Employment Background Checks and Credit Reports

May 2010

You’ve applied for a job. You sent a letter, made a phone call, submitted your resume. Perhaps 

you’ve had an interview. Did you know that when 

you apply for a job, an employer may ask your permission to do a background check 

before hiring you? Depending on 

the employer and the job, that 

background information might 

include your employment history, your driving record, criminal 

records, and your credit report. 

Your credit report has information about where you live, how 

you pay your bills, and whether 

you have filed for bankruptcy. Credit reporting 

companies and other businesses that provide 

background information sell your file to employers 

that, in turn, use it to evaluate your applications for 

employment. Employers also are allowed to use these 

reports to consider you for retention, promotion or 

reassignment. 

Did You Know?

Not only do credit reporting companies provide 

information to employers, but they also sell it 

to creditors, insurers and other businesses that, 

in turn, use it to evaluate your applications for 

credit, insurance, or renting a place to live.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, enforces the Fair 

Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), a law that protects 

the privacy and accuracy of the information in your 

credit report. The FCRA spells 

out your rights as a job applicant 

and an employer’s responsibilities 

when using credit reports and 

other background information to 

assess your application. The law 

also enables you to get a free copy 

of your credit report by requiring each of the three national 

credit reporting companies — 

TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian — to provide 

it to you every 12 months if you ask. That means if 

you stagger your requests to each of the companies, 

you can get a free copy of your credit report every 

four months. 

Key Employment 

Provisions

The big picture is this: An employer must get your 

permission before asking for a report about you from 

a credit reporting company or any other company 

that provides background information. If you don’t 

give your okay, your application for employment 

may not get a second look. That’s up to you. But if 

you don’t get the job because of information in your 
report, the employer has some legal obligations: First, 

the employer must show you the report; second, the 

employer must tell you how to get your own copy. The 

report is free if you ask for it within 60 days of learning 

the bad news.

Here are more details about these provisions:

Notice and Authorization. Before an employer can ask 

for reports about you from any companies that provide 

them, it must tell you that it might use the information 

to make a decision. This notice is separate from other 

documents you get — like an application. An employer 

may not get a report about you for employment purposes 

without getting your permission or authorization first, 

usually in writing.

Pre-Adverse Action Procedures. If an employer might 

use information from a credit or other background 

report to take an “adverse action” — say, to deny your 

application for employment or a promotion, to terminate your employment or to reassign you — he must 

give you a copy of the report and a document called A 

Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting 

Act (ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre35.pdf) 

before taking the adverse action. Read your report, and 

contact the company that issued it if you find inaccurate 

or incomplete information. 

You also can explain any inaccurate or incomplete 

information to an employer, but that won’t fix errors in 

your report. To do that, you have to contact the company that issued the report and dispute the information. 

If an investigation reveals that a correction is warranted, 

the credit reporting company or other company providing background information must send an updated 

report to the employer if you ask them to. Even if the 

information is not corrected in time to benefit you with 

that particular employer, it’s a good idea to dispute 

inaccurate information so it can be corrected before your 

next job interview or assignment comes along.

Applying 

for a Job?

Before you apply for a job, it’s a good 

idea to order a free copy of your credit 

report. Each of the nationwide credit 

reporting companies — TransUnion, 

Equifax, and Experian — is required 

to provide you with a free copy of your 

credit report once every 12 months, if 

you ask for it. 

To order, visit annualcreditreport.com

or call 1-877-322-8228. When you 

order, you’ll need to provide your 

name, address, Social Security number, 

and date of birth. To verify your 

identity, you may need to provide 

some additional information that only 

you would know — for example, the 

amount of your monthly mortgage 

payment if you own a home. Each 

of the three national credit reporting 

companies may ask you for different 

information.

If you prefer to order your reports 

by mail, complete the Annual Credit 

Report Request Form and mail it to: 

Annual Credit Report Request Service

P.O. Box 105281

Atlanta, GA 30348-5281

You can use the form in this brochure, 

or you can print it from ftc.gov/credit.

For more information about free credit 

reports, see Your Access to Free Credit 

Reports at ftc.gov/credit.

2 FTC Facts For Consumers
An employer must get your 

permission before asking for a 

report about you from a credit 

reporting company or any 

other company that provides 

background information.

Adverse Action Procedures. If an employer takes 

an adverse action against you based on information 

in a report, it must tell you — orally, in writing, or 

electronically. The notice to you must include:

n the name, address, and phone number of the 

company that supplied the credit report or 

background information;

n a statement that the company that supplied the 

information didn’t make the decision to take the 

adverse action and can’t give you any specific 

reasons for it; and 

n a notice of your right 

to dispute the accuracy 

or completeness of any 

information in your 

report and to get an 

additional free report 

from the company that 

supplied the credit 

or other background 

information if you ask 

for it within 60 days. 

Notice of Negative 

Public Records

If a company provides an employer with a report 

that has negative information about you gathered 

from public records — for example, tax liens, outstanding judgments, or criminal convictions — that 

company either has to tell you that it provided the 

information to the employer or it has to take special 

steps to make sure the information is accurate.

If you get a notice that a company has provided 

negative public record information to an employer, 

you may have a chance to correct or clarify it, which, 

in turn, may help you get or keep a job. For more 

information about this, see How to Dispute Credit 

Report Errors at ftc.gov/credit. 

If Employers Don’t 

Comply with the FCRA 

There are legal consequences for employers who 

don’t comply with the FCRA, whether they fail to 

get an applicant’s okay before getting a copy of their 

credit or other background report, fail to provide 

the appropriate disclosures in a timely way, or fail to 

provide adverse action notices to unsuccessful job 

applicants. If you think an employer has violated the 

FCRA, report it to the FTC, because the law allows 

the FTC, other federal agencies, and states to sue 

employers who don’t comply 

with the law’s provisions. 

The FCRA also allows people 

to sue employers in state 

or federal court for certain 

violations. 

The FTC works to 

prevent fraudulent, deceptive 

and unfair business practices 

in the marketplace and to 

provide information to 

help consumers spot, stop and avoid them. To file 

a complaint or get free information on consumer 

issues, visit ftc.gov or call toll-free, 1-877-FTCHELP (1-877-382-4357); TTY: 1-866-653-4261. 

Watch a new video, How to File a Complaint, at ftc.

gov/video to learn more. The FTC enters consumer 

complaints into the Consumer Sentinel Network, 

a secure online database and investigative tool used 

by hundreds of civil and criminal law enforcement 

agencies in the U.S. and abroad.

FTC Facts For Consumers 3
following information is required to process your request.

If additional information is needed to process your request, the consumer credit

reporting company will contact you by mail.

Your request will be processed within 15 days of receipt and then mailed to you.

Copyright 2004, Central Source LLC

Social Security Number:

- -

Date of Birth:

/ /

Month Day Year

First Name M.I.

Last Name JR, SR, III, etc.

Current Mailing Address:

House Number Street Name

City State ZipCode

City State ZipCode

Apartment Number / Private Mailbox For Puerto Rico Only: Print Urbanization Name

House Number Street Name

Previous Mailing Address (complete only if at current mailing address for less than two years):

Fold Here Fold Here

Fold Here Fold Here

Please use a Black or Blue Pen and write your responses in PRINTED CAPITAL LETTERS without touching the sides of the boxes like the examples listed below:

Apartment Number / Private Mailbox For Puerto Rico Only: Print Urbanization Name

31238

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Equifax

Experian

TransUnion

I want a credit report from (shade

each that you would like to

receive):

Shade here if, for security

reasons, you want your credit

report to include no more than

the last four digits of your

Social Security Number.

Shade Circle Like This >

Not Like This >

You have the right to get a free copy of your credit file disclosure, commonly called a credit report, once every 12 months, from each of

the nationwide consumer credit reporting companies - Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

For instant access to your free credit report, visit www.annualcreditreport.com.

For more information on obtaining your free credit report, visit www.annualcreditreport.com or call 1-877-322-8228.

Use this form if you prefer to write to request your credit report from any, or all, of the nationwide consumer credit reporting companies. The

Omission of any information may delay your request.

Annual Credit Report Request Form

Once complete, fold (do not staple or tape), place into a #10 envelope, affix required postage and mail to:

Annual Credit Report Request Service P.O. Box 105281 Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.