No landlord or property manager wants to deal with application forgery, but unfortunately, it’s a reality and it may happen to you at one point or another. Even so, you can protect yourself against it in a variety of ways, including requiring a tenant screening service for all applicants and checking their references. It’s always important to keep a keen eye and attention to detail, but you can still have the wool pulled over your eyes if you don’t know what to look for.
One of the most common methods of application forgery is fake pay stubs. There are a whole host of sites online that will help you create phony pay stubs so that you can apply for rentals or loans without confessing your actual income, which might hurt your chances. Thankfully, as long as you know falsifying pay stubs is a possibility and you learn what to look for, they become easier to spot.
Check the Details
Always double check even the most basic information on a pay stub. Make sure the personal name, address, and SSN match, as well as the employer’s information. If there’s a discrepancy, it’s a definite possibility that you’re dealing with a forgery. People who buy falsified documents online have to fill in their own information, and they may skip a section or make a typo. Keep an eye out.
Compare to Legitimate Pay Stubs
Do you happen to have another applicant from the same employer? Compare the stubs side by side. While employers may change their stubs over time, the quality should be similar. Does one seem like it was printed on a lower quality printer, or do the lines not quite match up? Both are indications that you might have a fake pay stub.
Look at the Numbers
This includes check numbers, social security numbers, phone numbers, and amount numbers. Does anything jump out at you as being fishy? Check numbers that jump up by the hundreds between pay periods could be a red flag unless the company has a lot of employees. Does the amount of pay match up to the hourly wage or salary, or is it higher than it should be? Pay close attention.
Ask for Additional Verification
If you really want to cover your bases, you can request copies of tax returns so you can cross-reference the applicant’s earnings. If you know how often they’re paid, you can do some quick math to make sure the amount on the pay stub is roughly equal to what it should be given their year-to-date earnings or yearly salary.
Contact Their References
An applicant’s employer cannot give you that person’s salary information unless they’ve been given permission to do so, but at the very least, you can verify that they do in fact work for said employer. Don’t skip this verification step!
One last method of ensuring you’re getting accurate information is by using a tenant screening service. We recommend our RentalConnect program as an added tool for selecting the right tenants for your property. RentalConnect offers property owners and landlords a great alternative to the expense of full tenant screening. This service requires no on-site visit, sign-up, or membership fees, making it extra convenient. The service fee is paid by the applicant. Available 24/7, RentalConnect is fast, easy, secure, and delivers reports needed to make an informed decision, including a credit report, a national criminal search, and a national eviction search. These are documents that can’t be faked!
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