Application decisions and adverse-action notices

An adverse-action notice is a written notice to an applicant that an application was denied, or approved only on terms less favorable than the ones applied for. In Rentova it's tied to the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and is used when a consumer report, such as a screening report, contributed to the decision.

When a staff member denies an application or approves it with conditions (a higher security deposit, a guarantor or a co-signer), the decision dialog asks whether a consumer report contributed to it. There is no default; the question has to be answered.

• Yes. Each person whose report was used gets a notice, emailed with a PDF attached and a link to view it online.
• No. No notice is sent and the applicant gets the ordinary decision email. The answer is recorded with the staff member's name and the time, along with the reasons.

The dialog won't send until the required details are filled in, such as the reasons and, when a report was relied on, the consumer reporting agency.

• Whether the application was denied, or approved on the listed conditions.
• The principal reasons for the decision.
• The name, address and toll-free number of the consumer reporting agency that supplied the report, and a statement that the agency didn't make the decision and can't give the specific reasons for it.
• A section on the applicant's rights that the notice itself sets out: getting a free copy of the report from the agency if requested within 60 days, and disputing its accuracy or completeness with the agency.
• When a credit score was used: the score, its range, the date it was created, its source and the key factors that adversely affected it.
• Who to contact at the organization with questions about the decision.

The notice's wording comes from a versioned template that's still awaiting attorney review. The notice text is the authoritative statement of what it says; this guide only summarizes it.

The applicant receives the notice by email with the PDF attached. The link in the email opens the same text online without an account, expires after a year, and is replaced if the notice is re-sent. A notice can't be edited once created; staff can download the stored PDF or resend it from the application. Each notice records the template version and a fingerprint of the text that was sent.

I'm an applicant and my link no longer works. It may have expired or been replaced by a newer copy. The PDF attached to the original email is your copy; contact the property manager who sent it for a new link.

Are prequalification decisions covered? No. Notices apply to rental application decisions, not the prequalification step.