Under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, how long a criminal record stays on a background check depends on what happened with the case: convictions can be reported indefinitely, while arrests and other non-conviction records must be removed after seven years. Several exceptions widen that window, and some states narrow it. The rules below apply to any consumer reporting agency that compiles background reports for employers, landlords, or lenders.
The Seven-Year Limit on Arrests and Non-Conviction Records
If you were arrested, indicted, or charged but never convicted, that record has a shelf life. Federal law caps reporting of arrest records and other non-conviction information at seven years from the date the event occurred.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681c – Requirements Relating to Information Contained in Consumer Reports Dismissed charges, dropped cases, acquittals, and charges resolved through diversion programs all fall into this category. Once seven years pass, a background screening company cannot legally include the record.
The clock starts on the date of the arrest or charge itself, not on the date a court dismissed it or entered a final disposition. Before a 1998 amendment, the FCRA measured the seven-year window from the “date of disposition, release, or parole,” which could stretch reporting well beyond seven years from the actual arrest. The current rule locks the start date to when the adverse event happened.2Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Fair Credit Reporting; Background Screening An arrest from January 2019 that was dismissed in 2021 should disappear from your report by January 2026, not 2028.
The same seven-year limit applies to civil suits and civil judgments, which cannot appear on a report once seven years have passed from the date of entry (or the statute of limitations, whichever is longer).1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681c – Requirements Relating to Information Contained in Consumer Reports
Convictions Have No Federal Time Limit
Convictions play by different rules. At the federal level, there is no time limit on how long a conviction can appear on a background report. The 1998 amendment to the FCRA specifically carved convictions out of the seven-year cap, so a felony or misdemeanor from decades ago can still show up today.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681c – Requirements Relating to Information Contained in Consumer Reports Before that change, convictions were treated like arrests, with a seven-year cap measured from the date of disposition, release, or parole.
The practical weight of this rule is large. The outcome of your case determines whether the record follows you for seven years or for life. Two people arrested on the same day for the same charge can end up with drastically different reporting timelines: the one whose case gets dismissed has a record that expires, while the one who pleads guilty carries a permanent entry.
Pending Charges
Charges still working through court sit in an awkward middle ground. They aren’t convictions, so they don’t get indefinite reporting. But they’re active, so the seven-year non-conviction clock hasn’t fully played out yet. Federal guidance from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau makes clear that reporting agencies must include any existing disposition information when they report an arrest or charge.2Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Fair Credit Reporting; Background Screening Reporting that you were arrested without noting that the charges were later dismissed is treated as misleading and inaccurate.
This is where many screening companies fall short. They scrape court records at one point in time and never go back to check whether the case was resolved. You end up with a report that says “arrested for assault” with no mention that the case was dropped six months later. That kind of incomplete reporting violates the FCRA’s accuracy requirements and is one of the most common grounds for consumer lawsuits against screening companies.
The $75,000 Salary Exception
The seven-year limit on non-conviction records is not absolute. When an employer is filling a position with an expected annual salary of $75,000 or more, the standard time limits on negative information do not apply.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681c – Requirements Relating to Information Contained in Consumer Reports A reporting agency can disclose arrests, dismissed charges, and other adverse records older than seven years if the position meets that threshold. The same exemption applies to credit transactions of $150,000 or more and life insurance policies of $150,000 or more.
The $75,000 figure is set by statute and has not been adjusted for inflation. Given wage growth, this exception now captures a much larger share of jobs than it originally targeted. If you’re applying for a management role, a professional position, or a job in a higher cost-of-living area, there’s a good chance the salary clears this bar and your full history becomes available. The screening company is supposed to verify the expected salary before bypassing the seven-year window, but in practice the employer’s stated salary range is usually what they rely on.
State Laws That Tighten the Rules
Federal law sets a floor, not a ceiling. Several states impose stricter limits on what background screening companies can report, and those state protections override the more permissive federal rules. Some states apply the seven-year reporting cap to convictions as well as non-conviction records, meaning a screening company operating in those states cannot report any criminal record older than seven years regardless of outcome. California is one example, restricting conviction reporting to seven years for employment background checks. These state-level protections matter most for convictions, since federal law already limits non-conviction records to seven years.
Expunged, Sealed, and Pardoned Records
When a court expunges or seals a record, that information is supposed to vanish from public view, and background screening companies are expected to follow suit. The CFPB has stated that reporting a record that has been expunged, sealed, or otherwise legally restricted from public access is misleading and inaccurate, because there is no longer any public record of the matter.2Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Fair Credit Reporting; Background Screening Screening agencies must have procedures to catch these legal changes and remove the records.
Pardons are a related but distinct situation. A pardon does not always result in the record being sealed or expunged, and that depends on the jurisdiction and the terms of the pardon. If a pardon leads to the record being legally restricted from public access, the same prohibition on reporting applies. If the pardon leaves the conviction on the public record but simply restores rights, the conviction may still be reportable.
The real-world problem is that many screening companies work from old database snapshots and never refresh them. You might have had a record sealed two years ago, but if the company last pulled court data before the order was entered, your sealed record still shows up. Consumers have the right to dispute any report that includes information that has been expunged or sealed, and the CFPB has flagged this as a compliance priority.3Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. CFPB Addresses Inaccurate Background Check Reports and Sloppy Credit File Sharing Practices
When a Record on Your Report Isn’t Even Yours
Time limits are only part of the picture. Screening companies also have a broad legal duty to get identity right. The FCRA requires every consumer reporting agency to follow reasonable procedures to ensure the maximum possible accuracy of the information in its reports.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681e – Compliance Procedures Scraping a public court records website and dumping the results into a report doesn’t meet that standard.
One of the worst accuracy failures is “name-only matching,” where a screening company assigns a criminal record to you because someone with the same first and last name appears in court records. The CFPB has issued an advisory opinion stating that name-only matching does not satisfy the FCRA’s accuracy requirements.5Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Fair Credit Reporting; Name-Only Matching Procedures Screening companies must use additional identifiers such as date of birth, Social Security number, and address history to make sure the record actually belongs to you. If you have a common name, this is the single biggest risk factor for ending up with someone else’s criminal record on your report.
How to Dispute a Record That Shouldn’t Be There
If your background report contains wrong or outdated information, the FCRA gives you a dispute process. You notify the reporting agency directly that specific information in your file is inaccurate or incomplete. The agency then has 30 days from the date it receives your dispute to conduct a reinvestigation and determine whether the information is correct.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681i – Procedure in Case of Disputed Accuracy Within five business days of receiving your dispute, the agency must also notify whichever company or entity furnished the disputed information.
If the agency can’t verify the disputed item, it must delete or correct it. If the reinvestigation doesn’t resolve the dispute in your favor, you have the right to add a brief statement to your file explaining your side, up to 100 words if the agency helps you write it.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681i – Procedure in Case of Disputed Accuracy Any future report that includes the disputed item must note that you’ve disputed it and either include your statement or a summary of it.
A few timing details are worth knowing. If you file your dispute after receiving your free annual report, the investigation window extends to 45 days instead of 30. The agency can also extend the deadline by 15 days if you submit additional information during the original 30-day period.7Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. How Long Does It Take to Repair an Error on a Credit Report? Put your dispute in writing, include copies of supporting documents (court dismissal orders, expungement records, proof of identity), and keep a record of when you sent it. The date the agency receives the notice starts the clock. If an employer took action against you based on the report, you also have 60 days after receiving the adverse action notice to request a free copy of your file from the reporting agency.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681j – Charges for Certain Disclosures
What You Can Recover If the Rules Are Broken
The FCRA has real teeth. If a screening company violates the law, you can sue, and the size of the recovery depends on whether the violation was intentional or careless.
For willful violations, where the company knew it was breaking the law or acted with reckless disregard, you can recover either your actual damages or statutory damages between $100 and $1,000 (whichever is higher), plus punitive damages at the court’s discretion, plus attorney’s fees and court costs.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681n – Civil Liability for Willful Noncompliance Statutory damages matter because they mean you don’t have to prove exactly how much money the violation cost you.
For negligent violations, where the company failed to follow the law but didn’t do it intentionally, the recovery is more limited. You can collect actual damages you can prove (lost wages from a job you didn’t get, for instance), plus attorney’s fees and costs.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681o – Civil Liability for Negligent Noncompliance There are no statutory damages and no punitive damages for negligence. The distinction between willful and negligent is often the central fight in FCRA cases, because it determines whether a consumer walks away with a meaningful recovery or has to prove every dollar of harm.