What is FCRA?
FCRA stands for the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act. The FCRA is a federal agency designed to protect individuals by promoting fair practices, regulation, and privacy for consumer reporting agencies.
What is FCRA Compliance?
The FCRA regulates who can access information on individuals. It further regulates what data can be used to deny employment or housing. The FCRA requires that credit reporting agencies, like BackgroundNow.com provide data to people that have a legitimate business purpose such as employment screening or tenant screening. Data from our site is only available to persons who have obtained permission from the individual they are checking an must be used for business purposes only.
Are all Online Background Checks FCRA Compliant?
No, if you are using a background check for employment screening or tenant screening; you must use a FCRA compliant background check. Most online background check companies are not technically providing true “Background Checks.” Many will provide you with a report compiled from readily available public resources which cannot be used to deny employment or housing. Data such as neighbors, age, income, phone records, social media history can’t be used for employment or tenant screening. Such data cannot be used to negatively impact your decision to hire or rent to an individual. BackgroundNow.com produces background reports that provide FCRA compliant data such as criminal record history and in some case negative financial history which can be used to deny employment or housing as per regulations set by the FRCA. BackgroundNow.com strongly recommends avoiding non-FCRA background check companies that claim to provide “Background Checks;” but then provide data that can’t be used to screen tenants or employees.
FCRA Requirements for Adverse Action
If the data shown in a background check leads you to deny rent or employment; you will need to comply with the terms set by the Federal Credit Reporting Act. For employers click here to see requirements set by the FRCA.
For an overview of consumers rights; visit here.