Accurint Background Check Mistakes
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How to Fix Inaccuracies in Your Accurint Report!
Federal law grants you the right to dispute mistakes in your Accurint report. Learn the steps to take to ensure corrections are made and avoid costly consequences from incorrect background checks.
Your personal data is valuable to many organizations for many reasons. Through Accurint, LexisNexis collects your sensitive information and sells it to government agencies. When there’s a mistake on your Accurint report, the results can be catastrophic.
Imagine living a spotless life - no arrests, no legal trouble, not even a parking ticket. You graduate from college with honors, having earned multiple scholarships for grad school. But instead of continuing your studies, you decide to pursue your dream of working for the government, encouraged by a family member. After months of waiting, filling out forms, and going through background checks, you’re devastated to learn you’ve been denied employment. The reason? A background report from a company called Accurint falsely claims you have violent criminal convictions.
It sounds like a nightmare, but it’s not uncommon. Our clients have lost many opportunities because of erroneous background check reports.
When companies like Accurint make mistakes, the impact can shatter dreams, reputations, and careers. If you or someone you know is in a similar situation, Consumer Attorneys are here to help. Contact us if Accurint mishandles your data - we will fight to correct the errors.
Even small errors in your background report can have serious consequences. If you're unsure about your Accurint report's accuracy, consulting one of our lawyers can help you navigate the correction process.
About Accurint
LexisNexis provides a background check and reporting service called Accurint. Accurint retrieves a person’s data from both public and private sources and databases. Government agencies, law enforcement, financial institutions, and private employers all purchase Accurint reports for many reasons.
Regardless of who is using an Accurint check or for what purpose, when errors, inaccuracies, or outdated information appear on a person’s Accurint report, the damage to that person’s opportunities, reputation, and career can be devastating. Lawyers for consumers are available and eager to help you if you have found or been hurt by an error in your Accurint report.
What is an Accurint Background Check Report?
What is an Accurint report? Great question! Accurint is a service from LexisNexis that provides detailed background checks for many organizations, public and private, who want thorough and detailed information about a person for everything from employment checks to identifying witnesses and assets in a lawsuit, for collections, for insurance, or for political background checks. An Accurint background check report contains:
- Personal data. This includes your birthdate, your social security number, your current address or addresses, your past addresses, and telephone numbers. This also includes any past names.
- Assets. This includes the properties you own or have owned, credit report information, commercial filings, liens, bankruptcies, and UCC filings.
- Rental info. An Accurint eviction report will contain past rental information.
- Employment info. Accurint employment background checks include your past employment dates and places of employment.
- People. Depending on the level of Accurint background report, the report may contain information about your immediate family, relatives, neighbors, business associates, roommates, and possible relatives and associates.
- Motor vehicles. The Accurint report also contains driver's license information, car registrations, motor vehicle registrations, and driving records.
- Voting. Your voting registration information is also on the Accurint report.
An error in your Accurint report can impact important decisions like employment or housing. If you find inaccuracies, you have the right to dispute them and correct your report.
Mistakes, incorrect data, and wrong information appear on a person’s Accurint report with far greater frequency than they should. This is important for people to know because of the sensitive nature of these reports and because government agencies, corporations, and financial institutions use these reports to make critical decisions. What should you do if you have identified a mistake in your Accurint report; or if you have been denied a job or a loan or otherwise been damaged by an inaccurate Accurint report?
The credit report lawyers at Consumer Attorneys know Accurint, know the laws that govern these reports, know how to dispute an Accurint report, and know how to take legal action if necessary. A lawyer is always eager to help you.
Accurint Employment Background Checks
Many employers use Accurint employment background checks to verify a job candidate’s employment history and education, and if circumstances require, an Accurint employment background check can contain more private information like criminal history and financial history. Employers, therefore, use the Accurint report to make personal assessments and gauge the risk you might pose to their organization. In this context, errors in your Accurint report become especially corrosive. Not getting a job because of someone else’s error is not only a missed opportunity for you, but also unjust and potentially damaging to your reputation.
Common reasons for errors and inaccuracies in an Accurint report include misspellings, handling large quantities of data quickly and carelessly, outdated information, and data processing errors.
| Error Type | Impact |
|---|---|
| Incorrect Personal Details | Job rejection, credit denial |
| Outdated Employment Records | Missed job opportunities |
| Asset Information Mistakes | Denied loans, property disputes |
| Misreported Criminal History | Reputational damage, denied employment |
| Incorrect Rental Information | Housing application rejection |
A federal law called the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) protects you when inaccuracies appear on your Accurint report. The FCRA gives you rights to:
- Access the information in your report.
- Dispute incorrect or incomplete data.
- Have LexisNexis correct or remove errors within a reasonable timeframe.
- File a lawsuit to pursue corrections if the response or investigation is inadequate.
People are entitled to one free Accurint report every year. You should thoroughly review your Accurint background check report and thoroughly review it regularly. When you identify inaccuracies of any kind, file a dispute with LexisNexis via certified mail. Include a letter detailing what’s wrong and provide evidence. LexisNexis is then obligated to investigate and fix it.
Contact Us Today for a Free Consultation
If LexisNexis neither investigates nor corrects the errors or if too much damage has already been done, the experienced and caring attorneys at Consumer Attorneys can help.
We understand the FCRA. We understand the importance of accurate background reports, the damage that inaccurate background reports can cause, and how to get compensation for those who have suffered this damage.
Frequently Asked Questions
An Accurint report provides whoever reads it with a thorough compilation of your sensitive data. Accurint reports are unique because they contain information from both publicly available sources and non-publicly available information. Accurint purchases information not available to the public from private sources. This information includes your social security number, your previous addresses, your assets, your birthdate information, information about your relatives, and other financial information. Publicly available information on your Accurint report includes voter registration records, liens, criminal records, vehicle registration records, and professional licenses. Errors in an Accurint report can have devastating consequences for their subjects.
Accurint reports are highly detailed background checks that come from a company called LexisNexis. Accurint reports contain public and non-public information and are frequently used by government agencies, law enforcement agencies, financial institutions, and any other organization that wants a detailed report on you. The Accurint report gathers and compiles a person’s data - including present and former addresses, criminal history, employment history, financial assets, relatives, and credit information. Law enforcement and government agents like this report because it provides data not available to the public and can help identify witnesses, verify identities, locate assets, identify a person’s relatives, and generally help in decision-making. People should know the information in their Accurint report as inaccuracies in the report can it's important to be aware of the information in their Accurint report, as inaccuracies can severely and negatively impact many aspects of their life.
Accurint, a service developed and sold by LexisNexis, gets its information from a wide range of sources. These sources include sources available to the public, like phone directories, social media profiles, criminal records, and online databases. Accurint also gets information from sources not available to the public. These sources include court documents, real estate title companies, property records, professional licenses, employment histories, and credit reporting companies. Because Accurint relies on multiple sources from publicly available and commercial sources, people should review their Accurint reports to make sure they are accurate and current and dispute any inaccuracies or errors before they cause damage.
Daniel Cohen is the Founder of Consumer Attorneys. Daniel manages the firm’s branding, marketing, client intake and business development efforts. Since 2017, he is a member of the National Association of Consumer Advocates and the National Consumer Law Center. Mr. Cohen is a nationally-recognized practitioner of consumer protection law. He has a we... Read more
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