Frequently Asked Questions

Settl is a tenant pre-verification service. We help renters verify their identity, income, and employment before they apply. Then share a single shareable verification report with any landlord. Think of it as a Settl Verified Passport: instead of providing documents to every landlord individually, you verify once and share instantly.

You complete a short application: verify your government-issued ID with a live selfie check (DiDit KYC), then connect your bank account via Plaid to verify income and cash reserves. Settl Verified Passport ($99) also verifies your employment directly from your payroll provider. Paycheck confirmed, no paystubs needed. We generate your Settl Verified Passport and a shareable profile link. Give it to any landlord and they see your verified profile instantly, no documents required.

Settl is designed for renters who want to move faster and stand out in competitive markets. Especially freelancers, self-employed workers, gig-economy earners, recent graduates, and international renters who may have difficulty proving income through traditional pay stubs. It is also useful for anyone applying to multiple properties who does not want to submit the same documents over and over.

Yes. Settl is available to renters across the United States. We have local market guides for 40+ cities including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Seattle, Boston, Austin, Denver, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Phoenix, Washington DC, San Francisco, and many more.

The Settl Verified Passport is a portable tenant verification credential that includes 10 independently verified data layers: biometric identity (Didit KYC), bank-verified income ceiling (Plaid), employer + payroll + tenure (Argyle), rent payment history (Plaid), VantageScore 4.0 credit check (TransUnion soft pull, zero score impact), criminal background check (CIC national + county courts), 7-year eviction history (CIC), landlord references, debt-to-income ratio (tenant-controlled opt-in), and cash reserves (Plaid). Nothing is self-reported — every item is verified directly from the source.

The Settl Verified Passport includes a VantageScore 4.0 soft pull via TransUnion, with zero impact on your credit score. Your score is one input, not a gate: renters with thin credit or low scores can still be verified through bank-verified income, biometric identity, and employment. This makes Settl especially useful for recent graduates, international renters, and anyone rebuilding credit.

Settl Verified Passport and Settl Verified Passport reports are generally accepted by landlords as evidence of a strong rental profile. Landlords set their own thresholds. The Settl Verified Passport is a tool to support your application, not a hard pass/fail gate. Most landlords use it alongside (or instead of) a traditional credit check.

Your Settl Verified Passport is valid for 30 days from issue. In Colorado, landlords who accept Portable Tenant Screening Reports (PTSRs) under HB25-1236 are required by law to accept your Settl report. In other states, landlords may accept your report at their discretion — most do, because it is pulled directly from payroll, banks, and national courts. You can share it with as many landlords as you like during the 30-day period at no additional cost.

Yes. Bank-verifying your income via Plaid is the single most impactful step. It removes the self-reported income cap and is landlords' #1 trust signal. Ensure your employment details are accurate and your ID matches. Your verification updates automatically as new checks complete.

Income is verified through Plaid, a secure bank-linking service used by thousands of financial apps. You connect your bank account (checking account where your income is deposited) and Plaid reads your deposit history. We calculate a verified average monthly income from your actual deposits. No pay stubs required. Your bank credentials are never stored by Settl.

Identity is verified through DiDit, a KYC (Know Your Customer) identity verification platform. You photograph your government-issued ID (passport, driver's license, or state ID) and take a selfie. The system matches your face to your ID using AI-powered comparison. The whole process takes about two minutes.

We store your verified profile data (name, ID type, income verification status, employment) and your Settl verification. We do not store your bank login credentials, your full bank account number, or a copy of your ID photo after verification is complete. Full details are in our Privacy Policy.

Only landlords or property managers you explicitly share your profile link with can view your verified profile. Your link is not publicly indexed or discoverable. You can see who has viewed your profile and when.

Yes. Settl operates as a Consumer Reporting Agency (CRA) under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. §1681a(f)) because it assembles consumer information — including a TransUnion VantageScore 4.0 credit report, CIC criminal background check, and CIC eviction history — for use in rental housing decisions. This means you have full FCRA rights: the right to access your file, dispute inaccuracies, and receive adverse action notices if a landlord acts against you. See our Consumer Rights page for details.

Settl offers one paid plan: the Settl Verified Passport ($99). It includes biometric identity (Didit KYC), bank-verified income ceiling (Plaid), employer payroll verification (Argyle: ADP, Gusto, Uber, Workday, 350+ providers), rent payment history, VantageScore 4.0 soft pull credit check (zero score impact), criminal + eviction background check, and a tenant-controlled Debt-to-Income (DTI) ratio. Includes 30-day validity. Apply to any property during that window. For households and roommates, each member pays $99 — one code covers the whole group. After 30 days, renew for $39 instead of repurchasing. See our pricing page.

No. Landlords and property managers can view Settl verification profiles at no cost. They receive a verification code or link from the applicant and can instantly view the verified profile. No signup required.

If Settl fails to deliver your verified report due to a technical error on our end, contact [email protected] and we will make it right. See our how it works page for details.

No. The Settl fee is for the verification service itself. However, many renters find that having the Settl Verified Passport reduces or eliminates their need to pay additional application fees to individual landlords, since many landlords accept the Settl profile in lieu of a separate background check fee.

No. Settl is optional, not required. However, applicants with the Settl Verified Passport typically receive faster responses from landlords and have higher approval rates, particularly in competitive markets where landlords receive many applications for each unit.

After completing verification, you receive a unique profile URL and a 6-digit verification code. You can share either with a landlord. The URL opens a read-only view of your verified profile. The code lets them look you up directly at settlhome.com/verify.

Yes. Your Settl Verified Passport is valid for 30 days and can be shared with unlimited landlords during that period. You never need to re-verify for each property. Just share your link or verification code. In Colorado (HB25-1236), landlords are legally required to accept it. In all other states, acceptance is at landlord discretion.

Settl is specifically designed for non-traditional income earners. Since we verify income directly from bank deposits rather than pay stubs, gig workers, freelancers, 1099 contractors, and self-employed applicants can document their income just as effectively as W-2 employees. Learn more in our guide for self-employed renters.

Yes. Settl is built for renters without US credit history. Biometric identity verification works with a passport (no SSN required for that step). If you have an SSN, the soft pull credit check is included, but a thin file or no score is noted rather than penalized. International students, visa holders, and recent arrivals can all use Settl to demonstrate verified identity and income.

The Settl Verified Passport strengthens your application but does not guarantee approval. Landlords make final decisions based on their own criteria. If you are denied housing based in whole or in part on your Settl report, the landlord is required under FCRA §615 (15 U.S.C. §1681m) to provide you an adverse action notice identifying Settl as the source of the consumer report. You then have the right to dispute any inaccurate information in your report at no cost. Our guide on application denials walks through your next steps.

Credit scores measure how well someone managed debt over the past 7 years. Credit cards, auto loans, student loans. They do not measure whether someone has money in their account today, whether they've paid rent on time, or whether their income is real. Settl measures what actually predicts rent payment: verified bank balance, bank-confirmed income, and 12 months of transaction history. This is more accurate and more fair.

Yes. Settl includes a soft pull credit check (zero score impact), but a low credit score is not a disqualifier. Your verified bank income, cash reserves, and biometric identity carry significant weight. A difficult financial past does not override strong income and savings today.

If you have no US credit score, Settl's credit layer will note that, but it does not block verification. Your bank income, biometric identity, and employment history are weighted more heavily. Settl works especially well for international renters, recent graduates, and anyone with a thin credit file.

SSN is used internally for the soft pull credit check (TransUnion VantageScore 4.0) but is never shared with landlords. Identity verification itself uses a government-issued photo ID and a biometric selfie. The credit pull is a soft inquiry, with zero impact on your credit score.

No. Never. When you connect your bank via Plaid, Settl reads your income data and generates your verification. Your landlord receives only the verification result and high-level signals (like their verified rent ceiling). They never see your account numbers, transaction history, exact income, or any raw financial data. Your bank details stay completely private.

Every Settl report includes four core verified items: (1) VantageScore 4.0 credit report tier from TransUnion (soft pull, zero score impact); (2) criminal background check result from CIC (national + county courts); (3) eviction history from CIC (7-year FCRA lookback); and (4) biometric identity verification (DiDit KYC). Beyond those four, landlords also see your verified rent ceiling (e.g. Verified for rent up to $1,600/mo), cash reserves shown as months of rent covered, and employment confirmation. They do not see your bank account, exact income figure, transaction history, account numbers, or SSN. You control which supplemental fields are visible from your Manage dashboard, but the four core report fields — credit, criminal background, eviction history, and identity — are always included in every report.

Yes. Free AI tools can generate a convincing fake pay stub in about 30 seconds. The same is true for bank statements (editable PDFs) and W-2s. Settl's protection is simple: we accept zero documents. Income data flows directly from your bank via Plaid's read-only API. There is no document in the pipeline that could be faked. The data comes straight from Chase, Wells Fargo, or whichever institution holds your account.

No. Landlords can view any tenant's Settl profile using the link or 6-digit verification code the tenant provides. No account required. Landlords who want to request Settl verification from applicants proactively can create a free landlord account at settlhome.com/landlord.

A landlord views the tenant's verified name, identity verification status, income verification status (shown as a verified rent ceiling), and Settl Verified Passport. When Plaid cashflow data is available, they also see verified cash reserves (displayed as month coverage, not exact dollar amounts), rent payment history detected from bank transactions, and confidence signals. They do not see raw bank data, account numbers, or detailed transaction history.

Settl is designed to complement. Not fully replace. Existing screening. It provides verified identity and income documentation instantly. Landlords may still choose to run their own background checks, but Settl's bank-direct verification eliminates the document fraud risk that traditional screening cannot address.

84% of rental fraud involves fabricated income documents. AI tools make fake pay stubs trivial to generate. No technical skill required. PDF editors make bank statement manipulation easy. Settl bypasses all documents by connecting directly to the tenant's bank via Plaid. The income and balance data flows directly from the bank's servers. It cannot be forged.

Only if the Plaid connection is established and the data is available. First-time renters, recent movers, and tenants who pay rent via Venmo or Zelle may not have rent history detected. In these cases, the cashflow badge simply does not appear. Absence is neutral, not negative. The Settl Verified Passport already reflects verified income and identity.