Federal Trade Commission | ftc.gov

Employment 

Background 

Checks

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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 
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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 consumer.ftc.gov.
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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.
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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 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

following information is required to process your request. 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.

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

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:

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
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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

EquifaxExperianTransUnion

I want a credit report from (shadeeach 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 >

House Number Street NameCity State ZipCode

ZipCode State City

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

Street Name House Number

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

Fold Here Fold Here

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

31238
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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 (consumer.ftc.gov/sites/

default/files/articles/pdf/pdf-0096-fair-credit-reportingact.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.

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:

● the name, address, and phone number of the 

company that supplied the credit report or 

background information;
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● 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

● 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. Read Disputing Errors on Credit 

Reports at consumer.ftc.gov.

Some employers might say not to apply if you have 

a criminal record. That could be discrimination. If 

this happens to you, contact the Equal Employment 

Opportunity Commission (EEOC) at 

1-800-669-4000.
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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.

For More Information

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-FTC-HELP 

(1-877-382-4357); TTY: 1-866-653-4261. 

Watch a 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. 

Federal Trade Commission

ftc.gov

February 2013