Once you land a travel nurse job, your attention then shifts to finding a monthly furnished rental. The Gypsy Nurse recommends our partner Furnished Finder for housing, but of course, many travelers look on vacation rental sites as well.
While vacation rental sites may allow you to skip a tenant screening report sometimes, they can be much more expensive because they are catering to vacation-goers. Furnished Finder, on the other hand, doesn’t charge booking fees for their monthly rentals saving travelers hundreds of dollars, but landlords will most likely require a tenant screening report.
What’s the difference between a background check and a tenant screening report?
An employment background check gives the employer criminal, educational, and identity data on the applicant. At the same time, a tenant screening report provides more detailed information relating to your credit, payments, and eviction history.
Hospital-mandated background checks are more of a formality that ultimately protects the hospital. Still, some travel nurses think that since they passed an employment background check when they got hired, they don’t have to complete a tenant screening report from their new landlord. This is false, as they are entirely different.
Can I refuse to complete a tenant screening requested by my landlord?
Yes, of course. However, you will most likely have to find alternative housing, like a vacation rental or a hotel which can be much more expensive.
Simply put, landlords need more information on their tenants than a background check can provide. If a travel nurse were to refuse to complete a tenant screening report, then they may be automatically eliminating themselves from the majority of monthly furnished rentals forcing them to stay in higher-priced short-term accommodations like hotels or vacation rentals.
Do tenant screening reports hurt my credit?
Only hard inquiries harm your credit (such as when you’re buying a car or applying for a mortgage). “Soft-Pull” reports have absolutely no effect on your credit score and do not even show up as an inquiry on your credit report.
Tenant screening reports, such as the ones provided through KeyCheck and other online screening sites, do not harm your credit because they use the popular “Soft-Pull” technique.
Soft pulls are viewed by the credit bureaus as you pulling your own credit report and then essentially sharing it with your landlord. Since a person can view their own credit report without penalty, soft-pull reports bypass the harmful effects of a conventional credit check.
Just like travelers want to be safe and protected when they travel for work, landlords also want to protect themselves as well. When a landlord asks for a tenant screening report, that just means you are one step closer to securing your housing! Plan to pay around $39 for those reports. However, sometimes the cost is absorbed by the landlord.
