What Can a Background Check Report? Your Rights Under the FCRA

What the FCRA covers

The Fair Credit Reporting Act is a federal law that regulates consumer reporting agencies. That includes the background check companies employers, landlords, and others hire to look into your history. When one of these companies prepares a report about you for a job, an apartment, insurance, or credit, the FCRA applies.

The law does not cover everything. An employer who personally searches Google for your name, without using a screening company, is not getting a consumer report. Google itself is not a consumer reporting agency. That is why what shows up on Google and what shows up on a background report can differ, and why our guide to arrest records and background checks treats them separately.

The seven-year rule for arrests

Section 1681c of the FCRA lists information consumer reporting agencies generally cannot report. It includes records of arrest that, from the date of entry, are more than seven years old, or older than the statute of limitations if that is longer. It also includes most other adverse items more than seven years old.

The important exception is convictions. The law specifically says records of convictions of crimes are not limited by this rule. Under federal law, a conviction from twenty years ago can still be reported.

The $75,000 exception

The seven-year limits do not apply to reports used for a job with an annual salary that is reasonably expected to be $75,000 or more. For those jobs, older arrests can appear on a report under federal law. State law may still limit them.

State and local laws

Many states and cities have their own rules. Some limit how far back reports can go, including for convictions. Some restrict when employers can ask about criminal history. The National Employment Law Project keeps a guide to fair chance hiring laws, often called ban the box laws, across states and cities.

For federal jobs, the Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act bars most federal agencies and contractors from asking about criminal history before a conditional job offer.

Your permission comes first

Under the FCRA, an employer must tell you in writing that it may use a background report for employment decisions, and that notice must be in a document that consists only of that disclosure. The employer must also get your written permission before ordering the report. The FTC describes this as a standalone document, not something buried in a job application.

Read it before you sign. It usually names the screening company, which tells you where to request your own file.

Before the employer acts: pre-adverse action

If an employer is thinking of not hiring you, or of firing you, based on something in the report, it must first give you a copy of the report and a document called A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. This gives you a chance to look for mistakes and explain.

Read the report carefully as soon as you get it. Look for records that are not yours, outdated items, cases shown without their outcome, and sealed or expunged records. Contact the employer right away if something is wrong, and start a dispute with the company. Our guide to disputing a background check error has a step-by-step plan.

After the employer acts: adverse action notice

If the employer goes ahead and takes adverse action, it must tell you. According to the FTC, the notice must include the name, address, and phone number of the company that supplied the report, a statement that the company did not make the decision and cannot explain why it was made, and a notice of your right to dispute the accuracy or completeness of the report and to get a free copy from the company if you ask within 60 days.

Accuracy and disputes

Background check companies must follow reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy. If you dispute something, the company generally must reinvestigate within 30 days, or 45 days if you send additional information during that time, and correct or delete information that is inaccurate, incomplete, or cannot be verified.

Employers still have obligations beyond the FCRA

The EEOC says employers using background information must apply the same standards to everyone, regardless of race, national origin, sex, religion, disability, or age. Its guidance explains that an arrest alone does not establish that criminal conduct occurred, so an exclusion based only on an arrest is not job related and consistent with business necessity. The employer may consider the conduct underlying an arrest if it makes someone unfit for the job.

If you think an employer treated you differently because of a protected trait, you can contact the EEOC.

Renters have similar rights

Tenant screening companies are also covered by the FCRA. If a landlord denies you based on a report, you should get an adverse action notice and can dispute errors with the screening company. The CFPB accepts complaints about tenant screening and background check companies.

How to get your own file

You do not have to wait for a rejection to see what a screening company has. Many companies let you request your file directly. The CFPB keeps a list of consumer reporting companies, including employment and tenant screening companies, with instructions for requesting your file. Checking before a job search lets you fix problems on your own schedule. Our guide to getting ready for a job search with an arrest in search results explains how to combine this with a search cleanup.

A quick reference for job seekers

Before you apply. Request your file from the screening companies common in your field and fix errors early. Search your own name, since some employers also look online. Our before you apply checklist covers the search side.

When you sign the disclosure. Note the screening company's name and keep a copy of what you signed.

If you get a pre-adverse action notice. Read the report the same day. Write down every error, gather proof, contact the employer, and start a dispute.

If you get an adverse action notice. Request your free copy within 60 days, dispute errors, and keep records. Even if this job is gone, a corrected report helps with the next one.

If your record is accurate. Accuracy rules will not remove a true conviction, but you may still be protected by state limits, fair chance laws, or the EEOC's guidance on individualized assessment. Prepare a short, honest explanation and evidence of what you have done since.

Where to complain

If a company does not follow the rules, you can submit a complaint to the CFPB or report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. You may also have the right to sue under the FCRA, and an employment or consumer lawyer can advise you.

Common questions

Sources

1. Employer Background Checks and Your Rights (Federal Trade Commission)
2. 15 U.S. Code section 1681b (Cornell Legal Information Institute)
3. 15 U.S. Code section 1681c (Cornell Legal Information Institute)
4. 15 U.S. Code section 1681i (Cornell Legal Information Institute)
5. 15 U.S. Code section 1681m (Cornell Legal Information Institute)
6. Background Checks: What Job Applicants and Employees Should Know (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission)
7. Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission)
8. List of consumer reporting companies (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau)
9. Submit a complaint (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau)
10. Ban the Box: Fair Chance Hiring State and Local Guide (National Employment Law Project)
11. Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs (Federal Register)