Generally, when it comes to renting you need a ‘good’ credit score in order to be able to secure a lease on a property or convince a landlord you’re a good candidate. While credit scores can vary depending on what reporting service you use, they will generally put you in roughly the same ballpark and will determine this based on a variety of factors from your employment situation to previous debts, credit history, missed payments, defaults, repossessions, and successful payments or completed debts. It's not an exact science by any means, but the repercussions can be huge and have very real consequences for your opportunities in life. There are some occasions where you may be approved with poor credit or refused with good credit, and there are no concrete rules to these processes, however, there are certain ranges to be aware of. These are; Poor Credit - 300 - 579 Fair Credit - 580 - 669 Good Credit - 670 - 739 Very Good - 740 - 799 Exceptional - 800 - 850 Typically, most landlords and rentals will require a minimum credit rating of 650, which would mean you have a fair to good credit score and are considered a relatively safe and reliable person with which to go into business, however, this can vary depending on the location, the apartment, the landlord and agency as well as market demands and how desirable renting is in a certain area. There is a range of services available to get a credit score, however, some landlords will want to use their own service to be sure you meet their specifications so you may not be able to get an exact idea of whether you meet their requirements until you’ve taken the particular credit check they want you to take.