So I have a new situation, for me at least. I had a nice older (retired) couple apply to rent. Ran the usual checks. They both have great credit (>800!) and everything checks out, except that one of them came back with 41 (!) criminal reports. The reports are all from a far away state, where he has never lived. He has a very common first and last name. It seems really obvious to me that that these reports are on a different person than my...So I have a new situation, for me at least. I had a nice older (retired) couple apply to rent. Ran the usual checks. They both have great credit (>800!) and everything checks out, except that one of them came back with 41 (!) criminal reports. The reports are all from a far away state, where he has never lived. He has a very common first and last name. It seems really obvious to me that that these reports are on a different person than my applicant. He says he has run into this problem when entering the county after international travel, and he has a “redress number” he uses to validate that he’s not the criminal with the same name.

I don’t think I can do anything with the redress number, and I’m inclined to just assume that my instincts are correct and that these crimes are not connected to this person. (What are the odds that a senior citizen would be committing crimes halfway across the country and still maintaining a perfect credit rating?). Has anyone run into this situation before? Show more