TransUnion SmartMove: What It Is and How It Works

Quick Answer: TransUnion SmartMove is an online tenant screening tool that pulls a prospective renter’s credit, criminal, and eviction records, often within minutes of the applicant authorizing the check. It can include ResidentScore, a credit model built specifically to predict rental outcomes rather than general creditworthiness. Landlords can run SmartMove as a standalone tool directly through TransUnion, or get the same TransUnion-powered screening built into an all-in-one platform like RentRedi, where it’s connected to the rest of your rental workflow instead of living in a separate login.

Table of Contents

1. What Is TransUnion SmartMove?
2. How TransUnion SmartMove Screening Works
3. What’s in a SmartMove Report
4. What TransUnion SmartMove Costs
5. Standalone SmartMove vs. Screening Built Into Your Rental Software
6. Common Screening Mistakes to Avoid
7. A Landlord’s Screening Process, Start to Finish
8. FAQ
9. Next Steps

What Is TransUnion SmartMove?

TransUnion SmartMove is TransUnion’s online tenant screening product. It gives landlords a way to request a prospective tenant’s credit, criminal, and eviction history without running a traditional hard credit pull themselves. The applicant authorizes the check, TransUnion handles the data pull, and the landlord gets a report built specifically for rental decisions.

That last part matters more than it sounds. A standard credit report tells you how someone handles debt in general. SmartMove’s reports can include ResidentScore, a scoring model TransUnion built specifically to predict whether an applicant is likely to pay rent on time and avoid eviction. It runs on a 350-850 scale, and landlords typically treat a score above 600 as lower risk and a score under 520 as higher risk, though every landlord sets their own cutoff based on their local market and risk tolerance.

SmartMove isn’t tied to one property management platform. TransUnion licenses the same underlying screening technology to independent landlords who use it directly through TransUnion’s own SmartMove site, and to software platforms that build it into their own tenant application flow. RentRedi is one of those platforms. When you screen a tenant through RentRedi’s tenant screening, you’re pulling from the same TransUnion data and ResidentScore model, just inside the same dashboard where you’re already handling the application, lease, and rent collection.

How TransUnion SmartMove Screening Works

The workflow is the same whether you’re running SmartMove on its own or through a platform that has it built in:

1. You invite the applicant. The landlord sends a screening request tied to a specific unit and applicant.
2. The applicant authorizes the check. SmartMove requires the renter’s consent before pulling any data. This isn’t optional. It’s what keeps the process FCRA-compliant.
3. The applicant verifies their identity. This usually takes a few minutes and may involve answering security questions tied to their credit history. If the automated verification doesn’t go through, TransUnion offers a manual phone verification as a backup.
4. TransUnion generates the report. Once identity is confirmed, the credit, criminal, and eviction data pulls automatically. Reports are often ready within minutes, though occasional delays happen if a manual review is triggered.
5. The landlord reviews the results. You get the full report, plus ResidentScore if it’s included, to weigh against your own screening criteria.

Because it’s the applicant’s information being pulled under their own authorization, SmartMove checks are a soft inquiry. They don’t affect the applicant’s credit score, which is worth telling prospective tenants upfront since it’s a common hesitation point during the application process.

What’s in a SmartMove Report

A full SmartMove screening report typically covers:

• Credit report and ResidentScore – full credit history plus the rental-specific risk score, where available
• Criminal background check – pulled from national and state-level databases
• Eviction history – court records showing prior eviction filings, not just completed evictions
• Income and identity verification – confirming the applicant is who they say they are and can support the rent (some integrations, including RentRedi’s, add Plaid-verified income and assets as a separate add-on rather than bundling it into the base report)

What you don’t automatically get is a recommendation. SmartMove reports hand you the data. Deciding what counts as a red flag, and applying that standard consistently across every applicant, is still on the landlord. That consistency matters for fair housing compliance: reviewing criminal history against a blanket “no criminal record” rule, rather than the nature and recency of the offense, can run into HUD’s guidance on the use of criminal records in housing decisions. If you’re screening tenants regularly, it’s worth having a written screening standard you apply the same way every time, not just a gut-check per applicant.

Screening consistently also shows up in the numbers. RentRedi’s own platform data, tracked from January 2020 through August 2024, found that tenants who went through screening paid rent 17 days faster on average than tenants who weren’t screened, and units with a screened tenant hit on-time payment rates around 90%, about 7 percentage points higher than units without screening. A report is only worth as much as the decision you make with it, but skipping the step entirely has a measurable cost on the other end.

What TransUnion SmartMove Costs

Pricing depends on whether you’re running SmartMove directly through TransUnion or through a platform that has it built in, and most platforms structure the fee as tenant-paid rather than a landlord cost.

Through RentRedi, for example, screening functionality comes included on every plan. The report itself is a pass-through fee the applicant pays when they apply: $39.99 for the TransUnion credit, criminal, and eviction report, or $49.99 if they add Plaid income and asset verification. The landlord doesn’t pay per screening. For the full step-by-step on requesting one, see how to use TransUnion rental screening through RentRedi.

If you’re running SmartMove as a standalone tool outside of any rental software, TransUnion’s own pricing may differ, so check their site for current standalone rates before comparing the two paths dollar for dollar.

Standalone SmartMove vs. Screening Built Into Your Rental Software

This is the real decision most landlords researching SmartMove are actually making: run it as its own tool, or get the same screening data through a platform that also handles the rest of the rental?

Standalone SmartMove makes sense if screening is the only piece of your process you want to automate, and you’re comfortable managing the application, lease, and rent collection separately, in your own spreadsheets or a different tool. You get the report. That’s the whole job.

Screening built into an all-in-one platform changes what happens on either side of that report. In RentRedi, a screening request connects to the same application the tenant already filled out, and once you approve them, that same tenant profile carries into the lease, the move-in date, and the first rent charge. Auto-screening can also be turned on per property, so every applicant to that unit gets screened automatically the moment they apply, instead of you remembering to request it each time.

The practical difference shows up during a busy leasing season. If you’re filling three units in the same month, a standalone screening tool means three separate report pulls that you then have to manually match back to three separate applications, leases, and move-in checklists. With screening built into the platform you’re already using for the application and lease, that matching happens on its own.

Neither path changes what’s in the report; it’s the same TransUnion data and ResidentScore model either way. The difference is what happens to that data after you read it, and whether you’re the one stitching the process together or the platform is.

Common Screening Mistakes to Avoid

• Skipping a written screening standard. Deciding case by case what counts as disqualifying invites both inconsistent decisions and fair housing risk. Set your criteria (minimum ResidentScore, eviction lookback period, income-to-rent ratio) before you screen your first applicant, and apply it the same way every time.
• Treating any criminal record as an automatic denial. HUD guidance flags blanket criminal-history bans as a potential fair housing issue. Evaluate the nature, severity, and recency of the offense against a documented policy instead.
• Screening after you’ve already verbally agreed to rent to someone. This creates pressure to approve regardless of what the report shows. Screen before any commitment, verbal or otherwise.
• Forgetting the data access window. Screening data doesn’t stay accessible indefinitely. Through RentRedi, a report is available for 60 days after it generates; standalone SmartMove access windows can differ, so check the terms on whichever path you’re using. If you’re revisiting an old applicant later in the season, they may need to be re-screened rather than pulling up the original report.
• Not telling applicants it’s a soft inquiry. Some renters hesitate to apply because they assume screening will ding their credit. It won’t, and saying so upfront can reduce application drop-off.

A Landlord’s Screening Process, Start to Finish

Consider a landlord like Priya, who manages four single-family rentals in Ohio, a common setup among independent landlords, not a specific customer. When a unit comes open, she posts the listing and turns on auto-screening for that property before the first application comes in.

Her first applicant applies on a Friday evening. The screening request goes out automatically, the applicant authorizes and verifies within the app, and by Saturday morning Priya has a full report with ResidentScore sitting alongside the rest of the application, no separate login or manual request required. She checks the score against the minimum she set for all her units, reviews the eviction history section, and moves to a lease within the same conversation thread she used for the application. What used to take her most of a weekend, chasing a screening company’s portal separately from her rental spreadsheet, now happens inside one process.

FAQ

Is TransUnion SmartMove the same thing as RentRedi’s tenant screening?

RentRedi’s screening runs on TransUnion’s data and ResidentScore model, the same underlying technology behind standalone SmartMove. The difference isn’t the data, it’s that RentRedi connects the screening request directly to the tenant’s existing application and lease, so nothing has to be manually matched between separate tools.

How much does a TransUnion SmartMove report cost?

Through RentRedi, a full credit, criminal, and eviction report costs $39.99, or $49.99 with Plaid income and asset verification added. This is a tenant-paid fee, not a cost added to the landlord’s subscription. Standalone SmartMove pricing outside a rental platform may differ, so check TransUnion’s own site for current rates.

How long does a SmartMove screening take?

Most reports generate within minutes of the applicant completing identity verification. Occasional delays happen if TransUnion’s system flags the application for manual phone verification, which typically adds same-day turnaround rather than days.

Does SmartMove screening affect the applicant’s credit score?

No. Because the applicant authorizes the check themselves, it’s processed as a soft inquiry, which doesn’t impact their credit score the way a hard pull would.

What’s included in a ResidentScore, and how is it different from a regular credit score?

ResidentScore runs on the same 350-850 scale as many credit scores, but it’s built specifically to predict rental outcomes like on-time payment and eviction risk, rather than general creditworthiness. A landlord can use it alongside the credit, criminal, and eviction sections of the report rather than as a replacement for reviewing the full file.

Can I re-run a screening report after the data window closes?

Through RentRedi, report data is generally accessible for 60 days after it’s generated; check the current terms if you’re running standalone SmartMove instead, since that window can differ by product. After the window closes, you’d need to request a new screening rather than pulling up the old one, which typically means a new report fee applies.

Do I need a property management platform to use TransUnion SmartMove?

No. TransUnion offers SmartMove as a standalone product landlords can use on its own. Platforms like RentRedi build the same TransUnion screening into a broader workflow, which is worth considering if you’re also managing applications, leases, and rent collection and want those steps connected rather than separate.

Conclusion

TransUnion SmartMove gives landlords a fast, consent-based way to pull the credit, criminal, and eviction data that actually predicts rental outcomes, not just general creditworthiness. Whether you run it standalone or through a platform that has it built in, the report itself is the same. What changes is everything that happens before and after that report: how the request gets triggered, and how the result connects to your next step with that applicant.

Next steps

1. Set a written screening standard (minimum ResidentScore, eviction lookback, income ratio) before your next applicant comes in, so every review is consistent.
2. Decide whether standalone screening or a connected workflow fits how many units you’re actively filling right now.
3. If you’re managing the application, lease, and rent collection separately from screening today, see what changes when they’re in one place.

Ready to screen your next applicant without leaving your rental workflow? See how RentRedi’s TransUnion-powered screening works.