A tenant screening report from a consumer reporting agency is generally a consumer report under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act. If it holds wrong, outdated or someone else's information, a consumer can get a copy, dispute the error, and the screening company generally must reinvestigate within 30 days and correct or delete what it cannot verify.
A rental application may be turned down, or accepted only with a co-signer, a larger deposit or a higher rent, and the reason may point to a report the applicant has never seen. Sometimes the report mentions an eviction that never happened, a criminal record that belongs to a stranger with a similar name, or a debt from years ago. The questions that follow are practical ones: who made this report, how do I see it, and does anyone have to fix it.
This page walks through how federal credit-reporting law treats a tenant screening report, from the notice a landlord must send to the dispute process and the remedies the statute describes.
What a Tenant Screening Report Is and Why Errors Occur
Federal law calls this document a consumer report. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681a(d), a consumer report is "any written, oral, or other communication of any information by a consumer reporting agency bearing on a consumer's credit worthiness, credit standing, credit capacity, character, general reputation, personal characteristics, or mode of living" used or expected to be used as a factor in deciding eligibility for credit or insurance, employment, or another purpose the law authorizes.
A screening report that a consumer reporting agency prepares to help a landlord decide whether to rent to someone can fit this definition. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681b(a)(3)(F)(i), a consumer reporting agency may furnish a consumer report to a person it has reason to believe "otherwise has a legitimate business need for the information" "in connection with a business transaction that is initiated by the consumer."
A consumer reporting agency is a company that assembles and sells these reports. The CFPB describes credit reporting companies that way and notes that specialty reporting companies collect other information, including tenant history. Its page on specialty consumer reporting agencies lists apartment rental history, "including evictions and unpaid billing," among what these reports may draw from. Screening companies of this kind fall within the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq.
Errors tend to come from a few places:
- Mixed files, where records from a person with a similar name or Social Security number land in the wrong file.
- Outdated records, such as old eviction suits or arrest records, which 15 U.S.C. § 1681c(a)(2) generally keeps off a report once they are more than seven years past entry, or until the governing statute of limitations has expired, whichever is longer. Records of criminal convictions are carved out of the separate seven-year rule for other adverse items in 15 U.S.C. § 1681c(a)(5).
- Inaccurate rental history, like a balance reported wrongly.
- Identity theft, where accounts opened by someone else appear.
A furnisher, the company that supplies information to a reporting agency, such as a former landlord or a collector, can also be the source. When an error leads to an adverse action, meaning a denial of housing or another unfavorable decision based on the report, 15 U.S.C. § 1681m sets out the notice the decision-maker must give.
The FCRA's Accuracy and Completeness Requirements
The core accuracy rule is short. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681e(b), "Whenever a consumer reporting agency prepares a consumer report it shall follow reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy of the information concerning the individual about whom the report relates." The words "the individual about whom the report relates" matter in a mixed-file situation, because a report that attaches a stranger's history to an applicant raises a question about whether those procedures were reasonable. Whether any particular report falls short depends on its facts.
Old information has limits too. The CFPB's Summary of Your Rights Under the FCRA states that "in most cases, a consumer reporting agency may not report negative information that is more than seven years old, or bankruptcies that are more than 10 years old." Separately, 15 U.S.C. § 1681c(f) requires an agency that has been told by a furnisher that information is disputed to "indicate that fact in each consumer report that includes the disputed information."
Taken together, these rules mean a report is expected to be about the right person, to leave out most stale negative history, and to flag items the consumer has challenged.
Furnishers carry their own duties. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2(a)(1)(A), a furnisher may not furnish information it "knows or has reasonable cause to believe" is inaccurate; the statute defines that phrase as having specific knowledge, other than solely allegations by the consumer, that would cause a reasonable person to have substantial doubts about the accuracy of the information, and a furnisher that clearly and conspicuously specifies an address for consumer notices is not subject to that paragraph. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2(a)(1)(B), a furnisher may not furnish information after the consumer has notified it, at the address it specifies for such notices, that specific information is inaccurate, if the information is in fact inaccurate.
Put simply: the screening company answers for how it builds the report, and the furnisher answers for what it sends in.
Adverse Action Notices: What a Landlord Must Provide
Being rejected without explanation is part of what makes these situations so disorienting, and the law addresses that gap directly. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681m(a), anyone who takes adverse action based in whole or in part on information in a consumer report must provide the consumer with:
- oral, written or electronic notice of the adverse action;
- a written or electronic disclosure of any numerical credit score used, along with related score information the statute lists;
- the name, address and telephone number of the consumer reporting agency that furnished the report (including a toll-free number for nationwide agencies);
- a statement that the agency did not make the decision and cannot give the specific reasons for it; and
- notice of the consumer's right to obtain a free copy of the report from that agency under 15 U.S.C. § 1681j, including an indication of the 60-day period for requesting it, and to dispute the accuracy or completeness of the report under 15 U.S.C. § 1681i.
In plain words, the notice is meant to tell a renter what happened, who produced the report, and how to see and challenge it.
The CFPB's list of consumer reporting companies states that a rejected applicant, or one "conditionally accepted" with a co-signer, larger deposit or higher rent, must receive an adverse action notice naming the screening company used. That notice is usually how a consumer first learns which company produced the report. A consumer may then request the free copy within the stated period.
How the FCRA Dispute Process Works
A dispute starts a reinvestigation, which is the reporting agency's second look at a specific item the consumer says is inaccurate or incomplete.
Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681i(a)(1)(A), generally, when a consumer notifies the agency directly, or through a reseller, that an item in the file is inaccurate or incomplete, the agency must, free of charge, conduct a reasonable reinvestigation and record the current status of the item or delete it, before the end of the 30-day period that begins when the agency receives the dispute. Under § 1681i(a)(1)(B), that period may be extended by not more than 15 additional days if the consumer sends relevant information during the 30 days, but under § 1681i(a)(1)(C) no extension applies if, within the 30 days, the item is found inaccurate or incomplete or cannot be verified. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681i(a)(3), the agency may also terminate a reinvestigation if it reasonably determines that the dispute is frivolous or irrelevant, including by reason of a failure to provide sufficient information to investigate the disputed information, and it must then notify the consumer of that determination not later than 5 business days after making it.
Put more simply, the clock generally starts when the screening company receives the dispute, and it can run a little longer only in limited circumstances.
Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681i(a)(2), within 5 business days of receiving the dispute, the agency must notify whoever furnished the disputed item and include "all relevant information regarding the dispute" it received from the consumer. This is the step that brings the original source of the information, such as a former landlord or collector, into the process.
The furnisher then must act. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2(b)(1), it must investigate, review all relevant information the agency provided, report the results to the agency, report any inaccuracy to the other nationwide agencies it furnished to, and promptly modify, delete or permanently block an item found inaccurate, incomplete or unverifiable. Under § 1681s-2(b)(2), it must finish within the agency's reinvestigation period.
The practical effect is that the screening company and the furnisher both have work to do, on the same timeline.
The CFPB's summary states that inaccurate, incomplete or unverifiable information "must be removed or corrected, usually within 30 days," though an agency may keep reporting information it has verified. If a consumer still disagrees, the CFPB states the consumer generally may add a statement to the report saying the information is disputed. The dispute steps are the same ones that apply to wrong information on credit reports.
When a Background Check Fails: How Each Type of Error Shows Up
Hearing that a background check "failed" can feel like a verdict on a person's whole life, when the cause is often a single wrong line. The error types described earlier each tend to surface in a recognisable way on a rental application.
With a mixed file, the result can be a history the applicant does not recognise at all. A renter with no criminal history may see a conviction; one who never missed rent may see an eviction judgment from another state.
Other errors are subtler, because the record is real but incomplete or out of date. Criminal records may be matched to the wrong person or reported after their status changed. Eviction records may show a filing without the later outcome. Credit information may show balances or late payments that are wrong.
Identity theft adds another layer, when someone opens accounts in the applicant's name. The FCRA has a separate identity theft provision, 15 U.S.C. § 1681c-2. Among its terms, § 1681c-2(b) requires an agency to promptly notify the furnisher of information the consumer identified in a block request under § 1681c-2(a) that information may result from identity theft, that an identity theft report has been filed, that a block has been requested, and of the block's effective dates; the section has exceptions, including for certain resellers and check services companies. In plain terms, this provision is designed to make sure the source of the information learns of the identity theft claim. More on this appears in the page on an account that isn't yours.
Whatever the type of error, the reinvestigation process described above applies to a disputed item in the consumer's file.
Filing a Complaint with the CFPB or FTC
Two federal agencies take consumer complaints in this area. The CFPB states on its page about credit denials that a person who has "a problem with credit reporting" can submit a complaint to the CFPB.
The FTC's page on employer background checks states, in the employment setting, that a consumer can tell the FTC if a background check company included errors in a background check, through ReportFraud.ftc.gov. The CFPB's summary of rights notes that many states have their own consumer reporting laws and that, in some cases, a consumer may have more rights under state law.
An agency complaint is separate from a dispute with the screening company. The dispute triggers the reinvestigation duties in 15 U.S.C. § 1681i; a complaint informs a regulator. A consumer may use either or both, and neither guarantees a particular result.
What the FCRA Makes Potentially Available When a CRA or Furnisher Fails Its Duties
The FCRA has two civil liability sections, and which one is relevant turns on whether a failure was willful or negligent.
Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681n(a), a person who willfully fails to comply with a requirement of the FCRA with respect to a consumer is liable for any actual damages the consumer sustained as a result, or damages of not less than $100 and not more than $1,000; such punitive damages as the court may allow; and, in a successful action, the costs of the action and reasonable attorney's fees as determined by the court.
Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681o(a), a person who is negligent in failing to comply is liable for any actual damages the consumer sustained as a result of the failure and, in a successful action, costs and reasonable attorney's fees as determined by the court.
The difference, in short, is that the willful-violation section reaches further than the negligence section, which centres on actual damages, costs and fees.
Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681n(c) and § 1681o(b), on a finding that an unsuccessful pleading, motion or other paper was filed in bad faith or for purposes of harassment, the court shall award the prevailing party attorney's fees reasonable in relation to the work expended in responding to it. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2(c) and (d), those two sections do not apply to a violation of § 1681s-2(a), the furnisher accuracy rule described above (with an exception for actions by State officials under 15 U.S.C. § 1681s(c)(1)(B)), and such violations are enforced exclusively as provided in 15 U.S.C. § 1681s by the Federal agencies and officials and the State officials identified there. Section 1681s-2(c) does not list the furnisher duties after a dispute notice in § 1681s-2(b). These are what the statute makes potentially available. Whether a particular screening report or dispute response involved a violation, whether it was willful or negligent, and what harm resulted all depend on the specific facts. The page on credit report error attorneys covers related questions.
If You'd Like a Consumer Rights Case Review
A screening error usually involves several moving parts at once: the landlord's adverse action notice, the screening company named in it, the furnisher behind the disputed item, and the dates of any dispute and the company's answer. This page does not address lease terms, eviction cases or other landlord-tenant matters beyond the screening report.
A reader looking for a tenant screening attorney may request a consumer rights case review through Federal Consumer Rights.
