MYO — part of Money You are Owed

2026 renter’s guide

Wrong or Duplicated Records on a Tenant-Screening Report?

Tenant-screening companies sometimes list the same eviction or criminal case two or three times, or attach records that are not yours. Here is what the law entitles you to, how to force a fix, and what to do if a bad report already cost you the apartment.

Last fact-checked: July 26, 2026

Your FCRA rights on a tenant-screening report
Your right What it means Where it comes from
Accurate reporting The company must follow reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy of the information about you. 15 U.S.C. § 1681e(b)
Your file and its sources On request, it must show you everything in your file and, with a narrow exception, where each item came from. 15 U.S.C. § 1681g(a)
Free reinvestigation When you dispute an item, it must reinvestigate free and finish within 30 days (up to 45 if you add information). 15 U.S.C. § 1681i(a)
One free report a year Once every 12 months you can get your tenant-screening file at no charge. 15 U.S.C. § 1681j(a)
Notice if you are denied A landlord who rejects you over a report must name the company that supplied it, with its address and phone. 15 U.S.C. § 1681m(a)

What the RentGrow case tells you

In July 2026 the FTC announced a settlement that should change how every renter treats a screening report. RentGrow, a Massachusetts company that sells tenant-screening reports to landlords and property managers, agreed to pay a $2.25 million penalty under a proposed order the Department of Justice filed in federal court in Washington, D.C. The allegation was that RentGrow broke the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the FTC Act. Source: FTC press release

The core problem was double-counting. The FTC alleged that RentGrow failed to keep reasonable procedures to stop duplicate case records and multiple entries for the same criminal or eviction action, which made applicants look like they had more convictions or eviction suits than they really did. This happened even when RentGrow’s vendor had supplied the information accurately: the company displayed the data so that some proceedings showed up more than once.

Two other failures made it worse. RentGrow allegedly would not tell people all the sources behind their reports, including that a data product called LexisNexis Accurint fed it historical addresses and middle names it then used to match criminal and eviction records to consumers. And it allegedly mishandled disputes, labeling some ‘invalid’ with no further action, and in some cases telling a consumer their dispute had succeeded while telling the landlord that nothing had changed.

The honest read: if a national screening company under FTC investigation was inflating eviction histories, assume the smaller, cheaper screening outfits are no more careful. Check your own report before a landlord runs one on you.

What the FCRA actually entitles you to

The rights below are not favors a screening company grants. They are federal law, and they apply to tenant-screening reports the same as to credit reports.

  • Accurate reports. Whenever it prepares a report, the company must follow reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy of the information about you. That is the exact duty RentGrow was accused of ignoring. Source: 15 U.S.C. § 1681e(b)
  • Your whole file, on request. After you verify your identity, the company must disclose everything in your file at the time of the request and, apart from a narrow investigative-report exception, where the information came from. Source: 15 U.S.C. § 1681g(a)
  • A free reinvestigation within 30 days. When you dispute an item, the company must reinvestigate it free and finish before the end of the 30-day period that begins when it receives your dispute. Add relevant information partway through and the window can extend by up to 15 days. Source: 15 U.S.C. § 1681i(a)
  • One free report a year. Tenant-screening firms count as nationwide specialty reporting agencies, so each must give you a free copy of your file once every 12 months when you ask. Source: 15 U.S.C. § 1681j(a)

How to dispute an error, step by step

Run these in order. None of it costs money; it costs letters and follow-up.

  1. Pull your file. Ask the screening company for your free annual report and read every line. Look for the same eviction or criminal case listed twice, and for any record that belongs to someone with a similar name.
  2. Ask for the sources. Request the sources behind any record you doubt. The Accurint address-and-middle-name matching in the RentGrow case is exactly how a stranger’s record gets stapled to your file, and the source trail is your proof.
  3. Dispute in writing. Tell the company which specific item is wrong and why, in writing, and keep a copy. Certified mail gives you proof of the date, which starts the clock.
  4. Hold them to 30 days. The company must reinvestigate free and respond before the 30-day window closes. If it ignores you or rubber-stamps the item ‘invalid,’ that is the behavior the FTC just penalized, and it is worth documenting.

Already denied? Your next moves

If a screening report already cost you a unit, you have more room to push back than it feels like. Start by asking the landlord which company they used. When a landlord rejects you based on a report, the FCRA requires them to tell you and to give you the name, address, and telephone number of the screening company that supplied it. Source: 15 U.S.C. § 1681m(a)

Then run the dispute process above against that company. If it corrects a record, it is not allowed to quietly tell the landlord that nothing changed, which is one of the deceptions the FTC charged RentGrow with. A corrected report plus a short note to the landlord asking them to re-pull it is sometimes enough to reopen an application.

Do it free, or pay to have it organized

Here is the part a sales page would skip: you do not need to buy anything. Every step above is a free right under federal law, and the screening company, not you, pays for the reinvestigation.

What a paid kit buys is time and structure, nothing more. It gives you the dispute letter, the request for your file and sources, and a tracker for what you sent and when, so you are not drafting from a blank page or losing the thread while the 30-day clock is running. It cannot grant you a right the FCRA does not already give you for free.

The honest advice: if you are comfortable writing your own letters, do this yourself and keep your $59. If you would rather not build the paperwork from scratch while you are also apartment hunting, that is the honest reason to use a kit, and the only one.

Frequently asked questions

Is it free to dispute an error on a tenant-screening report?

Yes. The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires the screening company to reinvestigate an item you dispute free of charge and to finish before the end of the 30-day period that starts when it receives your dispute. That window can stretch by up to 15 days if you send more relevant information while it is working. You never pay the company to look into its own mistake.

How do duplicate eviction or criminal records end up on a report?

Often through sloppy matching. The FTC alleged that RentGrow used historical addresses and middle names from a data source called LexisNexis Accurint to attach records to people, and displayed some proceedings more than once even when its vendor had supplied the data correctly. The result was reports that made one eviction look like two or three.

Can I see my tenant-screening file and where the data came from?

Yes. On request, and after you prove who you are, the company must show you everything in your file at the time of the request and, with a narrow exception, the sources of that information. Seeing the sources matters, because a wrong record is usually a matching error, and the source trail is how you prove it is not yours.

How often can I get my tenant-screening report for free?

Once every 12 months. Federal law treats tenant-screening firms as nationwide specialty reporting agencies, and each of them has to give you a free copy of your file once per year when you ask. Pulling it before you start apartment hunting is the cheapest way to catch a duplicate or a stranger record before a landlord does.

A bad report already cost me the apartment. What can I do now?

Ask the landlord which screening company they used. When a landlord turns you down based on a report, the FCRA requires them to tell you and to give you the name, address, and telephone number of the company that supplied it. Then get your file from that company, dispute the wrong items in writing, and make them reinvestigate. If they change a record, they are not allowed to tell the landlord that nothing changed.

Did the FTC actually punish a company for this?

Yes. In July 2026 the FTC announced that RentGrow agreed to pay a $2.25 million penalty to settle allegations, brought in federal court by the Department of Justice, that it broke the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the FTC Act, including by letting duplicate records inflate the histories of applicants and by mishandling disputes.

Do I need to buy a kit to dispute a screening error?

No, and we will say so plainly. The dispute process is free and the law does the heavy lifting. A paid kit only saves you time by organizing the dispute letter, the request for your file and sources, and a record of what you sent and when. If you would rather write it all yourself, everything you need is in this guide.

Sources