Overheard a landlord at a coffee shop say they auto-deny anyone with a medical collection under $500

I was grabbing a latte last Saturday when this property manager tells his buddy that medical debt under $500 is an instant no for their rentals - even though I thought the new credit scoring models don't weigh those as heavily anymore - so has anyone else run into landlords ignoring the latest credit guidelines like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

sarahpark11d ago

Do you think that landlord even realized he was breaking the Fair Housing Act? Medical debt gets treated differently because it can be tied to a disability, and refusing to rent to someone based on that is a slippery slope legally. Most smart property managers I know would rather avoid that kind of headache than save a few hundred dollars. Plus those old credit guidelines he's following are already outdated, so he's probably losing good tenants who have perfect payment histories outside of one hospital bill. Its his loss in the long run.

emma_garcia11d ago

My cousin got turned down for an apartment once over a $200 collection from a dentist visit in 2019.

blair_chen8111d ago

I actually read a study a while back that said people with medical debt on their report still pay rent at the same rate as everyone else. @emma_garcia's cousin is probably a perfect example of that - one dentist bill doesn't mean someone's gonna skip on rent. Landlords who don't know that are just shooting themselves in the foot.