I've been very poor for most of my life and could never build credit. I have student loan debt that I haven't paid on because I needed to eat. I finally found a job that pays me a living wage but every fucking landlord is doing credit checks. Like, I have pay stubs that prove I can afford to rent this room but because my credit is terrible I'm sure they're just going to laugh in my face. How the fuck can I fix my credit if I can't even get a stable living situation? So my options if I can't get a room are long-term AirBNBs (WAY more expensive) or continue being homeless.
in communist china your social credit score can prevent you from accessing basic needs like housing.
seriously though that sucks I'm sorry
Is there nobody in your area renting or subletting a room in their house/apartment? I don't think I've ever had a credit check run on me for that kind of situation. It can be less stable, depending on how formal the agreement is, but it isn't necessarily. Or are those just all AirBNBs these days?
Find a place that doesn’t check credit and makes you pay an extra fee to move in. Which is 100% bullshit. I’m sorry you’re going through this. You deserve to have a home.
Edit: idk where you live, but people are getting really good at squatting.
Legit just need someone else to co-sign, landlords are shit bro, they want the debt from your kin and you
Yeah this happened to me as well with the credit checks, so many fucking rejections. I don't know what to say other than :mao-shining:
I have pay stubs that prove I can afford to rent this room but because my credit is terrible I’m sure they’re just going to laugh in my face.
In this situation they may just ask for a security deposit. In many states the deposit amount they can ask for is capped.
As someone else mentioned, you also might have better luck looking at small landlords: folks renting out a room or one additional house they own. If you have to look at long-term AirBnBs, try to get in touch with the property owner directly. They're probably getting fucked right now (lol) and you may be able to negotiate something closer to market-value rent if you're going to be there for 6-12 months.
Either way, :mao-aggro-shining:
I got around this by finding a listing by a very small company, what amounted to basically one guy, and talking to him.
Depending on where you're located it might be completely overwhelmed by real estate companies though and I legitimately have no idea how to break into places like that.
Like once I went to a city I really wanted to move to, with 7 months rent in my pocket and willing to give them a full 6 months up front and they still wouldn't work with me.
I stayed there for a full month in Airbnbs meeting and talking to every single reasonable listing and... nothing. Real estate companies had eaten that market and they didn't want anyone there who wasn't affluent their entire life.
Worst part is I actually spent money on a few of those places to try to see if they'd accept me. They charged me fucking $50 to deny me lol and multiple places did this.
Suffice it to say I had to move elsewhere where I could find listings that weren't part of that scheme.
Obviously this isn't good advice in your situation, just posting for solidarity because it's not just you.
Try to find a listing that isn't part of a medium to large rental company, they are much more reasonable
You will need to find someone subletting a room or a whole place. Those people will not usually do a credit check.
