Running Your Own Screening Reports in My Reports

Order your own background reports before you even start applying — great for building a renter profile you can share with multiple landlords.

Go to My Reports →

Reports you can order

• Criminal background check — nationwide criminal search across county, state, and national databases, sex offender registries, federal courts, and watchlists
• Eviction history — nationwide rental-records and court eviction filings, judgments, dismissals, and defaults
• Rental history report (SSN trace / address history) — traces your Social Security number to build a verified address history

Screening credits and the free rental history window

Each report costs 1 screening credit ($5 value): criminal and eviction always use a credit. Rental history is free once every 6 months— if you haven't completed a rental history report in the last six months, it's free; otherwise it also costs 1 credit. My Reports shows a banner reminding you when your next free window is available.

Out of credits? Buy more from Settings → Screening Credits(or directly from the prompt VerticalRent shows when you don't have enough):

• Pay As You Go — 1 credit for $5.00
• Starter Pack — 10 credits for $45.00 (10% off)
• Value Pack — 100 credits for $400.00 (20% off)
• Portfolio Pack — 500 credits for $1,750.00 (30% off)

Ordering a report

Click Run Check to open the order drawer, then:

• Choose one or more of the three report types — you're not required to bundle them
• Enter your legal first, middle, and last name and date of birth
• Enter your full 9-digit Social Security Number
• Enter your current address (autocomplete helps you find it)
• For criminal reports, optionally include misdemeanors (felonies are always included) and traffic violations
• Check the FCRA consent box confirming you consent to VerticalRent (ScreenForge Labs LLC) running the reports on you for your own rental records, and that you understand you can dispute inaccurate information

The drawer shows your live credit total before you submit, and blocks submission if you don't have enough credits.

While it's processing

After you submit, you land on a processing screen with an animated checklist specific to what you ordered — for example criminal records, sex-offender registry, federal courts, and watchlist steps for a criminal check, or SSN trace, address history, and county-records steps for a rental history report. This usually takes a few minutes; the page auto-refreshes and takes you to the finished report.

Possible outcomes

• Clear — no records found for that report
• CRA Review In-Progress— potential records were found and ScreenForge Labs, as a licensed Consumer Reporting Agency, is manually verifying identity match and record completeness under FCRA § 607(b) before releasing details. You'll see an estimated completion window, and it can be extended if the review needs more time — raw matches are withheld from you until that review finishes.
• Records found— once reviewed, the report shows the confirmed count. Finding a record does not by itself mean anything about your housing prospects — it's simply what the search returned.
• Error — if a check fails, your screening credit is automatically refunded.

Viewing a completed report

Each report page shows the relevant details for its type — an address-history timeline with states color-coded on a map for rental history (informational only; used primarily to help verify identity for the rest of your screening), or full record details for criminal and eviction reports once released. You can download a PDF of any completed report.

You can also generate an AI Report Summary — a plain-English recap of the facts in your report — for 4 AI credits. It summarizes facts only; it is not a decision and is not a substitute for reading the full report.

Sharing a report

Once a report is complete, generate a view-only share link to send a landlord who requested it — see Sharing Reports, Correcting Errors, and Your FCRA Rights.