Sterling Background Check Errors

When a Sterling background check stands between you and a job, and the report is wrong, the fix isn't always simple — because Sterling screens for so many large employers that one bad record can follow you from application to application. Sterling (Sterling Check Corp) is among the biggest enterprise screening companies in the country, running criminal, employment, education, and identity checks for major employers. At The Kim Law Firm, we help people in Philadelphia and across Pennsylvania dispute Sterling errors and hold the company to the accuracy standards the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) demands.

What is Sterling?

Sterling is a large, enterprise-focused screening company whose reports are relied on by some of the country's biggest employers. Because Sterling sits behind the hiring process at so many large organizations, a single inaccuracy — especially a mixed file that confuses you with someone else — doesn't just cost you one job. It can quietly resurface every time another Sterling-using employer runs your name.

How to contact Sterling

To request your Sterling (SterlingCheck) background report or dispute an error, you can reach them directly:

• Corporate headquarters: Sterling, 1 State Street Plaza, New York, NY 10004
• Disputes: submit online at mybackgroundcheck.sterlingcheck.com
• Phone: 1-800-899-2272
• Online: sterlingcheck.com

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, Sterling must investigate a dispute you submit — free of charge — and correct or delete information it cannot verify. Keep copies of everything you send.

Common Sterling errors we see

• Another person's criminal history merged into your file — a “mixed file,” which is especially damaging when Sterling screens for many large employers
• Cases that were dismissed, sealed, or expunged reported as convictions
• Outdated records that should have aged off under the FCRA
• Identity or verification details Sterling matched to the wrong person
• One offense duplicated so your record looks worse than it is
• The same inaccurate information blocking you across multiple employers who all use Sterling

How a Sterling error hurts you

Because Sterling's reach is so wide, a mistake on its report can do outsized damage: you clear one hurdle only to be tripped by the same wrong record at the next employer, with no idea why the offers keep evaporating. On top of the lost roles comes lost income and the strain of being judged, again and again, for something that isn't true.

Sterling's track record with regulators and the courts

Sterling's accuracy failures have drawn both a federal regulator and repeated class-action lawsuits — a pattern that informs how seriously we take a wrong Sterling report.

In November 2019, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered Sterling to pay $6 million in relief to harmed consumers plus a $2.5 million penalty — $8.5 million in all — after finding that Sterling failed to use reasonable procedures to assure the maximum possible accuracy of its background reports, failed to keep public-record information complete and up to date, and reported criminal and other adverse information beyond the time limits the FCRA allows.

Sterling has also paid several multimillion-dollar class-action settlements over inaccurate background checks — including a $4.75 million settlement approved by a federal court in New York. When a company with this history leaves a wrong record on your report, the law is on your side, and we know how to use it.

Your rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act

The FCRA requires Sterling to follow reasonable procedures to keep its reports accurate — a duty it too often falls short of. If you find a mistake, you can dispute it directly with Sterling, which must investigate within roughly 30 days and remove or fix anything it cannot verify. Your employer has obligations too: it cannot quietly reject you over a Sterling report without first giving you a copy and a chance to respond. When those rules are broken and it costs you, the law allows recovery of actual damages, plus statutory damages, punitive damages, and attorney's fees for willful violations. Because the wrongdoer pays those fees, our representation costs you nothing up front.

How to dispute a Sterling background check

1. Request the report copy and rights summary from the employer that ran the Sterling check.
2. Compare every entry against your own records, and flag anything that isn't yours, is out of date, or was resolved in your favor.
3. Dispute the errors in writing with Sterling, attach your documentation, and save copies.
4. Hold Sterling to the roughly 30-day investigation deadline.
5. If Sterling won't correct the record — or it already cost you the role — talk to an FCRA attorney.

If Sterling's investigation left the error in place, that's frequently where the FCRA violation lies — and where we can help.

Did an inaccurate Sterling background check cost you a job?

Employment background reports are consumer reports under the FCRA, and Sterling has to follow strict accuracy rules. When a report is wrong, the consequences — a lost job offer — are serious, and so are your rights.

• Records that aren’t yours (mismatched identity). Someone else’s criminal record, or a case tied to identity theft, wrongly attributed to you are employment background check errors you can challenge — and can point to identity theft.
• Outdated or expunged records. Reporting old, sealed, or dismissed information that should not appear violates the FCRA.
• Inaccurate credit or public-record data. Wrong financial or court information in the report overlaps with credit reporting errors.

Each is a potential FCRA violation that can require the report to be corrected and entitle you to damages — often at no cost to you.

How The Kim Law Firm helps

Our first focus is fixing the report and the harm it caused: if a Sterling background report cost you a job because of inaccurate, outdated, or mismatched information, we hold Sterling accountable under the FCRA and pursue damages. We help with employment background check errors, identity theft, and credit reporting errors.

You don't have to take on a company Sterling's size alone. Working from Philadelphia, we review your Sterling report, document the FCRA violations, deal directly with Sterling and the employer where appropriate, and seek damages for what the error cost you. We've built extensive experience holding large screening companies to the law's accuracy standards — and there's no fee unless we recover for you.

Screened by a different company? We also handle HireRight background check errors, Checkr background check errors, Accurate Background errors, and First Advantage background check errors — and you can start with our overview of the major background check companies.

Frequently asked questions

Sterling mixed my file with someone else's — what can I do?

Request your Sterling report, document what belongs to the other person, and dispute it in writing with Sterling. It must investigate — generally within 30 days — and remove information it can't verify as yours. If the mixed file cost you a job, an FCRA attorney can help you seek compensation.

How do I dispute a Sterling background check?

Get the report and the rights summary from the employer, compare every entry to your own records, and file a written dispute with Sterling with supporting documents. Keep copies of everything.

Can I sue Sterling for an inaccurate report?

Yes. If Sterling failed to follow reasonable procedures for accuracy or didn't properly investigate your dispute, you may have an FCRA claim.

How long does Sterling have to investigate my dispute?

Generally about 30 days from when you file it; if it can't verify the information, it must correct or delete it.

What does it cost to hire you?

Nothing up front. The FCRA shifts attorney's fees to the company that broke the law, so you pay only if we recover for you. The review is free.

Wherever you are located, we can help. The federal laws we enforce — including the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act — protect consumers no matter where they live, and The Kim Law Firm helps victims wherever they are from our offices in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.