When you run a credit screening in Aptly, the report provides a detailed snapshot of your applicant’s financial reliability using the FICO® Score 9 model. Understanding how this score works—and what certain results or error messages mean—can help you make more confident, informed decisions during the screening process.
How Credit Screening Works in Aptly
- In your applicant table, locate the Credit column.
- Click the credit icon for the applicant you want to screen.
- Toggle Credit Screening on.
- Typically, you’ll toggle on all desired reports (Credit, Criminal, Eviction) and click Run to process them together.
Reports are generally returned within 24 hours.
What Makes Aptly’s Credit Reports Different
Aptly’s credit screening uses the FICO® Score 9 model, which offers a fairer and more modern reflection of an applicant’s financial behavior.
Here’s what sets FICO 9 apart:
- Paid Collections Are Ignored – Collection accounts that have been fully paid are not factored into the score, meaning past debt that’s been resolved won’t negatively impact applicants.
- Medical Debt Has Less Weight – Unpaid medical collections carry significantly less impact than in older scoring models.
- Rental Payment History Is Included – When rental payments are reported, they’re incorporated into the applicant’s score. This gives renters credit for consistent, on-time housing payments—something older models often overlook.
Why this matters: FICO 9 tends to be a fairer reflection of your applicant’s true financial reliability, especially for renters and younger applicants building credit responsibly.
Minimum Requirements for a FICO Score
There are a few requirements for any one person to receive a FICO score. The credit report must have:
- At least 1 account opened for 6 months or more
- At least 1 account reported to the credit bureau within the past 6 months
- No indication of deceased on the credit report
You can find more details here: What are the minimum requirements for a FICO Score?
Understanding Returned Results
Once a credit report has been processed, you’ll see an average score for the household and a letter grade for each applicant.
Hovering over the grade will show you the credit band range for that score.
Want to know more about what goes into a credit score? Here’s an article from FICO that provides a breakdown of scoring. See: What’s in my FICO Score?
If your credit report returns an error or seems incomplete, here’s what it might mean:
🟡 No Record Found
You might see a message that says “No record found with the Social Security Number and name provided.”
This can happen for a couple of reasons:
- No Established Credit – The applicant has never opened a credit card, loan, or other account that reports to credit bureaus.
- Mismatched Information or Fraud – The applicant’s name or Social Security Number may not match what’s on record with the credit bureau.
What to do:
- Check the Identity Screening Report to verify the applicant’s personal details match their application.
- If everything looks accurate, reach out to the applicant to confirm their SSN and name are entered correctly in the application.
- Once confirmed, you can rerun the report (note that additional screening fees will apply).
⚪ Insufficient Credit History
If the credit report comes back blank or labeled as “Insufficient Credit,” this means the applicant does have a credit file, but it’s too limited to generate a full score.
This usually occurs when:
- Their credit accounts are newly opened.
- They have too few active accounts or recent transactions for scoring.
Viewing and Managing Credit Reports
Once the report is available:
- You’ll see the exact credit score within the report.
- Permissions can be customized so only certain team members have access to view these reports.
Summary
Scenario | What It Means | What You Can Do |
No Record Found | Applicant has no established credit or info mismatch | Check ID report, verify details, and rerun if needed |
Insufficient Credit | Applicant has limited or new credit | Consider additional screening factors |
Returned Credit Score | Credit report successfully generated | Review FICO 9 score and letter grade |
By understanding how the FICO® 9 model works and how to interpret potential errors, you can better assess applicants’ creditworthiness and ensure fair, informed screening decisions.