Renting an apt after Bankruptcy

[so-beyond-broke]

Hello

Has anyone here been successful in renting an apt after a bankruptcy?

I got my discharge from a Ch 7 in July 2006. I am looking to move and to do so I need to fill out applications. Now none of them say on the application about your BK, but once they run the credit report it will pop up. My scores as of March were 631/627/631 and increasing. They were all in the mid 500's a year ago.

So before forking over money for a credit check, should I just ask if they accept BK'ed people? If I mention it too soon then the person with the apt will probably treat me like I have the plague. I am searching on craigslist for a place, so I ask questions like what would disqualify a potential tenant rather than discuss my BK.

Any suggestions on how to approach the subject? I saw a place I really liked and I paid a $30 application fee so I am waiting. When I asked the management office about how they "weed out" applicants, I was told they look at the applications first. If it appears strong then they will run the credit check. The only thing I was told would be a disqualifying factor would be "insufficient income." There was no discussion about good/bad credit so I didn't mention it. I just don't want to shell out any more money on fees if I don't have to.

Thanks

[HHM]

Granted, this is only anecdotal, but no one on this forum has reported any problems renting an apt. after BK.

Frankly, landlords are really only looking at the public records section of your CR to see if you have any evictions and to see if there is anything out of the ordinary (i.e. mismatched residence history, etc). From a landlords perspective, so long as you have sufficient income to pay the rent (which usually needs to be proved with paystubs or a tax return), they don't really care about your BK.

Strictly speaking, granting an apartment lease is NOT an extension of credit, so in a general sense, your credit worthiness is irrelevant.