Eviction Reports: Do They Really Work?
When I talk to customers about our Enhanced Landlord Search (or "Evictions Report"), most often I'm met with the same two responses. "We've tried the evictions report in the past and it never seems to work" or "we already have an evictions report ... why would yours be any different?"
"My evictions report never works..."
A rose is a rose, and our evictions report is an evictions report. It's not the name that matters; It's about the quality of the content.
If your evictions report "never works," it's time to question the source of the data with your current provider. You may have been misled into purchasing a 'scraped' public records report, instead of a true Civil Filings Search. A 'scraped' public records report obtains their information by returning the public records off of the individual's credit report, that doesn't necessarily contain the most up-to-date information you need to make an informed rental decision - not exactly a rose. A real evictions report searches through millions of civil data records from Circuit Courts Nationwide. It has the most up-to-date information regarding evictions and public records: a homegrown rose.
"I buy a 'real' evictions report and it still doesn't work! Why are yours any different?"
John Doe strolls into ABC Apartments asking to rent apartment '4N'. The leasing agent, Jessica, will conduct a background check on Mr. Doe to determine if he qualifies. One of the reports included in Jessica's screening package is an evictions report provided by fake ID. Jessica is confident that if John Doe has previously been evicted, then she will know about it as soon as she runs the report.
Let's see how this scenario will play out.
"A real eviction report searches through millions of civil data records from circuit courts nationwide."
"She opens the report and finds ... nothing! Not one single case! How could such a common name like Paul Smith not have one civil filing report on file?"
Scenario #1: Jessica will get an evictions report back from Fake ID with over 50 evictions cases on the name 'John Doe'. Jessica is flustered. Which one of these cases belongs to the John sitting in front of her? Is 'John Doe' just a common name? Are all of these reports really his? What will Jessica do in this scenario? Decline John based on inconclusive evidence, or accept him based on confusion?
Scenario #2: Jessica runs an evictions report from Fake ID on John Doe. She opens the report and finds... Nothing! Not one single case! How could such a common name such as John Doe not have one Civil Filing Report on file? Jessica's day was dull and boring- not just John's but almost every evictions report always comes out clean. How could it be?
Both scenarios present real problems:
- Non Compliant with Fair Housing
- Potential Revenue Loss
Your Typical Evictions Report
Ever wonder how eviction reports match the correct case to the correct person? If there are three hundred John Does out there, and thirty of them have previous evictions in their history, how do we connect the John Doe in question, to the cases that actually belong to him? The most common way to connect an eviction to an individual is by using a person's Social Security Number. By Associating the SSN on an evictions listing and matching it to the SSN on input, a service provider can identify the accuracy of the match. Thereby, if John's social were 123456789 and the eviction listed was recorded as 987654321, then that is obviously not the same John Doe.
There is just one problem with this method.
What if there isn't an SSN on file for the defendant of a particular eviction? Nearly all 50 States do not require the plaintiff to file an eviction with the defendant's SSN. So we are stuck with millions of records that do not contain an SSN on file. So how can we determine 'who's who', who has and who hasn't been evicted?
Too many reports
No way to know which, if any, belong to your potential renter.
Too few reports
No SSN on file, hiding the eviction(s) that belongs to your potential renter.
How can we fix the problem? Introducing Real ID's evictions report.
At Real ID, we use more than a social security number. Linking reports of evictions to the people who have been evicted is what you pay us to do right? So we made it our business to generate a 'smarter' search to determine the most accurate information.
Every time an applicant is processed within Real ID, the following items are screened to determine a match:
- Name & Aliases
- Current & Former Addresses
- Social Security Number
We deliver all of this information instantly. In addition to the easy to read layout, Real ID's color coding system make it easy to identify the match type for each particular case.
Oh, and we also take out your trash! Remember when Fake ID gave Jessica 50 listings for John Doe? If there's a report that has a name match but has a different SSN, Real ID will discard the result so that your staff does not have any non-compliant and unnecessary information.
Interested in finding out more about Real ID? Give us a call. We look forward to hearing from you.