Ashoka Lion Houston & Dallas help to improve tenant's credit

Credit scores are a fact of life that affects so many decisions for tenants, and it goes beyond buying a home. Many people underestimate the importance of having the best credit score that they can have. Credit scores can hurt a person's chances in many areas of your life:

• Utility Deposits with many utility providers are based on credit score
• Buying a car with financing
• Buying Appliances with financing
• Certain job functions evaluate credit score and prevent a person from obtaining employment
• Getting approved for rental homes

How is credit score calculated: 

A tenant's credit score is compilation of reports provided by the three credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and Transunion).  The bureaus have payment history provided by various vendors and compile those reports to provide a numerical evaluation of past history and companies use this data to predict a person's future ability to pay obligations or handle their finances.  Some vendors only report to particular credit bureaus, and this is why the 3 credit bureau scores can vary as well as how each credit bureau evaluates certain types of debt. 

The combination of the 3 credit bureaus is used to a create a cumulative score that is known as a FICO which is used by mortgage companies and other vendors (especially those with large values being financed). 

How Does Ashoka Lion Use Credit Score: 

The importance of your credit score cannot be understated. Therefore it is critical for tenants to maintain the best credit score they can.   However, at Ashoka Lion, our property management team will evaluate the totality of the application before rendering a decision and credit score is only a part of the evaluation.   This does not mean that we do not evaluate credit, but our team will look at ranges of credit scores and adjust deposit versus outright denial if we have solid income, solid rental history, and a criminal background that is not recent, multiple convictions, or not violent or sexual in nature.  Ashoka Lion's leasing criteria is posted on our page for tenants to see when booking a appointment with our team, but we also have a copy of the criteria in the application that tenants fill out. 

How Does Ashoka Lion Help Tenants Improve Credit Score and Finances

 The reality is 2020 was a difficult time for the world. There has been wide spread unemployment and under employment across many markets.   Our property management team reacted as positively as we could with the help of our owners.   We tried to create win-win measure that involved tenants showing the owners that they want to remain at the home and demonstrate that they are maintaining the home in a appropriate manner. These measures included: 

• Our Houston and Dallas managers suspended late fee collection due to economic distress from March till August 2020. 
• In July 2020, we have allowed tenants to submit payment plans to suspend late fees as long as they maintain tenant lease compliance.
• Renters Insurance is up to date
• Tenants submit a self guided tour of their home 
• Front and Back Lawn Pictures are submitted 2x a month
• Tenant Pet Audit File is up to date
• Tenant Annual Maintenance Care Assessment is updated
• For tenants who are expressing economic difficulty, we are offering a free utility concierge to help tenants try to lower their utility and other service rates where applicable.

In 2020, our property management team took it one step further. However, our property management team wanted to show people who were making the effort to pay their rent on time or follow their payment plan that we appreciated it. We began a program for a nominal fee a month that tenants could get their rent payment reported to all 3 credit bureaus.  This tenant credit builder program was rolled out with the idea that if tenants could make their rent payment on time that they should be rewarded for those efforts. 

Our tenant rent credit building program works to help our owners as well. 

Some landlords or real estate investors may wonder how this benefits them? To be clear, landlords are the biggest winner when they have tenants who want to build their credit and get rewarded for making their payments on time.  When a tenant is paying to get their payment history shared to credit bureaus, these tenants are the kind that a landlord or real estate investor craves- a on time paying tenant who pays their obligations in full. 

When our property managers explain this perk, the tenants who are committed to paying their rent on time are excited. When tenants enroll in the program, they are affirmatively stating that they want to make their payments in full and on time. This can be a indicator of the type of tenants that property managers and investors strive to obtain for their vacant homes.  The nominal fee of $7 a month was enough to make it a investment that they want to fully utilize. If it was freely given to a tenant, we are not sure if it would be fully appreciated as a benefit. 

In today's environment, we want to focus on ways to innovate and help our tenants and owners navigate this new normal. Do we have other ideas on how to improve our program? Yes, we do, and I hope in the future to be able to share some of the progress we made to helping our tenants improve their credit score.  We want to help tenants have lower interest rate on their credit cards so their debt does not hinder their ability to pay rent. We want tenants to get the furniture or cars that they need at a affordable rate so it does not make it difficult for them to pay the rent on time. Our property managers hope that a tenant becomes qualified for a job because their credit score was in the range to allow them to be hired or considered for the role.  Whatever benefits that a tenant can obtain from a credit score, then Ashoka Lion would like to help tenant's achieve it.   Our owners may not initially see the benefit, but the long term benefits for them is undeniable as well. 

If you are a landlord who is interested in learning more about our programs for owners and tenants, then please visit our site. 

If you are a prospective tenant who would like to live in one of our homes, then please visit our property management page of available homes for rent.