Trying to rent apartment with "fair" credit but excellent rental history?

My fiance and I are trying to rent an apartment together. I applied for it in my name, since he doesn't have any credit and just started his job a few weeks ago. I have been at my job for almost 2 months and make about $2500/month. The rent is $700/month. My credit score is low, in the 540's, but the accounts in collections went into collections 3-5 years ago, and I am working on paying them off. The other accounts are in good standing. The leasing office called me yesterday to verify some info on previous rental history and said she would call them back (the building has since been sold, demolished and rebuilt), then pull my credit. This makes me really nervous. She called around 2pm yesterday and I haven't heard back. I have excellent rental history and a clean criminal record, as does my fiance. What do you think my chances are of getting approved for this apartment?

I hope you were up-front with the leasing office and explained to them about your previous problems. We went thru hard times years ago but were able to rent a place because we were honest with the landlord. Good luck

Consider renting from a private owner or investor until you have rental history on the books. They usually don't run credit checks. They just want their property to be earning money.

If you see ads in the paper with just a person's name, it is usually their property they are renting.

It really depends. An apartment manager said that some complexes look at credit more heavily and others look at rental history more heavily. I would think with that kind of income they would approve you for the apartment. It really is a judgement call by the manager though.