How to Legally Obtain a Background Check: FCRA Rules and Consent

To legally obtain a background check on someone, you need a reason the Fair Credit Reporting Act recognizes as a “permissible purpose” and, in almost every situation, the written consent of the person being checked. In practice that means ordering the report through a consumer reporting agency, giving the subject the disclosures the FCRA requires, and following the adverse action process if what you find leads you to say no. Personal curiosity is not a permissible purpose, and running a report without one carries both civil and criminal exposure.

Permissible Purpose Is the Gatekeeper

The FCRA governs any background check that qualifies as a “consumer report” — information assembled by a company in that business and used to make a decision about a specific person.¹ A screening company can only furnish that report if the requester has a legally recognized reason.

The statute lists those reasons exhaustively: a court order, the consumer’s own written instructions, a credit transaction, an employment decision, insurance underwriting, or a legitimate business need tied to a transaction the consumer initiated (this is how tenant screening qualifies).² Wanting to know more about a neighbor, an ex, or someone from a dating app does not qualify. If you cannot place your reason inside that list, you cannot legally pull a consumer report.

Consent and Disclosure for Employment Checks

Employment screening carries the strictest rules. Before an employer can pull a report on an applicant or employee, the FCRA requires a written notice stating that a consumer report may be obtained for employment purposes. That notice has to appear in a document that contains nothing else. No liability waivers, no at-will acknowledgment, no other language.² The person’s written authorization can sit on the same page, but nothing unrelated can. The FTC has said the same thing: keep the disclosure simple and standalone.³

This is where employers most often stumble. A disclosure buried in a multi-page application, or bundled with a general release of claims, fails the standalone requirement. The employer also has to certify to the screening company that it gave the applicant the notice, got written consent, and will follow the FCRA’s other obligations.⁴

How to Actually Order the Report

Use a Consumer Reporting Agency

The standard route for employers, landlords, and lenders is to hire a consumer reporting agency — a company in the business of compiling background screening reports. These agencies operate under the FCRA, which means they verify that the requester has a permissible purpose and, for employment checks, that the disclosure and consent requirements were met before releasing anything.⁴

You provide identifying information about the subject, and the agency compiles results from court records, credit bureaus, government databases, and direct verifications with schools and past employers. A standard package usually turns around in two to five business days and runs somewhere between $50 and $200, depending on how many components you include and how many jurisdictions have to be searched. County court searches in places without electronic access add time because someone has to retrieve records physically.

Public Records Are Legal but Limited

Anyone can search public records directly, and doing so for personal knowledge doesn’t trigger the FCRA. Many state and county court systems maintain online case portals. State DMVs release driving records, subject to fees and the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act’s limits on what can go to third parties.

The tradeoff is coverage. You have to know which counties to search, there’s no public national criminal database that captures everything, and you cannot verify employment or education, or pull credit information, through public records alone. For a hiring or housing decision, this route also doesn’t give you a report you can defend against an FCRA claim — see the next point.

Skip the People-Search Sites for Regulated Decisions

Websites that aggregate addresses, phone numbers, court records, and property data and sell compiled profiles can be useful for a personal lookup. Most are not FCRA-compliant, and their reports cannot be used for hiring, tenant screening, credit, or any other FCRA-regulated purpose. Using one to deny someone a job or an apartment is itself the violation.

What a Report Usually Contains

Depth varies with the purpose. Almost every professional report starts with an identity verification through a Social Security number trace, which surfaces names, aliases, and address history and points to the counties that should be searched for criminal records. Criminal history typically combines national database hits with state repositories and county court searches, plus the sex offender registry and federal criminal records. Beyond that, reports may verify education and past employment, pull driving records for driving positions, and include civil court records or credit history for roles where those are relevant. Credit reports for employment come without the credit score, and about ten states restrict when credit information can be used in hiring at all.

Time Limits on What Can Be Reported

The FCRA caps how long certain negative information can appear on a consumer report, so a report may not reflect everything in someone’s past. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681c:

Bankruptcies: up to 10 years from the filing date.
Arrests and other non-conviction records: up to seven years from the date of entry. A dismissal does not restart the clock.
Civil suits and judgments: up to seven years from the date of entry.
Paid tax liens: up to seven years from the date of payment.
Collection accounts: up to seven years from the date the account was placed for collection.
Criminal convictions: no federal time limit.

One large exception: none of the seven- or ten-year caps apply when the report is used for employment at an annual salary of $75,000 or more.⁵ Some states are stricter than the federal rule — shorter lookbacks, outright bans on reporting non-convictions, or the seven-year cap even at higher salaries — and screening companies must follow whichever law is more protective of the consumer.¹

If the Report Leads You to Say No: Adverse Action

If you’re considering denying someone a job, an apartment, or credit because of what’s in the report, the FCRA requires a two-step adverse action process. Skipping it is one of the most common compliance failures.

Step one is a pre-adverse action notice, sent before you make a final decision. It has to include a copy of the report you relied on and a copy of the FTC’s “Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.”² The point is to give the person a chance to see the information and correct any errors before the decision is locked in. The statute says the wait must be “reasonable”; the FTC recommends at least five business days.⁶

Step two, if you go ahead with the rejection, is a final adverse action notice. It must include the name, address, and phone number of the screening company; a statement that the screening company did not make the decision and cannot explain it; notice of the person’s right to a free copy of the report within 60 days; and notice of the right to dispute inaccurate information.⁷ Landlords and creditors have parallel obligations. The details differ, but the core is the same: tell the person what you found, who provided it, and how to challenge it.

Penalties for Getting a Report the Wrong Way

The FCRA has real teeth. Knowingly obtaining a consumer report under false pretenses is a federal crime punishable by a fine under Title 18 and up to two years in prison.⁸ On the civil side, willfully obtaining a report without a permissible purpose makes you liable to the consumer for the greater of actual damages or $1,000, plus possible punitive damages and the consumer’s attorney’s fees.⁹

These penalties reach the person who requests the report, not just the screening company. Claiming to be a landlord when you aren’t, or claiming consent you don’t have, is exactly the conduct that triggers both. Screening companies also face liability if they release a report without verifying that the requester has a permissible purpose.

Checking Your Own Background

If you’re the subject rather than the requester, you have a right to see your own file. Every nationwide consumer reporting agency must provide you with a free copy once every 12 months on request.¹⁰ For the three major credit bureaus, that request goes through AnnualCreditReport.com. For employment screening companies, you request the file directly through the company’s consumer portal or by phone. Reviewing your file before a job search is the cleanest way to catch a mixed file, an old expunged case, or a misclassified charge before an employer sees it, and the FTC lays out the dispute process if you find something wrong.¹¹

State Rules That Go Beyond the FCRA

The FCRA is the federal floor. Two state-level trends matter most for anyone ordering checks.

Thirty-seven states, the District of Columbia, and more than 150 cities and counties have adopted “ban-the-box” or fair chance hiring laws. These generally prohibit asking about criminal history on the initial job application. Timing varies: some laws delay the question until after a conditional offer, others until after a first interview. Violations can bring fines and, in some jurisdictions, a private right of action for the applicant.

Several states also limit report content beyond the FCRA — shorter criminal lookbacks, bans on reporting arrests that did not lead to conviction, and restrictions on when credit history can be used in employment decisions.⁴ If you’re ordering checks for business, compliance means the federal rules plus every state where your applicants or tenants live.

1
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Fair Credit Reporting; Background Screening
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681b – Permissible Purposes of Consumer Reports
3
Federal Trade Commission. Background Checks on Prospective Employees: Keep Required Disclosures Simple
4
Federal Trade Commission. Background Checks What Employers Need to Know
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681c – Requirements Relating to Information Contained in Consumer Reports
6
Federal Trade Commission. Using Consumer Reports: What Employers Need to Know
7
Federal Trade Commission. Using Consumer Reports for Credit Decisions: What to Know About Adverse Action and Risk-Based Pricing Notices
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681q – Obtaining Information Under False Pretenses
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681n – Civil Liability for Willful Noncompliance
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681j – Charges for Certain Disclosures
11
Consumer Advice (FTC). Employer Background Checks and Your Rights