About Background Screening
The Problem
Undesirable tenants cost multifamily property owners millions of dollars each year in lost income, employee time and legal fees. In today’s litigious society, the threat of liability lawsuits continues to grow. To minimize these risks, residential property managers must be diligent and consistent in investigating prospective tenants, which can often be an expensive and time-consuming task.
The Solution
RealPage’s On-Site Background Screening is a fully integrated and automated applicant screening service, within SPECTRA that:
• Uses leading third-party data sources to provide immediate access to credit, criminal, and eviction histories.
• Delivers instant decisions that are consistent with management rules to close the sale or end the application process immediately.
• Provides the capability to enforce the results of the Background Screening check, as well as the ability to override those results if applicable (based on permissions assigned to the user’s log-in ID).
Risk and Credit Profile
The On-Site Background Screening Risk Profile allows management to assess risk and quickly identify qualified applicants based on:
• Ability to Pay Rent
• Credit History
• Residence History
• Criminal History.
Enable On-Site Background Screening
The On-Site Screening service will need to be activated under Building > Background Screening > On-Site Screening
Activation
1. Check Activate On-Site Screening
2. Enter the UserName and Password provided
3. Enter the Originator ID and Property ID provided
4. Check Show Progress During Screen If you wish to see the progress window during the screening process.
5. Choose your preferred Proposed Monthly Rent Default
6. Enter your Proposed Security Deposit Default or leave blank to manually enter.
7. Save and Exit
8. You must log out of Spectra and log back in for the changes to take effect.
Multiple Screening Profiles
On-Site offers the ability to have multiple properties/profiles to meet the different screening needs of our clients. The background screening interface in Spectra has been updated to allow users the option to add these additional screening profiles set up with On-Site.
If you have setup additional screening profiles with On-Site, you will need to add the PropertyID’s to the screening module in Spectra using the following steps:
1. Go to Building > Start a Task – Background Screening
2. Click On-Site Activation
3. Click button to set up Multiple PropertyID Screening Profiles.
4. You will then enter the On-Site Property ID and desired Profile Description.
Criminal Only Background Screening
If you need the option to run a Criminal Only screening, you will also need to activate this feature:
1. Go to Building > Background Screening > On-Site Screening Activation
2. On the Realpage Logo, click the bottom-right circle:
3. Check the Box next to Show Criminal Only Screen Option.
4. Click Save
5. Log out and back into Spectra to activate the change.
Screening Setup Wizard
You will now need to enable screening for your buildings. Go to Building > Background Screening > Background Screening Setup Wizard.
For each building where the background screening service will be used, you will want to check Screening Enabled. You can also choose to select Screening Enforced, to make screening mandatory, and Allow Unit Overrides to allow the option of overriding a screening decision.
Screening Applicants
Now that the On-Site Background Screening has been activated and enabled, you are now ready to screen your applicants.
1. From the ribbon, click Screening > Display Applicant List. (the applicant list can also be viewed by going to Building > Background Screening > Applicant List)
2. Highlight the applicant that you wish to screen and click the Screening button, select Run Background Screening
If you need to run a Criminal Only Screening, check the box next to Criminal Only Screen.
click ‘Continue with Screen’.
If you selected the option to ‘Show Progress During Screen’ you will see a progress bar:
View Results
Please Note: For security purposes, On-Site uses time sensitive session tokens when viewing screening results. These tokens expire, preventing protected information from being viewed by unauthorized persons.
Once the screening is completed, The On-Site Background Screening window will pop up. This window will display the Building Name and ID, Tenant Name, Unit ID, as well as the Screening Status. From this screen, you can click View On-Site Results:
Click the link “view screening results”
The screening Overview screen will now display.
1. Overall Recommendation: Decline or Approve
a. The Scoring and Recommendation based on the screening requirements will display, providing a fast and clear result.
2. Print and Print Adverse Action Notice
a. Clicking Print will generate a printable PDF of the screening report without the recommendation. This report could be supplied to the applicant.
b. Clicking the Print Adverse Action Notice generates a printable PDF that can be provided to notify the applicant that their application has been denied. This notice also provides the applicant with details on how to view and dispute the report. You no longer need to call the screening customer service line to obtain the Adverse Action Notices.
3. Pass/Fail by Category
a. This display allows you to quickly identify what categories an applicant has failed.
4. Warnings
a. This section will alert you if there are any issues with the screening, such as missing information that may indicate a need to verify the applicant details, and re-screen.
5. View Screening Details/View Details
a. This will give you the full detailed screening report.
b. You will also have the option to print the Adverse Action Notice, and Report Detail without recommendation, from this screen.
6. Spectra Print Button
a. This button allows you to print what is displayed in the current window.
7. Close
a. Use this button to close the current window and return to the On-Site Background Screening window.
If you need to view the results again, before the session token expires click View On-Site Results. If your session token has already expired the following window will display:
You will need to click Back to return to the On-Site Background Screening window and click close.
You will need to use the Screening button from the ribbon and select View Detail Report; this will create a new session token.
Override Screening Results
There may be occasions where you may want to override a declined screening screening result and approve or approve with conditions. From the Background Screening Applicant List, highlight the applicant that you want to override and click the Screening button on the ribbon, and click Override Household Result and choose either Approve Household or Approve Household with Conditions.
If you have selected Approve the Overridden Approved screen will open:
1. Enter Reason for Override
2. Click Continue with Override
If you have the user right to Authorize Screening Overrides the Screening result window will open and you will see the Screening Status Overridden Approved and the reason for the override. From this window, you have another option to view the results or detailed reports.
If you do not have the user right to Authorize Screening Overrides, Spectra will prompt for the authorized user to enter in their username and password to proceed with the override.
Moving In Approved Applicants
Once you have the approved application, you can complete the process right from the Background Screening Applicant List.
1. Highlight the desired applicant and click the screening button on the ribbon.
2. Click Applicant Move-In Wizard.
3. The Wizard will walk you through the remaining steps to complete the move in.
Screening Access Control
You can control who has access to the screening function, and what level of access each user has. For example, you may want a leasing agent to be able to run the screening, but not be able to see the detailed report or override the screening decision.
To set Screening permissions, a Security Officer can go to System Tasks > Security > User Maintenance, select a UserName from the drop-down menu and select the desired screening options.
