Checkr background check

Checkr is a consumer reporting agency that provides background check reports for companies and organizations that request them.¹

Checkr says it does not review reports, make employment or engagement decisions, or know about a company's hiring decisions. The company or organization you applied with makes those decisions based on its own requirements.

Checkr's candidate portal is at candidate.checkr.com. To check status, log in with the information you gave the company during the application; you can then see your report status and any actions you need to take.^2,3

Checkr says people outside the U.S. use a different candidate portal, depending on where they work and when the check began.

Checkr says: "Most background checks take 3 to 7 business days to complete, but some may take longer."^1,3

Checkr's candidate page says the Checkr ETA in the candidate portal is an estimate and that actual delivery time is not guaranteed. It lists common causes of delay: waiting on information from you, slow county courts, and verifications that depend on third parties. Checkr's help center also says Checkr can't expedite the background check process.

Checkr says "Consider" means the report has at least one record that the company or organization may want to review, and "Clear" means the report has no records, or only records the company or organization decided are not relevant.^1,4

Checkr's article on reading a report says Consider does not mean you were rejected. It means the employer may review information in the report before making a final decision. The article adds that Clear does not always mean no records were found; it means none were relevant under the employer's rules. Checkr says to contact the company you applied to with questions about its review.

Checkr defines "Pending" as a background check still being processed, "Suspended" as a report that stopped because of missing information or incomplete searches, "Dispute" as a report under reinvestigation because you disputed it, and "Canceled" as a report that could not be completed.¹

Checkr says "Complete" on an individual search means the search finished running. Some searches, such as a Social Security number trace or a national criminal search, only show "Complete" because they point to where more detailed searches may be needed. Checkr says documents you upload for a suspended report can take 3-7 business days to review.

Checkr says that once your report is complete, you can download a copy by logging into the candidate portal.^3,5

The CFPB's listing for Checkr says the company provides a free report on request if one was previously requested from Checkr by one of its clients. It also says Checkr provides free reports with limited data for people with arrest or conviction records through a separate website, betterfuture.com.

To dispute information on a completed Checkr report, you log into the candidate portal, open the report and select "File a dispute" at the bottom of the page. Checkr says it typically has 30 days to complete a reinvestigation, or up to 45 days if you send supporting documents.^1,6

Checkr says you can dispute a record that is not yours, a record with wrong details such as dates or charge type, or a case status that changed after the record was reported. Checkr says the dispute button does not appear while a report is in progress, and that reports with a Clear result cannot be disputed through the portal. After a reinvestigation, Checkr emails you the result.

Checkr's help center contact page, help.checkr.com/s/contactsupport, has a request form and says candidate chat support is available 24/7, and the CFPB lists a phone number of (844) 824-3257 for requesting report information.^5,7

The CFPB lists Checkr's mailing address for privacy questions as Checkr, Inc., Attn: Privacy Questions, One Montgomery Street, Suite 2400, San Francisco, CA 94104.

If an employer turns you down because of information in a background report, the FTC says the employer must tell you that you have the right to dispute inaccurate or incomplete information with the background reporting company, and the right to an additional free report if you ask within 60 days of the decision.⁸

The FTC says the employer must also give you the name, address and phone number of the background reporting company, and tell you that the company did not make the decision and cannot give reasons for it. Before deciding, the employer must give you a copy of the report and a "Summary of Rights".

The FTC says to dispute a mistake by contacting the background reporting company, explaining the mistakes and asking that they be fixed, with any supporting documentation.⁸

After the company revises your report, the FTC says to review it to make sure the mistakes are gone, ask the company to send a copy of the corrected report to the employer, and tell the employer about the mistake. The FTC also asks people to tell it if they think a background check company included errors in their report, and to report an employer that got a report without permission or turned them down without the required notices at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, a consumer reporting agency must conduct a reasonable investigation within 30 days of being notified of a dispute, and the investigation is free.^9,10

The FTC's description of the law says the agency must record the status of the information or delete it, and must tell you the results in writing within five days of finishing. The CFPB says companies must investigate a dispute free of charge.