Whether you are an entrepreneur or a policeman, surely you have debts. And when you have debts and you don’t have the resources to settle such debts as of yet, you try to hide from the collectors. Have you heard of a debt buyer? He is the one person – aside from a collector – that you should hate. They buy your debt form your original creditor at a low price so that they me be the ones to collect you debts. If you analyse it carefully, they profit from the debt that you need to pay. If you’re thinking that the collector is the collector by your first creditor, think again because that collector might be an employee of the debt buyer. Now debt buying is legal but the one buying the debt must obtain the consent of the original creditor and the original debtor. Failure to get their permission will result to a void sale of your debt to the debt buyer. A debt buyer will do anything to get the payment even if it means that he must employ illegal methods. So for you to avoid these kinds of scenarios, you must know the law or at least be acquainted with it so that you will not be ignorant about the legal remedies you may bring up against the debt buyer. So the next time you have a debt, be sure to settle it as soon as you have the means to do so. Don’t wait for the debt buyers to become your creditor.

It was a warm Saturday morning and I was sitting in front of my computer surfing for travel destination sites. Suddenly, an advertisement for Dominos coupons popped up on my screen. I am not one to turn down a pizza deal, so I clicked on the link that promised to take me to a website that gives out Dominos coupon codes. However instead of online pizza deals, I was taken to a something that looked awfully like a link to an offshore account of an organized crime boss.

I had no idea how I was able to enter the account because to my knowledge bank accounts, especially those that are in the banks of this particular area, are very private. If governments with all their power cannot access them to investigate a crime, I am sure that any ordinary web surfing individual can certainly not gain any access to it. However, because of some computer glitch I was able to see the link of an account of what looked to be that of an organized crime boss.

There is nothing in the account name that said that it was from an organized crime boss. In fact, the account was that of a foundation. It was the names that sent money to the accounts that were very suspicious. For one, there was a name that was very similar to the name of the crime boss that I read in the newspaper recently. The name of the foundation was also similar to the name of a crime organization that was just on the news.

Since I didn’t know what to make of it, I made a screenshot of the account and copied its contents and sent it to the authorities. The next warm Saturday morning, I was reading about a toppled crime organization.

Landlords complete background checks, like those from MyScreeningReport,  to see if a potential tenant is likely to do two important things: pay rent money on time and maintain a disturbance-free/clean property. Therefore, it’s crucial to complete rental reference checks in addition to credit report screening, running a criminal background check, and verifying the applicant’s income. The following are common questions we hear regarding the process of calling on an applicant’s previous rental references. The reference cannot verify my applicant because there is no record of them on file. Is the applicant lying? Not necessarily. While landlords/property management companies typically retain a former tenant’s lease paperwork for a minimum of seven years, the paperwork may have been lost in transfer to a central office or simply thrown out in error. Also, the property management company may have the paperwork filed under the applicant’s former roommate’s name. If the tenant insists they did in fact live there, ask the applicant to double check the details of their unit# and dates listed, and confirm any former roommates with their former landlord. This may help your reference locate their file for verification. The reference did not check the “YES” box when I asked “Would you re-rent to this tenant?” Should I deny the applicant? It is actually quite common for references to avoid this question on a form. This is done primarily to protect themselves legally. Instead, a former landlord may skip the YES/NO boxes and write in “If Requalified” indicating they are not aware of potential changes that may have occurred in the personal lives of their former tenant. While they may have been an ideal tenant at the time, circumstances (e.g., a recent job loss, legal trouble) may have changed since their tenancy, in which case they would deny the tenant if applying today. Unless they have remained in close contact with the tenant, it is not uncommon for the reference to skip this question on a rental reference form. It doesn’t always imply a high-risk applicant. Should I be concerned if the person answering the phone does not match the tenant’s listed contact information? While it is ideal when the reference answers with the name of the apartment community listed, there may be a reasonable explanation if the person or property names do not match up. The property management industry is known for high employee turnover, especially in more competitive markets. Chances are there is a new Property Manager serving the apartment community since the time the applicant resided there. In other cases, the tenant’s former apartment building may have changed ownership or management companies. The applicant may not have verified the reference’s most recent information before submitting it to you. What if I find additional addresses on the credit report that were not disclosed on the application to rent? The applicant may be trying to hide something. Many applicants have negative rental references of late payments, noise disturbances on record or a balance owing with the former landlord. There’s a good chance the tenant left this former address/rental reference off of your application. You may confront the applicant on the discrepancy and request additional, accurate rental reference information.