Lane Company Contracts to Share Payment Histories with RentBureau

By Teresa O’Dea Hein, Managing EditorAtlanta — RentBureau, the first national online system providing apartment owners and managers with current rental payment histories of apartment residents and applicants, has contracted with Lane Company, also headquartered in Atlanta, to include information from Lane’s approximately 26,000 units in more than 10 states in its National Rental Data Exchange (NRDE) database, reports Eric Hartz (pictured far right), RentBureau CEO and president. As a participating RentBureau member, Lane Company will have access to RentBureau’s NRDE database to integrate into its existing resident screening software and procedures.Dan Haefner (pictured near right), acting president and CIO of Lane, tells MHN, “While some data may overlap with our existing system, this does fill a niche with more real time information. Since RentBureau is agnostic to the owners, it also should be able to accumulate as much data as possible,” Haefner says. “And anything I can do to try to catch one more person who could create economic or property havoc, it can save a substantial amount of money.”            RentBureau’s database currently contains more than three million rental payment records provided by multifamily property owners and managers nationwide. RentBureau’s system allows data from its NRDE database to be incorporated into an existing screening or credit reporting process for the purpose of identifying applicants with positive rental histories or, conversely, applicants who have skipped on their rent or otherwise owe money to their previous landlords.“We recognize that good renters can sometimes be overlooked or rejected when applying for credit,” Haefner notes. “By aligning with RentBureau, Lane Company is not only protecting its properties from risky renters, but also identifying good renters who may not otherwise have credit histories.”    “Anytime we can add another member company to our database it extends our reach farther to help the apartment industry do a better job on identifying both risky and strong renters,” Hartz tells MHN. “The addition of a company of Lane’s stature also sends a strong message,” he adds.