If a landlord or an employer ran your application through StarPoint Screening and you were turned down or asked for more, the StarPoint report may be the reason. StarPoint says it is a consumer reporting agency, and when a report it prepares about you is wrong, the Fair Credit Reporting Act gives you the right to see it, dispute it and, in some cases, sue over it.
What StarPoint Screening is
StarPoint Screening lists its office in Pensacola, Florida, and says it is a division of The L.I.G Group. It offers tenant, pre-employment and driver screening to landlords, property managers and employers.
StarPoint calls itself “a consumer reporting agency” and says it strictly adheres to the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The FTC says companies that sell background reports used for hiring decisions are consumer reporting agencies under the FCRA, and that a company whose reports landlords use for housing decisions may be one. An employer or landlord may get your report only for a purpose the FCRA allows, such as your job or rental application (15 U.S.C. § 1681b(a)).
What a StarPoint report can contain
For landlords, StarPoint lists credit reports covering “payment patterns, payment history, tax liens, bankruptcies, judgments, collection accounts, and more,” criminal background checks, and eviction and civil judgment reports. For employers, it lists background checks, credit checks and motor vehicle reports, and for driver hiring it adds PSP reports from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and commercial license searches.
StarPoint says its criminal reports include only convictions, which it manually verifies match the applicant, and that its data is “limited to the depth and accuracy” of what the courts have on file, with most courts updating monthly.
The FTC says to check the names, birth date, address and Social Security number on a report, whether each court record is yours, and whether any item is too old to appear.
Where screening reports go wrong
An accurate record that is yours can lawfully stay: the FCRA requires deletion only of information that is inaccurate, incomplete or unverifiable. These are the errors federal agencies have described:
- Someone else’s record. The FTC warns screening companies about convictions attributed to someone with a different middle name or date of birth. See someone else’s record on your background check; it is the same failure behind a mixed credit file.
- A sealed or expunged record. The FTC says sealed or expunged records should not show up in any report. See an expunged record still on a background check.
- A dismissed case. The FTC warns that a report may show an eviction after the court dismissed the case. If a criminal charge against you was dismissed, see dismissed charges still on a background check.
- The same case listed twice. The FTC flags multiple entries for the same offense.
- A record past its reporting period. Civil suits, civil judgments and arrests generally cannot be reported more than seven years from the date of entry (15 U.S.C. § 1681c(a)(2)). The federal rule sets no time limit on convictions (§ 1681c(a)(5)); StarPoint says it limits reported convictions to seven years in twelve states.
How to get your StarPoint report
Every consumer reporting agency must, on request, disclose all the information in your file and the sources of that information (15 U.S.C. § 1681g(a)). If a landlord or employer turned you down because of a StarPoint report, its notice must give StarPoint’s name, address and phone number, and you are entitled to a free copy if you ask within 60 days (§§ 1681j(b), 1681m(a)).
StarPoint’s forms page is written for landlords and employers, so write to the contact details StarPoint lists: StarPoint Screening, 520 East Zaragoza St., Pensacola, FL 32502; toll-free 1-877-330-2444; info@starpointscreening.com. Include proof of identity; the FCRA lets an agency require proper identification before it discloses your file (§ 1681h(a)(1)). If your notice gives different contact details, use the notice.
How to dispute a StarPoint entry
Dispute directly with StarPoint, in writing; if you call, the FTC says to follow up in writing. Name each item you dispute and attach supporting documents, such as a dismissal or expungement order. Keep copies of everything.
Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681i, StarPoint must conduct a reasonable reinvestigation free of charge, generally within 30 days (45 in some cases, and some states set shorter deadlines), notify whoever supplied the disputed item within five business days, delete or modify anything inaccurate, incomplete or unverifiable, and send you the results in writing. If the entry stays, you can add a brief statement of dispute.
For a court record, the reinvestigation is StarPoint’s own duty. Whoever supplied a disputed entry to a consumer reporting agency must also investigate once the dispute is forwarded (§ 1681s-2(b)). The FTC suggests asking the company to send a corrected report to the employer and telling the employer or landlord about the mistake.
The notices an employer or landlord owes you
Before an employer gets a background report on you, it must tell you in writing, in a document that consists solely of that disclosure, that it may obtain a report for employment purposes, and it must have your written authorization (15 U.S.C. § 1681b(b)(2)(A)). The FTC says this notice cannot be part of an employment application. The agency may furnish the report only after the employer certifies compliance (§ 1681b(b)(1)).
Before an employer takes adverse action based in whole or in part on the report, it must give you a copy of the report and a written description of your rights, which the FTC calls “A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act” (§ 1681b(b)(3)(A)).
When a report for employment purposes includes public record information likely to hurt your ability to get a job, the agency must either notify you at the time, with the name and address of the person receiving it, or maintain strict procedures to make sure the record is complete and up to date (§ 1681k(a)).
After adverse action by an employer or a landlord, the notice must name the reporting agency with its address and phone number, state that the agency did not make the decision and cannot give the reasons, give any credit score used, and tell you that you can get a free copy within 60 days and dispute anything inaccurate or incomplete (§ 1681m(a)). For landlords, the FTC lists requiring a co-signer or a deposit not required of another applicant. Keep every notice.
When a StarPoint error becomes a legal claim
If you lost a job, an apartment or a larger deposit over a record that was not yours, not accurate, or not reportable, and a proper dispute did not fix it, the FCRA may give you a claim:
- Accuracy (15 U.S.C. § 1681e(b)). StarPoint must follow reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy of the report.
- Reinvestigation (15 U.S.C. § 1681i). StarPoint must actually reinvestigate a dispute, not simply repeat what it already has.
- Employment public records (15 U.S.C. § 1681k). For a job report, StarPoint must give the at-the-time notice or keep public records complete and up to date.
- The employer’s notices (15 U.S.C. § 1681b(b)). An employer must give the disclosure and the pre-adverse action copy and summary of rights.
For a negligent violation, the FCRA provides actual damages plus attorney’s fees (§ 1681o). For a willful violation, it provides actual damages or statutory damages of $100 to $1,000, punitive damages as the court allows, and attorney’s fees (§ 1681n). Suit must be filed by the earlier of two years after you discover the violation or five years after it occurs (§ 1681p).
I handle these cases on contingency. Cases I have filed over background checks, including a stranger’s criminal record on a driver’s check, a sealed record that stayed on employment reports, and rejections without the required notices, are on the cases I have filed. Related pages: JDP, Crimcheck, AssureHire, Shield Screening, InCheck, the background check directory, CIC, National Tenant Network, the tenant screening directory, and the employment background check and tenant screening report errors pages.
Have your StarPoint report reviewed
Send me your StarPoint report, the notice the employer or landlord sent, and whatever StarPoint sent back after your dispute, and I will tell you whether I see a claim. The FCRA attorney page covers how these cases work. Contact the firm to have your report reviewed.
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This page is about consumer report accuracy. The Kim Law Firm is not affiliated with StarPoint Screening, The L.I.G Group, or any landlord, property manager or employer named on this page, and this page is not a complaint about any of them. It describes how criminal, eviction, credit and driving entries can appear on a tenant or employment screening report and the rights consumers have when an entry is wrong.