It is at this stage of the application the tenant(s) will be given a full UK Credit check. Before this is completed each tenant must provide consent.
For each tenant you will see a section similar to the above, in order to consent the tenant must select ‘Yes’ at the consent question and then enter their initials in uppercase e.g. ‘John Doe’ would enter ‘JD’ into the box.
This is repeated until all tenants have consented to a credit check select the ‘Conduct Credit Check’ button.
The tenants will now be asked to confirm their current address which is used to find them on the electoral roll.
Correct Address
If the address is correct then you can confirm this by selecting the address (left) and then selecting the ‘Confirm’ button. If you have more than one tenant you will be asked to confirm the address of all the other tenants.
Incorrect Address
If the address is not correct it can be corrected by selecting the ‘Cancel’ button, you will see a message confirming the credit check has been cancelled. You can now select the ‘Edit Tenant Details’ button which will take you to the data input forms so that you can correct the tenants address. If you would like to return to the application you can do so by selecting the ‘Back to application’ button.
Credit Check Results
Once the address of each tenant is confirmed you will be shown the results of the credit check.
The OnBoard Pro credit checking facility is primarily powered by Equifax. In addition to this score, we use several other metrics (such as affordability, CCJs etc) to provide a grade which can be used to predict the prospective tenant’s future behaviour.
You will see a ‘Grade’ given on a scale of A to F as well as recommendations based upon the grade.
The following are the recommendations of each grade given:
A = Excellent score, no additional conditions, no requirement for guarantor
B = Good score, no additional conditions, no requirement for guarantor
C = Above average score, no additional conditions, no requirement for guarantor
D = Below average score, increase of deposit x 2, guarantor may be required
E = Poor score, increase of deposit x 6, guarantor recommended
F = Fail, we recommend not to grant a tenancy for this applicant unless using a guarantor
Note: These grades are a recommendation only, you can still continue with the application if you wish, even if a poor grade is given.
Tenant Grade
As well as the overall grade you can see each tenant’s individual grade. To view this select the individual tenant’s name where it says ‘Click here for more details’
Here you will see the Grade given to this tenant only, again from A to F, you will also see a series of traffic lights that indicate the score of the various sections on the credit check. In the example above this tenant has a low ‘Affordability’ score for this property. This would indicate the tenant may not be able to keep up with rent payments.
You can also download these details via a PDF file to be stored with other paperwork in the tenants file.
Affordability. OnBoard Pro divides Gross Annual Salary by Annual Rent. A green light indicates a ratio above 2.5. A red traffic light indicates a ratio below 1.7.
Credit Check. OnBoard Pro uses the Equifax non-insight scoring product with a scale of 0-500. A green light indicates a score above 320. A red light indicates a score below 202.
Guarantors
In cases where the tenant receives a low score you may want to request a Guarantor to be used to lower the risk. This can be done by clicking on the ‘Guarantors’ bar below the credit score.
Here you can see tenants listed on the application, their grade and if they have a Guarantor added to their profile. If you would like to add a guarantor you can do so by selecting one of the two options
-
Request Guarantor - This will send an email to the tenant to request a guarantor. This would be used if the tenant is not present.
-
Add Guarantor – This option opens a form for you to add the guarantor details yourself.
If you would like to use the guarantor for this application you can select the ‘Request Deed’ button this will send an email to the guarantor requesting that they sign the guarantor deed.
This will prompt an email to the guarantor containing a link to their ‘Guarantor Hub‘ (see below )
On selecting ‘Begin’ the guarantor is asked to confirm the details that have been entered.
Once these details are confirmed as correct the guarantor will be asked to perform a credit check.
Upon passing this credit check they will be asked to sign the guarantor deed via DocuSign.