If a background check has cost you a job, a promotion or an apartment and the report was wrong, you can dispute it — and the law puts most of the burden on the company that produced the report, not on you. This is what to do, in the order that works.
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Before anything: get the report itself
You cannot dispute what you have not read, and a summary from an employer is not the report. Two routes get you the document.
If an employer is about to reject you because of it, the Fair Credit Reporting Act requires them to act first. The Federal Trade Commission puts it plainly: an employer must give you a copy of the report and a Summary of Rights before they decide not to hire, keep or promote you. That step exists precisely so you can point out a mistake before the decision hardens.
If the decision has already been made, they must tell you the name, address and phone number of the screening company, that the screening company did not make the decision, that you may dispute inaccurate information with it, and that you may get an additional free copy of the report. You have to ask for that free copy within 60 days of the decision, which is the deadline most people miss.
Read it against the specifics
Errors in screening reports are rarely subtle once you know what to look for. The common ones: a criminal record belonging to somebody with a similar name or the same date of birth; a case that was dismissed, withdrawn, expunged or sealed still showing as a conviction; a single charge listed several times because it moved between courts; employment or education dates that do not match; an address you never lived at, which is usually the thread that leads to somebody else’s record.
How to write the dispute
Send it to the screening company, in writing, and keep a copy. Four things make the difference between a dispute that gets fixed and one that comes back unchanged.
Name the entry. Not “the report is wrong” but the specific record: the case number, the court, the date, the employer, the line as printed. A screening company processing thousands of disputes will only investigate what you identify.
Say why it is wrong, in one sentence. It belongs to another person. The case was dismissed. The charge was expunged. The dates are incorrect. Each of those is investigated differently.
Attach the proof. The certified disposition from the court, the expungement order, the identification showing a different date of birth or middle name, the letter from the employer confirming your dates. Documents settle disputes; assertions rarely do.
Send it so you can prove you sent it. A dated receipt is worth more later than the dispute itself, because if the entry survives the investigation the dates become the case.
Dispute with the source as well, where you can
If the underlying record is wrong at the courthouse, correcting it there fixes the problem at its origin rather than one report at a time. Screening companies buy from court records and from data aggregators, and the same error will reappear in the next report anyone runs if the source still carries it.
What happens next, and how long it takes
The screening company must reinvestigate. In most cases it has 30 days, extending to 45 if you send more information while the investigation is running, and it must tell you the result. If anything is changed it must send a corrected report to anyone who received the original within the last two years for employment purposes.
Ask for that in writing. It is the part people forget, and it is the part that undoes the damage already done.
Tell the employer, too
The dispute goes to the screening company, but the decision sits with the employer. If the job is still open, say in writing that you have disputed the report, what is wrong with it, and that you expect a corrected copy. Some employers will hold the role. None will if nobody tells them.
Frequently asked questions
Can I dispute a background check after I have already been rejected?
Yes, and you should. You are entitled to a free copy of the report if you ask within 60 days of the decision, and a correction still matters — the same report goes to the next employer who runs one.
How long does a background check dispute take?
Generally 30 days, extending to 45 if you supply additional information during the investigation.
A dismissed case is showing as a conviction.
One of the most common errors, and among the most straightforward to document. Get the certified disposition from the court that heard it and send that with the dispute.
The record belongs to somebody else with my name.
Say so explicitly rather than saying the record is inaccurate — a mismatched identity is investigated differently from a wrong detail. Send identification showing your full name, middle name and date of birth.
Which company ran the check?
The adverse action notice names it. Our background check companies directory covers the major screening firms, and RentGrow if it was a rental application.
What if the dispute does not fix it?
That is where the Fair Credit Reporting Act stops being administrative. See below.
A dismissal is one of the disputes where the paperwork does most of the work, because the court’s own record settles it. See the case was dismissed but it is still on your background check.
When a dispute fails
The Act requires a reasonable investigation, not merely a check that the original source stands by what it supplied. Where a screening company or the source of the information fails that duty, the Act provides for actual damages — the job, the wages, the apartment — and for statutory and punitive damages where the failure is willful. It also allows recovery of attorney fees, which is why these cases are handled on contingency. Claims generally must be brought within two years of discovering the violation.
Related: background check errors and what the CFPB complaint data shows about how often disputes end in compensation.
The Kim Law Firm represents consumers in credit and consumer reporting matters under the FCRA. Admitted in Pennsylvania and New Jersey; available to appear pro hac vice in other federal courts. Get a free case review or call 855-996-6342 — you pay nothing unless we win.