Published 2026-09-27 · 10 min read

TransUnion SmartMove Review 2026: Tenant Screening for Landlords

TransUnion SmartMove is one of the most recognized names in tenant screening — it's the screening product made directly by one of the three major credit bureaus. For independent landlords who don't want to adopt a full property management platform, it promises comprehensive reports, fast turnaround, and the credibility of the TransUnion brand. But is it actually the best way to screen tenants in 2026? Here's an honest, landlord-focused breakdown.

Our take: the short version

SmartMove is the best standalone screening service for landlords who want TransUnion's brand behind their reports without committing to a full property management platform. You get credit, criminal, and eviction data pulled by the bureau itself, reports in minutes, and the choice of having the applicant or the landlord pay. The tradeoffs: it costs more than bundled platform options, and it's screening-only — no listings, leases, or rent collection.

If that sounds like what you need, SmartMove is a solid choice for occasional, one-at-a-time screening.

What SmartMove actually is

SmartMove is TransUnion's direct-to-landlord tenant screening product. Unlike third-party screening companies that buy data from various sources, SmartMove is built and run by the credit bureau itself — the reports pull directly from TransUnion's consumer databases. That matters for two reasons: the credit data is first-party (no middleman), and the brand carries weight if an applicant ever questions where their data went.

The workflow is simple and fully online:

1. You create a SmartMove account as a landlord — no monthly subscription, you pay per report (or the applicant does).

2. You invite the applicant by email to complete their portion. They enter their personal information and consent to the screening themselves.

3. The applicant's identity is verified, and the reports are generated — usually within minutes.

4. You review the credit report, criminal background check, and eviction history in a landlord-friendly dashboard, along with a leasing recommendation.

One important detail: because the applicant enters their own sensitive information (including Social Security number) directly into SmartMove's system, you never have to collect or store SSNs yourself. That's a meaningful security and liability win for small landlords who don't want to be in the business of safeguarding applicant identity documents.

For a broader refresher on how screening fits into your leasing process, see our guide on how to screen tenants.

SmartMove features: what's actually in the reports

SmartMove bundles three core report components, plus a few landlord-friendly extras.

Credit report. SmartMove pulls the applicant's TransUnion credit report, including payment history, account balances, delinquencies, collections, and credit utilization. You see the data behind the score, not just a number — which matters, because a 680 score with two old medical collections tells a different story than a 680 with a recent eviction-related judgment.

Criminal background check. SmartMove searches national and state criminal records databases for felonies and misdemeanors, sex offender registries, and most-wanted lists. Like all automated criminal searches, coverage varies by jurisdiction — some counties don't digitize records, and no instant service covers every courthouse in America. SmartMove is upfront about this limitation, and you should apply consistent, documented criteria to whatever results you get.

Eviction history. This is arguably the most predictive data point a landlord can look at — prior evictions are the strongest statistical signal of future rental problems. SmartMove includes eviction-related court records in its reports. If you want to go deeper on why this matters, our breakdown of tenant screening red flags explains how to weigh eviction history against other factors.

Leasing recommendation (ResidentScore). SmartMove's reports include a recommendation — typically "Accept," "Accept with Conditions," or "Decline" — based on TransUnion's proprietary ResidentScore model. This is a starting point, not a decision. The recommendation doesn't know your rental criteria, your property, or your risk tolerance. Use it as a data point, never as the whole decision.

Income Insights. SmartMove's higher tiers include an income verification feature that compares the applicant's stated income against TransUnion's income data. It's not as rigorous as collecting pay stubs or calling an employer, but it's a useful first-pass filter for catching wildly inflated income claims.

SmartMove pricing: the three tiers

SmartMove sells screening per report, with three tiers. You can choose to pay yourself or have the applicant pay — and in most markets, applicant-paid is the norm. (Pricing below reflects recent published rates; screening prices change periodically, so confirm at checkout before you commit.)

Basic. The entry tier, typically around $25 per report. Includes the TransUnion credit report with ResidentScore, criminal background check, and eviction history. For many landlords, this is enough: it covers the three pillars of screening at a price point comparable to what applicants pay for other services.

Plus. The middle tier, typically around $40 per report. Adds Income Insights (income verification) and a fuller criminal record search on top of everything in Basic. Worth it when income verification matters — higher-rent units, self-employed applicants, or markets where income fraud is common.

Full Credit Report. The top tier, also typically around $40 per report. Includes the complete TransUnion credit report with full account-level detail, plus the criminal and eviction checks. This is the tier for landlords who want to see everything — every tradeline, every inquiry, every public record — before making a decision on a high-stakes tenancy.

Who pays? With SmartMove you can select applicant-paid or landlord-paid per screening. Applicant-paid keeps your costs at zero and is standard in competitive markets; landlord-paid makes sense when you want to remove friction for applicants or you're screening at volume. For a full breakdown of screening economics, see our tenant screening cost guide.

SmartMove vs. the alternatives

SmartMove doesn't exist in a vacuum. Here's how it stacks up against the other ways independent landlords screen tenants.

SmartMove vs. Avail. Avail bundles TransUnion credit, criminal, and eviction screening into its free landlord platform — the applicant pays, and you pay nothing for the software. If you're willing to run applications (and possibly leases and rent collection) through Avail, it's essentially the same TransUnion data with a broader toolset around it for free. SmartMove wins only if you specifically don't want a platform relationship — you want reports, and nothing else. Our full Avail review covers the platform side in detail.

SmartMove vs. RentPrep. RentPrep's differentiator is human verification: trained screeners manually review reports for accuracy and will explain borderline files to you. SmartMove is fully automated — faster and cheaper per report, but you're interpreting the data yourself. If you're screening straightforward applicants, SmartMove's speed is an advantage. If you routinely deal with thin files, name mismatches, or applicants with complicated histories, RentPrep's human layer earns its premium. See our RentPrep review for the full comparison.

SmartMove vs. TurboTenant. TurboTenant's screening is bundled into its application flow with applicant-paid pricing — convenient if you're already listing through them, but it's a platform play like Avail. SmartMove is the better fit when you source applicants yourself (Craigslist, yard sign, referrals) and just need reports on demand. Our TurboTenant review has more on their screening workflow.

SmartMove vs. Innago. Innago offers free property management software with screening built in, similar in spirit to Avail's bundle. Same logic applies: if you want the platform, use the platform's screening; if you want standalone reports, SmartMove. Read our Innago review for details.

SmartMove vs. MyRental (CoreLogic). MyRental is a per-report screening service from CoreLogic, another major data company. It's a legitimate alternative with similar report components, but it lacks the consumer-facing brand recognition SmartMove carries — applicants tend to trust a TransUnion product more readily, which can reduce friction when you ask them to submit personal information.

SmartMove vs. Zillow / Apartments.com applications. Zillow and Apartments.com let applicants submit one application (with a bundled screening report) to multiple landlords. That's convenient for applicants but awkward for you: you get whatever report the applicant chose to share, you can't control the report's scope or recency, and you have no direct relationship with the screening provider. Many experienced landlords accept these reports as a supplement but run their own SmartMove screening before signing a lease — it's your lease, your criteria, your verification.

For a head-to-head of all the major services, see our tenant screening services comparison and our ranking of the best tenant screening services.

FCRA compliance: what SmartMove doesn't do for you

Here's the part some landlords miss: SmartMove generates reports, but FCRA compliance is entirely your job. The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires that when you take adverse action — denying an application, requiring a larger deposit, adding conditions — based on information in a consumer report, you must send the applicant an adverse action notice. That notice must name the screening company (in this case, TransUnion/SmartMove), give its contact information, and inform the applicant of their right to a free copy of the report and to dispute inaccuracies.

SmartMove's "Decline" recommendation does not satisfy this requirement. The recommendation is TransUnion's opinion; the adverse action is yours, and the law attaches to your decision. If you deny based on the report and skip the notice, you've violated federal law regardless of what SmartMove's dashboard suggested.

The other FCRA pillars apply as usual:

• Written consent first. You need the applicant's permission before running a report. SmartMove handles this by having the applicant complete their own portion and consent in-app — one of the service's genuine conveniences — but the consent must be real and documented.
• Identical criteria for everyone. Screen every adult occupant, every time, with the same written standards. SmartMove's instant turnaround makes "we just ran one on the husband" inexcusable — there's no logistical reason to skip anyone.
• State and local overlays. Some jurisdictions restrict criminal-history lookback periods, ban credit checks for rental decisions, or require specific disclosure language. SmartMove doesn't filter for your local rules. Check them yourself.

For templates and step-by-step instructions, see our adverse action notice guide.

SmartMove pros and cons

Pros

• First-party TransUnion data — no middleman between you and the bureau.
• Fast: reports typically return in minutes, not hours or days.
• Applicant enters their own SSN and personal data — you never handle sensitive identity documents.
• Applicant-paid option keeps your screening cost at zero.
• Recognizable brand that applicants trust with their information.
• No subscription or platform commitment — true pay-per-report screening.
• Income Insights tier adds a useful first-pass income check.

Cons

• Per-report cost is higher than bundled platform screening (Avail, Innago) where the software itself is free.
• Screening-only: no listings, applications management, leases, or rent collection.
• Fully automated — no human reviewer to sanity-check odd results or explain borderline reports.
• Criminal record coverage has the same jurisdictional gaps as every instant database search.
• The leasing recommendation can create a false sense of certainty; it's a model output, not underwriting.

Who SmartMove is best for

SmartMove fits best in a few specific situations:

• Landlords with one to a few units who screen occasionally and don't want to learn a whole platform. You need three reports a year, not a software ecosystem.
• Landlords who self-source applicants — yard signs, referrals, local Facebook groups — and just need reliable reports on demand.
• Landlords who prioritize brand trust, especially when asking applicants to submit sensitive personal data to a third party.
• Landlords in competitive markets where minutes matter: applicant-paid, instant reports, no back-and-forth.

It's a weaker fit if you want human-verified reports on complicated files (consider RentPrep), if you want screening bundled into free management software (consider Avail or Innago), or if you're screening at high volume where per-report costs add up fast.

One more scenario worth calling out: applicants with no credit history. SmartMove's credit-centric model returns thin results on unscored applicants — students, recent immigrants, young renters. That doesn't mean they're bad tenants; it means you need alternative verification. Our guide to screening tenants with no credit history covers how to handle those files fairly and legally.

How to get the most out of SmartMove

Write your criteria before you screen. Decide your minimum standards — income multiple, credit score floor, eviction policy, criminal history policy — in writing, before the first report comes back. SmartMove makes it dangerously easy to run a report in two minutes and then improvise a decision. The landlords who get in trouble are the ones who decide after seeing the data.

Always pair reports with reference checks. A clean SmartMove report tells you about finances and court records; it tells you nothing about how the applicant actually behaved as a tenant. Call prior landlords. Our tenant reference check guide has the questions that actually reveal problems.

Use Income Insights, but verify. If an applicant's stated income doesn't survive the Income Insights check, that's a flag — not a verdict. Self-employed applicants and tipped workers routinely look worse in automated income data than they are. Ask for documentation before concluding anything.

Document everything. Save the report, your criteria, your notes, and your adverse action notices (when applicable) for every applicant. If a fair housing complaint ever arises, your paper trail is your defense. See our fair housing guide for landlords for what consistent, defensible screening looks like.

The bottom line

TransUnion SmartMove is a strong, honest product: first-party bureau data, fast turnaround, applicant-paid options, and no platform lock-in. For the independent landlord who needs reliable screening a few times a year without adopting new software, it's one of the best standalone options available in 2026. Its weaknesses — per-report cost, no human review, screening-only scope — are real but manageable if you know what you're buying.

The landlords who get burned by screening services aren't burned by the reports; they're burned by skipping steps around the reports — no written criteria, no reference checks, no adverse action notices. SmartMove gives you good data fast. What you do with it is still on you.

Compare more landlord software

• Landlord software compared: all reviews & comparisons
• SmartMove vs RentPrep (2026): Which Tenant Screening Service Wins for Landlords
• TransUnion SmartMove vs Avail Tenant Screening (2026): Price, Reports & Portfolio Fit for Landlords
• SmartMove vs Avail Screening (2026): Which Tenant Screening Wins?

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