The FCRA was designed to prevent this kind of thing. I wonder how they get around it?
That's what we really need to do--extend the FCRA to cover all companies that gather external data to make decisions that are important to the person. Apply the same standards to all forms of background check--it waddles and quacks, the FCRA applies.
I would also change the once-a-year check to say once-a-day.
The fundamental problem is that the economics of all background-check companies are skewed towards false denials. The companies are happy to have dodged a bullet (bad renter, bad job applicant etc), nothing tells them that the bullet wasn't real. (And what of those of us whose backgrounds aren't exactly verifiable? I have more than 20 years of employment at companies that no longer exist.)
https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2016/11/screening...
>Background screening reports provided by your company are covered by the FCRA if they’re used to help decide eligibility for housing and include information “bearing on a consumer’s creditworthiness, credit standing, credit capacity, character, general reputation, personal characteristics, or mode of living.”