TransUnion SmartMove Review 2026: What Landlords Actually Get for $25 to $49

Published June 24, 2026. By Nam Nguyen, Namhaha Media.

Disclosure: this article contains affiliate links. If you screen a tenant through them, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Pricing below was pulled directly from mysmartmove.com and verified in August 2026.

TransUnion SmartMove is a pay-per-report tenant screening service that sends the credit, criminal and eviction reports straight to a landlord without the landlord ever touching the applicant’s Social Security number. It costs $25 for SmartCheck Basic, $40 for SmartCheck Plus and $49 for SmartCheck Premium, plus tax, with no membership and no minimum volume. For a landlord filling one to ten units a year, that structure is the entire argument in its favor.

Key takeaways

• Three packages: Basic $25 (ResidentScore plus criminal), Plus $40 (adds full credit report and eviction records), Premium $49 (adds Income Insights and Identity Check).
• The applicant, not the landlord, enters the SSN and passes identity verification. That single design choice removes most of the data-liability risk a small landlord carries.
• ResidentScore runs 350 to 850 and is built on rental outcomes, not lending outcomes. TransUnion says it predicts eviction risk 15% better than a traditional credit score.
• Weakest points: no built-in employment calls, no lease or rent collection tools, and the applicant has to actually complete the verification step before anything arrives.
• Best fit: independent landlords with one to twenty units who want bank-grade data without a monthly subscription.

What is TransUnion SmartMove?

TransUnion SmartMove is TransUnion’s direct-to-landlord tenant screening product, meaning the reports come from one of the three national credit bureaus rather than from a reseller that buys data wholesale. A landlord enters the property, picks a package, and enters the applicant’s email address. The applicant then creates their own SmartMove account, answers a series of out-of-wallet identity questions, and consents to the screening. Only after that consent do reports appear in the landlord’s dashboard, and most arrive the same day.

That flow matters more than it sounds. Most screening tools ask the landlord to type in the applicant’s full SSN and date of birth, which means the landlord is now storing a stranger’s identity data on a laptop in a kitchen. SmartMove pushes that step onto the applicant and TransUnion. The landlord never sees the SSN.

The catch, and it is a real one: the applicant must have a valid U.S. Social Security number for the screening to process at all. If you rent to international students, recently arrived workers, or ITIN-only applicants, SmartMove will stall on those files and you will need a different process for them.

How much does SmartMove cost in 2026?

SmartMove charges per report with no monthly fee. These are the current published prices, plus applicable tax:

SmartMove states plainly that there are no hidden fees, no memberships and no minimums, which is the part that separates it from the subscription platforms. You can screen two applicants in March, none in April, and nine in September, and your annual cost is simply the sum of those reports.

When you start a request you also choose who pays, where state law permits. Most independent landlords pass the cost to the applicant as the application fee. Some states cap what you can charge, and a handful require you to refund unused portions, so check your state rule before you set the fee. That single decision changes your effective cost from $49 per applicant to zero.

(Side note: the packages are priced to push you toward Premium, and SmartMove labels it “Best Value” on the pricing page. For a $1,200/month unit, the $9 gap between Plus and Premium buys you income verification and an identity check. I would take that trade every time. For a room rental at $600, Plus is enough.)

What is ResidentScore and is it different from a credit score?

ResidentScore is a rental-specific risk score on a 350 to 850 scale, built by TransUnion from rental outcomes rather than lending outcomes. TransUnion’s claim is that it predicts eviction risk 15% better than a traditional credit score in the riskiest band.

Why this matters in practice: a FICO score is optimized to answer “will this person repay a loan?” That is a related question to “will this person pay rent and leave peacefully,” but it is not the same question. Applicants with thin files, medical collections, or student loan history can score badly as borrowers while being perfectly reliable renters, and the reverse happens too. A 720 credit score does not tell you the applicant has two eviction filings.

Practical reading: treat ResidentScore as your first-pass sort, not your decision. Use it to rank applicants when three arrive in the same week, then read the underlying tradelines before anyone gets keys. The score compresses a lot of nuance into one number, and the nuance is where the money is.

What SmartMove does well

Bureau-direct data. The credit file is TransUnion’s own, not a resold summary. For eviction and criminal records you are looking at the same infrastructure a property management company uses, at consumer pricing.

No subscription drag. This is the quiet reason small landlords stay. TurboTenant, Avail and RentRedi all want to be your operating system, which is fine if you have thirty units and want rent collection, maintenance tickets and accounting in one place. If you have four units and a working process, you are paying monthly for software you use twice a year.

Same-day turnaround. Most reports land the same day after the applicant verifies identity. In a tight rental market where good applicants are gone in 48 hours, a screening tool that takes three business days costs you the tenant you wanted.

Liability posture. Because the applicant supplies their own SSN and consents directly, the landlord’s data exposure is much smaller. If you have ever wondered what happens when a rejected applicant asks how you stored their information, this is the answer you want to be able to give.

Where SmartMove falls short

It is a screening tool and nothing more. There is no lease generation, no rent collection, no maintenance workflow, no listing syndication. If you want one login for everything, SmartMove is the wrong shape of product.

Second, the process depends on the applicant. If they do not open the email, do not complete the identity questions, or fail the out-of-wallet quiz because they recently moved and their file is thin, you get nothing back. Budget for a follow-up text telling applicants to check spam. This is the most common complaint about every tenant-verified screening product, not just SmartMove.

Third, no human verification layer. Competitors like RentPrep run a manual review on criminal records, which cuts down false matches on common names. SmartMove is automated end to end. That is faster and cheaper, and it puts the burden on you to read a report carefully rather than assume a hit is a hit.

Fourth, income data is inference, not proof. Income Insights tells you whether the applicant’s stated income looks consistent with their credit behavior, and flags when further verification is warranted. That is genuinely useful as a triage tool. It is not a pay stub, and it is not a call to the employer.

Is SmartMove worth it compared to the alternatives?

Rough 2026 landscape, from published pricing:

Zillow looks cheapest on paper, and for a landlord who lists on Zillow anyway it often is. The tradeoff is that the applicant’s $35 covers applications to unlimited participating rentals for 30 days, which means you are one of several landlords looking at the same file, and you are inside Zillow’s ecosystem rather than holding a direct relationship with the bureau.

The honest summary: if you already run a management platform, use its screening and skip SmartMove. If you screen occasionally, want bureau-direct data, and do not want another monthly bill, SmartMove is the strongest option in its class.

Who should use SmartMove, and who should not

Use it if you self-manage one to twenty units, screen a handful of applicants a year, want the applicant to enter their own SSN, and are comfortable making the decision yourself from a report.

Skip it if you need an all-in-one platform with rent collection and leases, if you screen dozens of applicants a month and want volume pricing through a dedicated CRA, or if a meaningful share of your applicants lack a U.S. SSN.

FAQ

Is TransUnion SmartMove legitimate?
Yes. SmartMove is operated by TransUnion, one of the three US national credit bureaus, and delivers TransUnion’s own credit data along with criminal and eviction records.

Does SmartMove hurt the applicant’s credit score?
No. Tenant screening pulls are soft inquiries for the purpose of a rental decision and do not lower the applicant’s credit score.

Do I need to own the property to use SmartMove?
You need to be screening for a legitimate rental transaction and you certify that when you set up the request. Using consumer reports for any purpose other than the stated permissible purpose is a violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

How fast do SmartMove reports arrive?
Most reports are delivered the same day, after the applicant completes identity verification. The clock starts when the applicant acts, not when you send the request.

Can I make the tenant pay for SmartMove?
Yes, where state law permits. You choose who pays when you create the request. Some states cap application fees, so confirm your local rule first.

What happens if I reject an applicant based on the report?
You must send an adverse action notice under FCRA section 615(a). It has to identify the consumer reporting agency, state that the agency did not make the decision, and tell the applicant they can get a free copy of the report within 60 days and dispute anything inaccurate.

Sources

• TransUnion SmartMove pricing and package contents, mysmartmove.com, verified August 2026
• TransUnion SmartMove property owner FAQ, on the applicant-verification workflow and the 350 to 850 ResidentScore range
• Federal Trade Commission, “Using Consumer Reports: What Landlords Need to Know,” on adverse action obligations
• Published 2026 pricing pages for Zillow Rental Manager, TurboTenant and RentPrep

The bottom line

For an independent landlord screening a handful of applicants a year, SmartMove is the one I would put on the shortlist first, specifically because of the no-SSN-in-my-inbox workflow and the absence of a subscription. Pay the extra $9 for Premium on any unit renting above roughly $1,000 a month. Move to a full management platform only when you cross ten units and start losing time to rent collection rather than to screening.