through a site inspection right now? Please see the explanation of our Credit Report Decision Model (defined in the section below) which can replace the applicant's detailed credit report and thereby elmininate the need for an on-site inspection.

Independent, Private Landlords and Homeowners
With regard to the restrictions placed on providing a full and detailed credit report, Call Eleanore has designed an alternative which will keep you in compliance yet allow you insight into your applicant's credit standing through a analysis of their detailed credit report. The applicant's detailed credit report itself will not be transmitted (even here at the Call Eleanore location) but instead the applicant's credit standing or status will be revealed through our Credit Report Decision Model option. Here's how it works – the applicant's detailed credit report is run through a set of parameters and criteria which is standard for the tenant screening industry. After careful evaluation of the detailed report, your applicant's credit evaluation result will fall into one of the following three categories

Credit Result	Level of Risk	Approximate Score Range
Positive	Minimal credit risk , if any	680 - 850
MidRange	Elevated credit risk	600 - 700
Negative	Serious credit risk	350 - 600

** Please be aware that a “negative” status could result if your applicant has no established credit history at all or if personal information (name, social security number) does not match. Also, please be aware that the approximate score range is from our experience with regard to the specific results and is only meant to be a tool in better gauging your applicant's specific credit result.

See the set of parameters and table criteria the report is pulled through below.

PARAMETERS AND TABLE CRITERIA POSITIVE MID-RANGE NEGATIVE 30-59 Days Past Due * 2 or less 3 4 or more 60-89 Days Past Due * 1 or less 2 3 or more 90-119 Day's Past Due * 0 2 3 or more # of Trades Past Due ** 2 or less 3 4 or more # of Trades 60+ Days Past Due ** 1 or less 2 3 or more # of Trades 90-119 Days Past Due ** 0 2 3 or more COLLECTIONS 1 or less 2 3 or more TAX LIENS 1 or less 2 3 or more (SNCL) SKIP CANNOT LOCATE 1 or less 2 3 or more JUDGMENT *** 1 or less 2 3 or more CHARGE-OFF *** 1 or less 2 3 or more FORECLOSURE *** 0 0 1 or more REPOSSESSION *** 0 0 1 or more GARNISHMENT *** 0 0 1 or more BANKRUPTCY *** 0 0 1 or more -- No Credit File -- SSN or other Personal Identifiers Don't Match * Within the past 3 months ** Within the past month *** With the past 48 months

Security Requirements

We must all work together to protect the privacy of consumers. The following measures are designed to reduce unauthorized access of consumer reports.

1. Protect your Call Eleanore user name, and password so that only key personnel know this sensitive information. Unauthorized persons should never have knowledge of your password. Do not post the information in any manner within your business.

2. Do not share your password. Administrative users must ssign each user of your account with a unique user name and password. Call Eleanore staff can help with this as needed.

3. Do not discuss your user name or password by telephone with any unknown caller. We will never request your username and password information. If a password is forgotten, Call Eleanore Screening Services will “reset” the password so that you may log on.

4. Restrict the ability to obtain credit information to a few key personnel.

5. Place all terminal devices used to obtain credit information in a secure location within your facility. You should secure these devices so that unauthorized persons cannot easily access them.

6. After normal business hours, be sure to turn off and lock all devices or systems used to obtain credit information.

7. Secure hard copies and electronic files of consumer reports within your business so that unauthorized persons cannot access them easily. Destroy or shred all hard copy consumer reports when they are no longer needed.

8. Erase or scramble electronic files containing consumer information when no longer needed and when applicable regulation(s) permit destruction.

9. Make all employees aware that your business can access credit information only for the permissible purposes listed in the section of your Application for Membership. Neither you nor your employees can access your own credit report or the report of a family member or friend. Fines can run as much as $2,500.00 per violation.

Record Retention: It is important that you keep credit applications for a reasonable period of time. This will help to facilitate the investigative process if a consumer claims that your business inappropriately accessed their credit report. (Note: The Federal Equal Credit Opportunity Act states that a creditor MUST preserve all written or recorded information connected with an application for 25 months.)

“Under Section 621 (a) (2) (A) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), any person that violates any of the provisions of the FCRA may be liable for a civil penalty of not more than $2,500.00 per violation.