How Far Back Does a Bank Background Check Go: FCRA and Section 19

A bank background check generally reaches back seven years for arrests, civil judgments, collections, and most other negative records, but criminal convictions can be reported from any point in your past under federal law. On top of that baseline, banking has its own rule — Section 19 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act — that can disqualify applicants with dishonesty-related convictions, though a 2022 law now limits how far back that disqualification reaches. How far back a bank background check goes depends on which record you’re asking about and which job you’re applying for.

The Seven-Year Cap on Arrests and Other Non-Conviction Records

The Fair Credit Reporting Act sets the baseline for what a screening company can put in an employment report. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681c, a consumer reporting agency generally cannot report arrest records more than seven years old, measured from the date of arrest.¹ The same seven-year ceiling applies to civil suits, civil judgments, paid tax liens, and accounts sent to collections.

Charges that were dropped, dismissed, or ended in acquittal follow the same clock, which starts on the date the charge was filed. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has confirmed that reporting a dismissal would necessarily reveal the underlying charge, so once seven years pass, neither the charge nor its disposition can appear.² Each adverse item runs its own independent clock; a later event does not restart the reporting window on an earlier one.

Roughly 37 states and many local jurisdictions have fair-chance or “ban the box” laws that delay when an employer can ask about criminal history, and several states extend the seven-year rule to cover convictions too. If you’re applying somewhere with those laws, the report a bank actually sees may be narrower than federal law alone would allow.

Criminal Convictions Have No Federal Time Limit

Convictions are the major exception. The FCRA prohibits reporting adverse items older than seven years “other than records of convictions of crimes.”¹ A screening company can report a conviction from five years ago or thirty years ago, unless a state law says otherwise.

There is also a salary carve-out that widens what a bank can see. For positions with expected annual pay of $75,000 or more, the FCRA lifts the seven-year restriction on all categories of information, not just convictions.¹ Older arrests, civil judgments, and other adverse items that would normally age off can reappear in the report. Many management, compliance, and executive-level banking positions cross that threshold.

Section 19: How Banking’s Own Rule Reaches Back

Beyond the FCRA, Section 19 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. § 1829) bars anyone convicted of a crime involving dishonesty, breach of trust, or money laundering from working at an FDIC-insured bank without prior written approval from the FDIC.³ The rule also covers anyone who entered a pretrial diversion or similar program for such an offense, and it applies to essentially every position at an insured bank, not just cash-handling roles.

The term “dishonesty” is read broadly and reaches offenses like check fraud, embezzlement, identity theft, forgery, and other schemes involving deception. Violating the ban — or knowingly allowing a disqualified person to participate in a bank’s affairs — carries fines of up to $1,000,000 per day and up to five years in prison.³

Time-Based Exceptions After the Fair Hiring in Banking Act

Before 2022, Section 19 was a permanent bar. The Fair Hiring in Banking Act, enacted in December 2022, added time-based exceptions. Section 19 no longer applies if:

Seven years or more have passed since the offense occurred.
The person was incarcerated for the offense and has been out for at least five years.
The person committed the offense at age 21 or younger and more than 30 months have passed since sentencing.

These exceptions significantly narrow who remains disqualified.⁴ They do not apply to certain serious federal offenses specified in 12 U.S.C. § 1829(a)(2), which remain permanently disqualifying no matter how much time has passed.

De Minimis Offenses That Never Trigger Section 19

The FDIC also treats certain minor offenses as “de minimis” — they don’t trigger Section 19 at all and don’t require a waiver. To qualify, the offense generally must meet all of these conditions:

You have no more than two covered offenses total.
For each offense, the maximum possible sentence was three years’ confinement or less and a fine of $3,500 or less, and you actually served three days or fewer of jail time.
All sentencing conditions are complete.
The offense was not committed against a bank or credit union.

Separate carve-outs cover specific low-level offenses. Bad checks totaling $2,000 or less in face value qualify. Simple theft of goods or currency worth $1,225 or less qualifies, though burglary, forgery, robbery, identity theft, and fraud are excluded.⁵ Using fake identification, shoplifting, trespassing, fare evasion, and driving with an expired license are exempt once one year has passed since the conviction.⁶

If your offense fits neither a time-based exception nor a de minimis category, you can still work at an insured bank by obtaining written consent from the FDIC, either through a bank-sponsored application or an individual waiver.⁷

The Ten-Year Window for Securities-Related Roles

If the bank job involves selling or advising on securities — a financial advisor, broker, or investment banking role — the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority adds another layer. Under Section 3(a)(39) of the Securities Exchange Act, certain misdemeanor convictions and all felony convictions trigger a “statutory disqualification” from the securities industry for ten years from the date of conviction.⁸ This reaches a wider range of felonies than Section 19, not just dishonesty offenses, but the window is defined at ten years rather than open-ended.

Anyone in a FINRA-registered role must disclose a disqualifying event on Form U4 within ten days, and the bank must update the filing promptly if it learns an associated person is subject to statutory disqualification.⁸

Credit History: Seven Years, Ten for Bankruptcy

Banks routinely pull credit reports on applicants, especially for roles involving cash handling, wire transfers, or fiduciary oversight. Most negative financial items — late payments, collections, foreclosures, and charge-offs — can appear for up to seven years under the FCRA.⁹

Bankruptcy runs longer. Federal law lets a bankruptcy filing stay on a credit report for up to ten years from the filing date.¹ In practice, the three major credit bureaus usually remove completed Chapter 13 filings after seven years, while Chapter 7 liquidations stay for the full ten. Banks look at credit because employees under financial pressure are viewed as a higher risk for internal fraud or theft.

Employment and Education Verification

Most banks verify work history for the previous seven to ten years. Screening firms contact former employers to confirm job titles, dates, and, where available, reason for departure. A mismatch between your resume and what an employer confirms can sink an application even if the underlying experience was real but the dates were wrong.

Education verification works differently because degrees don’t expire. Banks typically confirm your highest degree regardless of when you earned it. Screening companies contact registrars or use clearinghouse services to verify graduation dates and fields of study. The FCRA doesn’t treat educational credentials as adverse information, so there’s no time limit on reporting them.

Your Rights If Something Old Shows Up

A bank cannot pull a background report without your knowledge. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681b, the employer must give you a clear written disclosure — in a standalone document — that a consumer report may be obtained, and you must authorize it in writing before the report is requested.¹⁰

If the bank is considering rejecting you based on something in the report, it must first send a pre-adverse action notice with a copy of the report and a summary of your FCRA rights.¹¹ That is your window to review the report and dispute anything that shouldn’t be there — an arrest older than seven years, a dismissed charge past its clock, a conviction that isn’t yours. If the bank still decides not to hire you, it must then send an adverse action notice identifying the screening company, stating that the screening company did not make the hiring decision, and telling you that you can dispute inaccurate information and request another free copy of the report within 60 days.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681c – Requirements Relating to Information Contained in Consumer Reports
2
Federal Register. Fair Credit Reporting – Background Screening
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 USC 1829 – Penalty for Unauthorized Participation by Convicted Individual
4
Federal Register. Fair Hiring in Banking Act
5
eCFR. 12 CFR Part 303 Subpart L – De Minimis Exemption Under Section 19 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act
6
FDIC. Rules and Regulations – Adjusting and Indexing Thresholds
7
FDIC. Your Guide to Section 19
8
FINRA. General Information on Statutory Disqualification and FINRA Eligibility Proceedings
9
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681b – Permissible Purposes of Consumer Reports
11
Federal Trade Commission. Using Consumer Reports – What Employers Need to Know