The short answer
Texas apartments use a mix of screening companies, and each community picks its own. The ones you’ll run into often are TransUnion SmartMove, RealPage LeasingDesk and AppFolio. Some reports pull in Experian RentBureau rent payment data too.
We’re the No Credit Check Apartment Team, a licensed real estate team brokered by Spirit Real Estate Group, LLC (TREC #562021). Between us we have more than 20 years in real estate, working with property managers across Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Austin and San Antonio. We point renters with credit, eviction and record problems to communities whose criteria may fit them, and each property makes its own rental decision.
Screening platforms like TransUnion SmartMove score applicants with their own ResidentScore model. It’s built from credit report data, and TransUnion says it catches 15% more evictions than a typical credit score. LeasingDesk by RealPage works differently. It gives the property an accept, a conditional accept, or a deny, and it leans on your income and how you handled past leases.
Knowing these differences can save you application fees at places that were never going to say yes.
What that means for you
Each screening company pulls a different slice of your background. Credit, rental history and county court records all carry different weight depending on who runs the check.
A small issue can trigger an automatic denial at one property and barely matter at the next.
Before you apply, it helps to know which company the property uses and what that company checks. Experian RentBureau, for example, tracks how you've paid rent month to month. Large management companies and rent payment services report on time and late payments to it. That means a recent late rent payment can show up there even when it never went to collections.
The Three Things Screening Looks At
Most screening reports come down to these three areas, plus a criminal background check. We track how each property treats them.
- Credit Profiles: TransUnion SmartMove packages run $25 to $49. The $40 package adds your full credit report and eviction records to the criminal check.
- Rental History: Experian RentBureau data shows how you paid rent at past leases, on time or late. Your credit card debt isn’t in it.
- Court Records: Eviction history comes from court record searches. In 2017 the National Consumer Assistance Plan took civil judgments, eviction judgments included, off standard credit reports.
Texas Property Code Section 92.3515 says the property has to make its written screening criteria available when it gives you an application. That’s been the law since 2008. If they deny you and never made the criteria available, they owe you your application fee and any application deposit back.
How Texas communities handle it
Which of these companies you run into usually comes down to how big the owner is.
RealPage, based in Richardson, makes LeasingDesk, which many large corporate apartment communities use. NCAC isn't a screening company. It's a collection agency tied to First Advantage that reports unpaid apartment balances to the credit bureaus, so that debt can follow you.
How Each Screening Company Sees You
From what we see, smaller landlords tend to use AppFolio or SmartMove, which charge per applicant. State law plays a smaller role than people think. Texas House Bill 2127, passed in 2023, limits the rules cities can pass on topics state law already covers. It doesn't add any screening rules.
Here are three you’ll often run into, what each one looks at, and where you’ll usually see it.
| Screening Vendor | What It Focuses On | Who Usually Uses It |
|---|---|---|
| TransUnion SmartMove | Predicts eviction risk with its own ResidentScore | Independent landlords and small owners |
| LeasingDesk (RealPage) | Gives an accept, conditional, or deny result | Large corporate apartment communities |
| AppFolio | Screening built into its property management software | Smaller landlords and property managers |
For how our free search help works, see the homepage or the related guides below.
What to do next
If you’re trying to decide whether to apply somewhere, or you’re afraid of another rejection, start with each community’s actual rules.
We talk with Texas communities every day and keep track of their screening criteria, so we can point you to places worth a look.
That saves you application fees and extra credit pulls, since some screening companies pull credit as a hard inquiry. The referral is completely free to you. These communities pay us a referral fee out of their advertising budgets.
Send us your situation. We’ll usually reply the same day, and Texas communities whose criteria may fit it follow in 24 to 48 weekday hours.
Related reading: broken lease · eviction