Personal Reference Form

Why this form exists, and what it will not do

Personal Reference Form is for the reference, filled out about the applicant, or the applicant gathering the reference's answers. The moment to use it: a landlord or employer asked for a character or tenant reference and did not supply a form. It sits in the Personal group on Papero. Contact sheets, budgets, inventories, and statements you keep or hand to an office.

Fill it in this browser. Papero does not create an account, does not upload the answers, and does not keep a copy after you close the tab. When the preview looks right, print it or download a PDF. The PDF is built on your device. A blank download leaves the lines empty so someone else can fill them by hand.

Work through the page in order. The Applicant section asks for Applicant name, How you know them, Years known. The Reference section asks for Your name, Your phone, Your email. The History section asks for Did they pay or repay on time, Did they give notice before leaving, Would you rent to them or work with them again, What should the reader know.

Applicant name. The person being described. How you know them. Neighbor, former landlord, supervisor, or friend. Years known. A number, not "a long time." Your name. The person writing the reference. Your phone. A number the landlord can call.

Your email. Optional. Write "none" if you do not want email. Did they pay or repay on time. Answer from what you saw, not from what they told you. Did they give notice before leaving. For a housing reference. Write "not a housing relationship" if that fits. Would you rent to them or work with them again. A direct yes or no is more useful than a paragraph of praise. What should the reader know. Facts. Skip medical details and gossip.

People send this back, or refuse it, for ordinary reasons. The reference is a relative living in the same home. The dates of knowing the person overlap a job the reference never saw. The recommendation is blank. Read the finished page once as if you were the person receiving it. If a line would make you call back, fill that line.

Sign on the Signature and Date line. A typed name in the signature spot is weaker than ink on a printed page. Date it the day you sign, not the day you hope the other person signs.

What this page cannot do: This is a personal template. An office, school, or landlord that gives you its own form expects that form. A bank or a government desk that asks for a full Social Security number should collect it on its own secure form. Papero asks for the last four digits only, on purpose. Papero is not a law firm, not a government agency, and not the office that will accept or reject the paper.

State note for your state. Personal Reference Form does not contain your state's required clauses, font size, language, or filing fee. Counties and cities inside your state sometimes add their own rule on top of the state. Before you rely on this for a lease, a school, a court, a bank, or an agency, compare it with the form that office publishes. If the office has no form, this template is a clear record of what you wrote and what you signed on this date.

After you print, use dark ink. Write "not applicable" on a line that does not apply, so a clerk does not treat a blank as a missing fact. Initial a correction beside the line. Do not cover a dollar amount with correction fluid. Each person who has a signature line signs their own name. One person cannot sign for another unless a statutory power of attorney, on the form that office accepts, already says so. Give the other party a copy the same day. On your copy, note the date and whether you handed it over, mailed it, or uploaded it to their portal. Attach copies of supporting papers, not your only original, unless the office demanded the original. Do not attach a Social Security card, a passport image, or a bank statement unless the recipient told you to, and then only in person or through their secure portal. Email is a common way those images are stolen. If the recipient is a government office, stop and use the form on that office's own site. Papero does not transmit this page, does not notarize it, and does not store it.

Keep a copy. Give the other party a copy. If you later change a fact, fill the form again and date the new copy. Do not scribble a second story into the margin of a page someone already signed. Write the date you handed it over, and how, on your own copy.

Before you rely on it

• The reference is a relative living in the same home.
• The dates of knowing the person overlap a job the reference never saw.
• The recommendation is blank.

This is a personal template. An office, school, or landlord that gives you its own form expects that form. A bank or a government desk that asks for a full Social Security number should collect it on its own secure form. Papero asks for the last four digits only, on purpose.

How to fill and print it

1. Fill the lines. Type into the Personal Reference Form in this browser. Write "not applicable" on a line that does not apply. What you type stays in this tab and is not uploaded.
2. Check the preview. The boxed preview is the page that prints. Read it once as the person who will receive the paper.
3. Print or download. Use Print, or download a filled PDF or a blank PDF. The file is built on your device.

More Personal forms

• Household Information Form
• Family Information Form
• Change of Address Form

Questions