Can an Eviction Affect Your Credit?
Explore the lasting financial and credit implications of an eviction, from your credit score to future housing and lending opportunities.
An eviction is a legal process initiated by a landlord to remove a tenant from a rental property, often due to a breach of the lease agreement. While the eviction itself might not directly appear on a standard credit report, the circumstances surrounding it, particularly any unpaid financial obligations, can significantly impact one’s credit standing.
How Evictions Appear on Credit Reports
An eviction record can appear on a consumer’s financial history through the legal process and associated financial debts. The eviction process culminates in a court judgment, which becomes a public record. These civil judgments are accessible to the public and can be gathered by credit bureaus or other data providers.
Landlords frequently turn over unpaid rent, damages, or other eviction-related debts to third-party collection agencies. When these collection accounts are reported to credit bureaus, they appear on a consumer’s credit report. This is a primary way an eviction can negatively affect credit.
Some larger property management companies might directly report to specialized tenant screening databases or directly to credit bureaus. However, the eviction judgment itself and any unpaid debt sent to collections are the most common and damaging mechanisms for this information to surface.
Impact on Your Credit Score
Eviction-related items, such as civil judgments or collection accounts for unpaid rent, can severely damage credit scores, causing a substantial drop. Major credit scoring models, including FICO Score and VantageScore, heavily weigh public records and collection accounts as derogatory marks.
An eviction often signifies a failure to meet financial obligations, directly linking to negative payment history, which is the most influential factor in credit scoring. Payment history constitutes approximately 35% of a FICO Score, meaning late or missed payments reported can have a significant impact.
These negative marks, such as collection accounts and civil judgments, remain on a credit report for up to seven years from the original delinquency date. While their impact may lessen over time, they continue to affect creditworthiness for their entire reporting duration.
Broader Financial Consequences
Beyond the direct impact on credit scores, an eviction can lead to broader financial repercussions. Landlords and property management companies widely use tenant screening services that check for eviction records, including court judgments and collection accounts.
An eviction record can make it difficult to secure future rental housing, as many landlords view it as a significant risk factor. Loan and credit applications can also be affected, as some lenders may look beyond the credit score at underlying derogatory marks, seeing an eviction as an indicator of financial instability or elevated risk.
Certain employers, particularly those in financial or housing-related fields, may conduct background checks that could reveal civil judgments, including evictions. An eviction record or poor credit history can also lead to increased costs, such as requirements for higher security deposits, the need for a co-signer, or even denial for essential services like utility accounts.
Reviewing and Addressing Eviction Records
Understanding and managing an eviction record on your credit report begins with obtaining accurate information. Consumers are entitled to a free copy of their credit report annually from each of the three major credit bureaus—Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion—through AnnualCreditReport.com.
When reviewing these reports, look for civil judgments (often listed under “public records” or “legal items”) and collection accounts from former landlords or property management companies. If you identify inaccurate information related to an eviction, you have the right to dispute it with the credit bureaus.
The dispute process involves submitting a formal dispute online, by mail, or over the phone, along with any supporting documentation that proves the inaccuracy. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) mandates that credit bureaus investigate disputes within 30 days. Accurate negative information, such as a legitimate collection account, cannot be removed from a credit report before its statutory seven-year reporting period expires.