Hi fellow LL,

I'm checking credit of a 55 years old applicant. Very high score at 751 but his credit only goes back to May 2022. Huh? He was not a 20 years old young pup. How could his credit be this short? Is it possible that he removed the entire credit prior 2022? This guy had a very well paid Wall street job in his younger years allowing him to retired around 35 years old. With the bad luck in his investments (according to him) and natural disaster (hurricane destroyed his house in Florida in 2022), he has to get back to work. He couldn't get his high paying job back because of the 20 year gap and bad economy. He's been working a retail low paying job in the last 6 months. I spent 30 min talking to the guy and I didn't think that he lied about his young glory years. I'm just curious about his super short credit report. What do you guys think?

Thank you everyone for your reply

NE[PA], I used the $25 credit check package of Mr Landlord. I think it's nationwide criminal history.

plenty[MO], Oh.. is talking too much a red flag?

NE[PA], agree that 30min is a long talk. Part of it is my false, I was drawn into his interesting world travel trip story. That's what he did after retiring early

plenty [MO], I think so

Hmmm... interesting one.

My first thought was also WITSEC?

If he was like 20 years old, I wouldn't blink - as long as there was no BAD credit.

Did you ask him?

Quite a while back, I did have a tenant who was about let 30's / maybe early 40's years old who had no credit. He told me ahead of time that's what I would find, because he just liked to operate with cash. He was a very good tenant.

I think your all possibly wrong here?

If the guy retired at 35 because he was well paid, it is also likely that he didn't use credit. If you don't use credit for so long, you don't have a credit score. Your credit history dissapears. Could this be the reason?

Get a copy of his last 4 months bank statements and see how he spends his money.

The only other thing it might be is if he gave you someone elses (youger, maybe son's) identity. Have you looked on FB and other social media for clues?

Thank you everyone for your reply

WMH [NC], thanks for confirming.

Jim In witness prote [CA], the guy travel the world for 10 years before settling down in Florida another 10 years. Still, his credit should go back 10 years while in Florida + credit before he turned 35 years old, not just 2 years. I guess I'll have ask him.

DJ [VA], I didn't ask him because I checked his credit after he left.

6x6 [TN], how about before he retired at 35 yo? Wouldn't he get loans buy cars or used credit cards? It's interesting that you mentioned about son's identity. He is the third (III). He's never married. He has a teenage newphew who is too young to have 2 years worth of credit. Yep, his situation changed 2 years ago when the hurricane destroyed his house. He only has 2 credit cards. One started 2 years ago and another started last month. Decent credit limit at $12,000. Highest balance $1100. Always paid ontime.

Just Tim [AR], how about his life before 35 yo? We have the consumer credit system more than 20 years.

I don’t know the price timeframe involved, but after using credit extensively for decades, I stopped borrowing. My FICO score was at zero.

I suppose that had I opened an account, that my credit history would only include that recent activity. FICO is a I love credit this much score.

First, witness protection almost always includes a new back history, including a credit history for at least 10 years if appropriate.

Second, having traveled a lot myself, it's almost impossible to travel outside the US without having a credit card. You can't even check into most hotels without one much less make the reservation. I guess if you had a tent and were backpacking across Europe maybe, but how did you make the airline reservation to get there?

Chicago LL, If you don't use any credit at all, as the years go buy, the old credit disappears, or at least that is the way I was told.

MikeA, he could have used debit cards.

Thank you everyone for your reply

Sisco [MO], Did your credit history disappear after you stop borrowing? If so, how long did it take to disappear?

Ken[NY], I knew someone would say that from my John Doe example :-)

MikeA[TX], you brought up a very good point. It's very difficult to travel the world without credit cards. Thanks for extra thing to check. I would just ditch him if I cannot verify everything. It's easy to find a tenant for this location.

ken[NY], do you mean that if there is no activity for 10 years, the credit report would be wiped clean? You didn't suggest that he was in prison for a long time (causing his credit history to disappear), did you?

plenty[MO], Yes I have a copy of his driver's license. How do I check multiple names against driver's license?

6x6[TN], how long would it take for credit history disappear after not using credits? Debit card has a lot less protections and no point earning. Would a smart ex-wallstreet employee not know that?

I don't really know how many years it would take for ones credit to disappear, but isn't it around 7 years when someone's bad credit is supposed to go away, if they start paying their bills on time?

I would think 20 years would definitely do it though.

However, with todays credit ridden way of life, It would be rare for a 35 year old to go debt free and live off cash at that age, but it could happen.

I would ask him for more details, if nothing else, for curiosity. Of coarse "they" say curiosity killed the kitty cat.

Curious about hurricane and credit history same time?

Check www bop. gov/inmateloc/ take spaces out, I found a guy with a vacant past like that. My husband gave him 20 minutes to get out, and he did. We were lucky he didn't wait and make us evict him. My bad for not knowing how to check that BEFORE instead of after.

6,

As a general rule debit cards didn't work in Europe until only the last few years. Even today you rarely can use it as a debit card outside of an ATM, sometimes it will work as a Visa/Mastercard and sometimes it won't. Twenty years ago they didn't work at all, the only real option was cash or credit cards (and some still used travelers checks). Most hotels in Europe won't let you check in until you give them a copy of your passport and a credit card which they place a hold on for damages. Too many people have simply left the country without paying the bill so they require the protection.

Back 40 years ago, it would be common for the husband to have all the accounts in his name and the wife would have nothing. That was the case when my grandfather passed. as a result, my grandmother had zero credit at age 66.

When my grandfather started getting sick. My grandmother started to worry about finances. She was touching 90 and had my cousin teach her how to write a check as she had never done it before.