How fucked am I? (Bad Credit, Renting)

Fagatron

So after two years of being unemployed it looks like I'm finally going to have steady work at a real job again starting Monday. Monday I have a "working interview" (paid) with a local company in San Francisco's Financial District. After that I'm on contract for three months, and if I'm still in good standing at that point I become a permanent employee and my pay jumps from $20/hr. to "low $50s" according to the recruiter I'm working with, assuming he meant "thousands" and "annually."

I'm not too worried about making the cut on Monday, or keeping in good standing for the duration of the contract. What I am worried about is my goddamn credit. I lost my last job suddenly and right after I'd stuck some costs of a trip on a credit card planning to pay it off with the help of my next paycheque (it was well under what I was making at the time) I never got the money and it ballooned into a larger sum and was sent to creditors. That along with some other bills (almost $1000 for a visit to the ER when I got sick with Mono last summer, some parking tickets I wasn't able to come up with the money to pay, some additional fees my college dinged me with nearly a year after I'd stopped attending, etc.) and I'm pretty sure my credit rating isn't looking so good. It's still nothing major. Everything added up is around $3k. I should be able to pay it off in the first couple months of this job.

Currently I'm living with my girlfriend and her family in the Richmond District, but if everything works out and I'm making some real money I definitely need to GTFO. I'm planning on going back to school next semester, and to avoid too much sleep deprivation between working, school, and my commute, I'd like to get an apartment near a BART station, in the city, for less than $1500 a month. After looking around on Craigslist it seems like this is definitely a possibility, there are even quite a few around the school I'm planning on attending initially before I transfer to a University; but reading the listings most of them are asking that you bring a copy of your credit report. Some of them even go so far as to ask for pay stubs and bank statements in addition, as well as requiring that potential candidates make an exorbitant amount of money to even be considered ($3900 a month for a $1300 apartment in the Mission o_O).


My question is, how understanding are landlords going to be if I show up, with or without a credit report, and explain the situation to them? I can't be the only young twenty something who got completely cornholed over the last two years, and it would really suck if this becomes a real hurdle to getting back on my feet even after finding a stable, well paying job.

Raneados

have you had any renting history at all?

and what kind of area is it?

Inquisitor77

It will almost certainly be an issue for some landlords, but others may be more understanding. Save up enough to provide the requested deposit and be forthright about your situation, and that should alleviate a lot of the issues. Also, being able to provide a deposit or pre-payment that is larger than requested could also work in your favor, although I wouldn't really recommend doing it as a general rule.

The truth is that you could very well "lose" a place to someone else with better credit, a longer work history, or bigger boobs. This is just one of those things you'll have to chalk up to life lessons. Eventually you should be able to get somewhere, although it probably won't be perfect. Just think of it as another step on your journey, and in a few years you'll almost certainly be able to rent any place you can afford because you'll have both a decent work history and good long-term references.

What you don't want to do is develop the mentality that this is the worst thing evar and you'll be forever condemned to live in shitholes and your life is in shambles and you'll always be a loser. You've got a job, a support system, and a way out. Just take it one step at a time.

PS - You live in the SF Bay Area. There's a huge transient student and "young professional" population that is basically always looking for a new place, new roommates, and the next big thing. You'll find something as long as you keep looking and as long as you are realistic about your options. Just take a couple of months to both save money and "window shop" around the area.

VisionOfClarity

If you can get a cosigner that will help.

Kakodaimonos

Have you checked your credit? You know you can go to the free credit report site and get a report from each of the agencies. I like to pull one every 4 months, rotating between the reporting bureaus.

https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp

Dr. Frenchenstein

You unfortunately don't get a score though, that's just to check if there are any incorrect things on your report. You can be in good standing with all your creditors and still get turned down for: not good enough ratio, too much credit, too little credit, etc etc.

Still a good thing to look at, but wont really tell you that you are good to go or anything.

VisionOfClarity

Through any of those 3 you can buy your credit score for like $7 only though.

Disrupter

Heres my concern. You are in debt, you have a job that MAY be permanant but can be anywhere from a day of training to 3 months as well..

I understand the GTFO mentality, but honestly you have an opportunity to get yourself back on your feet and make a bit of sacrifice now in order to get a stable ground. Perhaps rushing out isnt the smartest thing to do. Stick around through the 3 month contract, save up some money and then maybe start planning the move when you know you have the job.

Then you can go back to school and what not.

You seem to want to completely 180 your life in a second because of this opportunity, which, is good that you have such motivation, but its risky. Not having a small nestegg got you into the mess in the first place. Sticking out the commute, putting school off for a semester and staying where you are at while you save up can help a ton. Youll get out of debt and get some savings.

Plus having no outstanding debts and a reserve of cash will make you far more rentable.

Fagatron

Disrupter wrote: »

Heres my concern. You are in debt, you have a job that MAY be permanant but can be anywhere from a day of training to 3 months as well..

I understand the GTFO mentality, but honestly you have an opportunity to get yourself back on your feet and make a bit of sacrifice now in order to get a stable ground. Perhaps rushing out isnt the smartest thing to do. Stick around through the 3 month contract, save up some money and then maybe start planning the move when you know you have the job.

Then you can go back to school and what not.

You seem to want to completely 180 your life in a second because of this opportunity, which, is good that you have such motivation, but its risky. Not having a small nestegg got you into the mess in the first place. Sticking out the commute, putting school off for a semester and staying where you are at while you save up can help a ton. Youll get out of debt and get some savings.

Plus having no outstanding debts and a reserve of cash will make you far more rentable.

This is exactly what I said I'm doing. Planning on attending school, paying off the debt, etc.

I did have some savings when I lost my job, they just weren't big enough to compensate for the lengthy stretch of unemployment, and I didn't qualify for unemployment benefits. I didn't pay off the card immediately because it was a new card I'd gotten to establish some credit for myself (hurf durf) and there was no interest on it for 6 months. I didn't expect the economy to crash a month later, making finding a job a lot harder. This was stupid in hindsight, but hindsight's a bitch.

I do want to get out of here as fast as I can though, because I've got some health problems that are exacerbated by the environment here. Girlfriend's mom smokes like a chimney, I am apparently allergic to cigarette smoke, my airways are doing weird things.

I will definitely wait until I find out whether the job is permanent though, doing anything else would be really fucking stupid.

I've just never rented (or lived on my own for that matter) so I have no idea how big a deal your credit rating is.

EDIT: Also I haven't requested/purchased my credit score yet because I'm waiting to see what happens after I pay off all my debts.

StrifeRaZoR

Looks like you're in the same boat as me. I "lost" my job about 3 months ago. Living with my fiance right now and she loves her job and we make enough to get by with just her working. We wanted a new apartment, so we found one. Ran into the same problem you're having. She has no credit history at all (Graduated high school 2 years ago), and my credit history is completely ruined by a $3,000 debt from my old apartments (My old roommates trashed the place on the last night of moving out just to get back at me for not letting their dog live with us), and since my name was on the lease, it falls under my wallet.

So here's what I'm doing, and hopefully you can do the same. Paying off the debts will not fix your credit score. Your credit will stay the same for roughly 7 years(?). That number may be off, but I seem to recall seeing 7 years. I'm going the loan route. Take out a large loan, pay back half of it instantly, then use your new found job to pay back the rest over the course of 3-6 months. Works WONDERS on your credit. (Of course, you need to pay off the other debts. This is just to help your score)

Someone also suggested a co-signer. The only issue you may run into when it comes to a co-signer, is that they have to agree to put their name on the line...literally. If another incident were to happen like your past one...that wouldn't be cool for you or them.

If you can find someone you trust, go for it. Definitely look into the loan thing. Just make sure it's a solid bank or credit union, take out about a thousand bucks, then pay it off slowly. Easiest way, in my opinion, next to praying you find a decent credit card. But with your current credit...maybe a credit card isn't such a good idea?

Good luck man.

Esh

I had bad credit for years (just now fixing it up) and I never had an issue. The only thing the landlords made me do was pay a larger deposit. As long as they have that extra buffer, they generally don't give a shit.

Fagatron

StrifeRaZoR wrote: »

Looks like you're in the same boat as me. I "lost" my job about 3 months ago. Living with my fiance right now and she loves her job and we make enough to get by with just her working. We wanted a new apartment, so we found one. Ran into the same problem you're having. She has no credit history at all (Graduated high school 2 years ago), and my credit history is completely ruined by a $3,000 debt from my old apartments (My old roommates trashed the place on the last night of moving out just to get back at me for not letting their dog live with us), and since my name was on the lease, it falls under my wallet.

So here's what I'm doing, and hopefully you can do the same. Paying off the debts will not fix your credit score. Your credit will stay the same for roughly 7 years(?). That number may be off, but I seem to recall seeing 7 years. I'm going the loan route. Take out a large loan, pay back half of it instantly, then use your new found job to pay back the rest over the course of 3-6 months. Works WONDERS on your credit. (Of course, you need to pay off the other debts. This is just to help your score)

Someone also suggested a co-signer. The only issue you may run into when it comes to a co-signer, is that they have to agree to put their name on the line...literally. If another incident were to happen like your past one...that wouldn't be cool for you or them.

If you can find someone you trust, go for it. Definitely look into the loan thing. Just make sure it's a solid bank or credit union, take out about a thousand bucks, then pay it off slowly. Easiest way, in my opinion, next to praying you find a decent credit card. But with your current credit...maybe a credit card isn't such a good idea?

Good luck man.

Honestly I can handle the responsibility of a credit card just fine. That's the most frustrating part. It wasn't a HUGE sum of money. I put it on there because it was interest free and I was going to pay it off over the next few months to build up some good credit. Then I lost my job, started using my savings to pay for things like gas while I was looking for another job. Was under consideration for several good jobs and then the economy went tits up (this was October '08). By the time I figured out how bad things were I didn't have money to pay off the full sum, and eventually I wasn't even able to make payments on it. I had about $200 on the card when I hit the roughest patch and wasn't even able to make the minimum payments.

Things have gotten a lot better since then, I've kind of started a fledgling business doing computer support for home people and small businesses, and the contracting work has really been picking up. If this job ends up working out than I'll probably stick with it for at least a couple of years while I finish up my Bachelor's and wait out the recession.

The loan thing definitely sounds good, I will look into it.

Thanks for the advice about the larger deposit Esh. I will definitely keep that in mind, though obviously I'd like to avoid it. I should have about $5000 in savings by the time I'm looking for a place though so I suppose that'd be more than enough.

jedikuonji

Esh wrote: »

I had bad credit for years (just now fixing it up) and I never had an issue. The only thing the landlords made me do was pay a larger deposit. As long as they have that extra buffer, they generally don't give a shit.

This has been my experience as well.