If your rental application was denied, the decision was probably driven by a tenant screening report you never saw. Landlords order these reports from screening companies, and the reports are often wrong: an eviction that belongs to someone else, a criminal record that was expunged, a debt that was already paid. The Fair Credit Reporting Act gives you the right to see that report, dispute what is wrong in it, and recover damages when the screening company will not correct it.
Your Tenant Screening Report Is a Consumer Report Under the FCRA
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) regulates how consumer and credit reports are obtained and used. A background check report is a type of consumer report that provides information on a person’s credit history, rental history, criminal history, and sometimes driving history. Landlords wishing to run background checks on rental applicants must comply with all requirements under the FCRA.
What Your Landlord Was Required to Tell You
The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) recently issued guidance to landlords and background check companies to facilitate a better understanding about requirements under the FCRA. This guidance provides information to clarify the FCRA so that landlords and background check companies can ensure they are taking all necessary measures to comply with the law.
Landlords have a basic understanding of the FCRA when screening tenants, but typically do not review or take time to understand the full provisions of the law. The FCRA requires a landlord to have express and written consent before running a background check on an applicant. Once a landlord is finished with an applicant’s background check report, the landlord must dispose of the report in a secure manner. Further, the landlord cannot use the report for any purpose other than approving or denying an application.
Additionally, under the FCRA, if a landlord takes “adverse action” on an applicant (such as denying the application, requiring a co-signor, or requiring that the applicant pay more in rent than another applicant), the landlord must give notice of that determination. This is referred to as an “adverse action notice.”
When an adverse action notice is required, the landlord must provide the applicant with the name and address of the company that prepared the report, and information on how the report can be disputed. The FTC guidance provides examples for when landlords must give notice to applicants of adverse action. This is the case regardless of whether the background check report played a significant role in the landlord’s decision.
If a landlord has taken adverse action against an applicant without providing the prospective tenant with appropriate notice, then that landlord may be in violation of the FCRA.
Contact The Kim Law Firm, LLC Today to Speak with a Consumer Protection Attorney
If your application for rental housing has been denied or if you simply have questions about the background check process, contact a Consumer Protection and FCRA Attorney at The Kim Law Firm, LLC today by calling 855-996-6342 for a no cost consultation.
Were you denied an apartment over a screening report?
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The screening services landlords actually use
A landlord rejecting an application almost never assembled the underlying report. Property managers subscribe to tenant screening platforms that pull credit data, eviction filings from court records, and criminal history, then return a score or a recommendation. Those platforms are consumer reporting agencies under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which means the eviction record you have never heard of and the criminal entry belonging to someone with your name are both the platform’s responsibility to correct.
- RealPage — a screening platform embedded in large property management systems.
- SafeRent — produces the scores many landlords use to accept or reject applicants.
- CoreLogic — supplies rental screening reports drawing on court and public records.
- TransUnion SmartMove — a screening product marketed to independent landlords.
- TransUnion — the nationwide bureau whose credit data feeds many rental decisions.
- Experian — another bureau supplying the credit component of tenant reports.
When an application is denied, ask the landlord for the adverse action notice naming the screening company, then request your file from that company directly. Eviction records are a frequent source of error because court dockets often record a filing without recording that the case was dismissed or decided in the tenant’s favor, and dismissed cases routinely appear as if they were judgments. Dispute the entry with the screening service, attach the court disposition if you have it, and ask that the corrected report be furnished to the landlord who ordered it.