These days, it seems like our credit scores matter more than ever. Anytime you get a loan or apply for housing or for certain jobs, someone wants to check your credit. The dilemma is that many low-income families already struggle with low credit scores because their financial hardships have made it difficult to pay bills on time. Needless to say, a lot of people worry about how their credit scores can affect their low-income housing eligibility. If this is a concern of yours, let’s hopefully put your mind a little more at ease by pulling back the curtain a bit on the question of credit and how it might (or might not affect) your ability to qualify for affordable housing.

How Credit Affects Your Ability to Get Subsidies

Here’s the good news: Your eligibility to receive government subsidies for housing is NOT based on your credit score, and will NOT be affected by it. The government looks only at your income and assets to determine whether you qualify for low-income housing or other government benefits, not your credit history. No matter how low your credit score might be, you can get the assistance you need as long as you meet the income requirements.

How Credit Affects Your Ability to Get Housing

Here’s where it gets a little dicey for some people: While the government won’t evaluate your credit to qualify you for housing benefits, the property owners might pull your credit report to qualify you to rent from them. Landlords still have the right to look at your payment history to determine whether they want to assume the risk of renting to you, especially if the government subsidies don’t cover the full amount of the rent. You don’t necessarily have to have excellent credit, but you may have to have a minimum credit score; it all depends on the management company approval policies. (Fortunately, many of these landlords understand the hardships of low-income families and try to make their credit requirements a bit more lenient.)

One glaring exception to consider: No credit is actually better than bad credit. According to HUD guidelines, “Owners may reject an applicant for a poor credit history, but a lack of credit history is not sufficient grounds to reject an applicant.” This means you may have an easier time getting approved if you’ve never taken out a loan than if you defaulted on a loan.

In truth, the better your credit score, the better your chances of getting your choice of affordable housing; however, less-than-perfect credit won’t necessarily disqualify you. At Olympia Management, we try to take our applicants’ full story into account when qualifying them for housing, not just their credit score. To learn more, call us today at 256-894-2382.