Hi I had to do a DRO on 9th March 2018, discharged/satisfied 9th March 2019. I need to leave my current rental and now I'm hitting a wall with renting a new property. They ask if you have any 'adverse credit' in the initial enquiry phonecall, and I reply honestly, but the last letting agent just said that as my DRO was for 10.5k and it will show on my credit history when they credit check me, that they couldn't even consider me. They would consider me if my debt was under 10k with a home owner Guarantor, but she said my current record would void the Landlords insurance! Does this seem correct?
I've just credit checked myself, I scored 272 out of 500 indicative of a medium risk tenant (Equifax credit score 518 out of 100 considered Fair) Everything on credit report is fine except for a last box that shows my DRO as satisfied on 09-03-2019 - they recommendation is 'Medium Risk, Should be a suitable Tenant'
I should add that I have never defaulted on rent payments, my debt was due to having store cards, then getting very sick and not being able to pay.
Should I declare my DRO before referencing or just see if it picks it up on credit scoring, I know it should drop off my record next year but I need to move now unfortunately. Is it true that letting to a tenant with adverse credit history affects the Landlords insurance? I don't have a Guarantor, but do you think it would help if I offered 6 months rent in advance?
Thank you for any help