Background Check Errors

Fight Background Check Errors with Background Check Lawyers.

The single most important thing you need to know is that background check errors are unlawful. Not just annoying. Not just an inconvenience. Not just damaging. Unlawful.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is very clear that you, as a consumer, have the right to accurate data in all consumer reports, including background check reports.

Unfortunately, being unlawful isn’t enough to prevent background check errors in the first place, but it is the key to fixing them for good.

At Consumer Justice Law Firm, we help you enforce your legal right to accurate background check reports. But this doesn’t just mean correcting the record.

It means helping you make a complete recovery, reclaim your data integrity, fight for fair compensation for any harm you suffered, and empowering you to push back against mega-sized background check companies.

Because it’s not just you against these corporate giants anymore. From now on, it’s you and your backup.

3 Common Types of Background Checks

Background check reports are run for a variety of reasons, but these are the most common.

1. Employment– conducted either during the pre-hiring process or periodically throughout employment
2. Tenant screening (rental)– conducted during the application process for confirming eligibility to rent a house, apartment, or vacation rental
3. Insurance– conducted prior to issuance of an insurance policy in order to mitigate the risk of fraudulent claims. Background check errors can harm you in any of the following ways and more.

How Common Are Background Check Errors?

Background check errors refer to any inaccurate, misleading, or false information in your background report, including information that should have aged off of your report years ago or should never have been reported in the first place (e.g. an expunged record or sealed record).

Statistical estimates put your chances of finding background check errors at 50% or higher, with the National Consumer Law Center describing background check errors as “rampant” and harmful. This means background check errors are very common and very damaging.

Rideshare, delivery, and store shopper positions face frequent problems with background check errors.

Check out the Consumer Justice Blog for insights into everyday situations in which background check errors cause serious harm to U.S. consumers.

What is the Fair Credit Reporting Act?

Background check errors are the result of a fast and furious data industry that relies on monstrously large corporations to gather, process, and report data for approximately 200 million consumers on a rolling basis.

Due to the massive volume of data being handled and the emphasis on maximizing corporate profit rather than data accuracy, federal lawmakers passed the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to protect consumers.

We rely heavily on the FCRA to build the best possible cases and get the best possible outcomes for you.

Your Rights Under the FCRA

The Fair Credit Reporting Act gives you the right to accurate background check reports. Here’s what it says:

“Whenever a consumer reporting agency prepares a consumer report it shall follow reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy of the information concerning the individual about whom the report relates.”

In addition, it gives you the right to:

• review your background check at the time that it’s run
• know which data in a background check was used to deny you an opportunity
• dispute background check errors
• file lawsuits against the responsible parties
• seek compensation for harm suffered
• make the wrongdoers pay for your legal costs and fees

In fact, the FCRA plays such a critical role in protecting consumers from credit report errors, the lawyers who help fight these mistakes are frequently called FCRA lawyers.

Most people think of the Fair Credit Reporting Act when it comes to credit reports. But the broad protections of this important law apply to all kinds of consumer reports, including background checks and other types of reports.

3 Steps To Take After Discovering Background Check Errors

Talk to a lawyer: Get a free consultation early on. Know your rights, what you’ll need to prove your case, where to gather evidence, and when to file a background check error lawsuit.

Dispute the errors: Review your background check report. Dispute inaccurate, misleading, false, or unreportable information. If you’re working with a background check lawyer, they handle the dispute process for you, including offering personalized guidance on best practices to preserve your rights. If you’re going it alone, it’s smart to file your dispute via certified mail to avoid waiving important legal rights.

Make them fix it: Never accept the background check company’s nonsense when they say they’ve investigated and confirmed the info is actually right. This is a common tactic. (A lawsuit usually gets the job done.)

How to Dispute a Background Check Error

1. Review your background check report for mistakes.
2. Gather any evidence and documentation you have to support your dispute.
3. Write a thorough and clear letter explaining exactly which information in your background check report is wrong and why.
4. Mail your letter, along with copies of the supporting documents, via certified mail to the background check company reporting the errors. This preserves your rights and leaves an easily traceable trail. Avoid using online dispute platforms if they make you waive your legal rights.
5. Keep a copy of the letter and documents for your file, along with the mail receipt.
6. Track the days. They have 30 days to respond.
7. Don’t give up. If they don’t respond, don’t investigate, don’t fix the errors, or claim that their investigation confirmed the bad data, you need a lawyer NOW.

How Background Check Errors Harm You

• Job rejections. Whether you’re a new candidate or a current employee, if a clean background is part of your assessment, you can be rejected or fired due to wrong info.
• Promotion denials. Opportunities for advancement can be limited by false information.
• Rental denials. Whether you’re looking for a long-term rental for housing or a vacation rental for fun, you can be falsely flagged as a rental risk and turned away. People have been left unhoused by these errors, relying on family and friends for shelter.
• Insurance denials. When you seek insurance or other financial products, some require a background check for approval, and you can be denied for falsely failing to meet the criteria.
• Security clearance rejections. Many career paths require a security clearance at varying levels. Failing yours because the report is wrong is infuriating.
• Reputational damage. Unlike other consumer mistakes, wrongful background check data can destroy your reputation. Ever been wrongfully reported as a sex offender?
• Mental and emotional distress. Missing out on long-awaited or life-altering opportunities is traumatic. Whether you’re plagued by anxiety or lose sleep due to worry, the toll these errors take is real.

“Do I Need a Lawyer for Background Check Errors?”

The short answer is no. No one needs a lawyer for anything. You can even defend yourself in a criminal trial without a lawyer. So, you’re always free to dispute and fight the background check companies alone.

However, even though it shouldn’t be, correcting background check errors is frequently turned into a complicated and convoluted process.

So, the better question is, “Can working with a lawyer to fight and fix background check errors benefit me?” And to this we say, yes!

A background check lawyer navigates the entire process with you, from the first minute you realize there’s an error until the final moment when you get fixes and money.

Our lawyers help you identify important documents and evidence, draft legally solid dispute letters, provide personalized guidance and advocacy, and file a lawsuit if you get ignored, dismissed, suffer harm, or face errors that seem to be on repeat.

Working with an experienced attorney gives you the best shot at fixing the problems for good and getting money for any harm to your life, finances, and mental wellbeing.

The FCRA fee-shifting provisions mean that you pay nothing out of pocket for top legal help. Believe it or not, the background check companies pay our legal costs and fees when we win.

6 Key Things a Background Check Lawyer Knows

1. We know the law. We know the laws that protect you, so we go after the background check companies using every possible legal option available.
2. We know the problems. We’ve seen, heard, and handled every type of background check error and put our full knowledge and resources into everything we do.
3. We know the tricks. We know the tactics used by these companies to delay doing anything to fix their mistakes. They’d rather convince you it’s a lost cause. We know otherwise.
4. We know how to provide legal guidance.  We help you gather necessary data and evidence, craft and file legally sound disputes, and advise you of your rights and best practices along the way.
5. We know how file a lawsuit. If your background check errors aren’t properly investigated and corrected or the fallout persists, we file a lawsuit to hold background check companies accountable.
6. We know how to get you money.  If you’ve been harmed by background check report errors and you’re entitled to compensation, we know how to maximize it.

How Fee-Shifting Works

One of the most important and least known facts about fighting background check errors is that you don’t have to pay out of pocket for legal help.

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you are not expected to spend your own money or take on debt just to dispute background check errors. The law makes the background check companies pay to fix it instead.

At Consumer Justice Law Firm, we see fee-shifting as the ultimate equalizer, bringing justice to everyone, including those who otherwise couldn’t afford to work with an attorney.

Because of this provision, the FCRA ensures equity and fairness in legal representation for consumers harmed by background check companies.

No Justice, No Fee.^TM

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I see my background check report?

If you had to submit to a background check because you applied for a new job, new position, security clearance, rental, or other opportunity, and you want to know what it says about you, you have rights.

Frequently, when you create an account and answer background check questions, you can opt to receive a copy of your background check report as soon as it’s complete.

If you don’t receive a copy automatically, you still have a right to review it. Ask the employer, property manager, or the background check company for a copy directly.

If I lost a job due to a background check error, does the employer have to hire me?

Unfortunately, the answer to this is no.

Even if the employer’s decision not to hire, promote, assign, or clear you for a position is entirely related to false, misleading, or inaccurate information in your background check report, the employer does NOT have to reconsider you for the position.

This is true even if you promptly inform them of the error and successfully dispute the bad information. While some employers will hold a position for you while you’re clearing up the error, or invite you to reapply once the background check error is fixed, there is no legal obligation to do so.

However, if you do lose out on an opportunity because of a background check error, the background check company can be held legally accountable. They have to fix their mistakes and pay you money.

FREE CONSULTATIONS! You pay $0 out of pocket. The background check companies pay us when we win. No Justice, No Fee.