FCRA and Permissible Use Notice

FCRA and Permissible Use Notice

Read this before you run a search. It is the most important page on this site, and accepting it is a condition of using the Service.

Not a consumer reporting agency

PeopleCheck is not a consumer reporting agency ("CRA") as that term is defined by the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq. ("FCRA"), and the information we return is not a "consumer report" under the FCRA.

We do not collect or assemble information for the purpose of furnishing consumer reports, and we do not verify the accuracy of the public and third-party data we surface.

You may not use PeopleCheck, in whole or in part, as a factor in establishing any person's eligibility for:

• employment, promotion, reassignment or retention as an employee;
• credit, a loan, or any extension of credit;
• housing, tenancy or tenant screening;
• insurance underwriting or pricing;
• a professional or occupational licence;
• any government benefit or licence granted on applicant financial capacity; or
• any other purpose that is a "permissible purpose" under 15 U.S.C. § 1681b.

If you need information for any of those purposes, you must obtain it from a properly licensed consumer reporting agency that complies with the FCRA, including its adverse-action and dispute obligations.

You additionally may not use the Service to stalk, harass, intimidate, threaten, defraud or discriminate against any person, or in any way that violates the Driver's Privacy Protection Act, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, any state anti-doxxing or anti-stalking statute, or any equivalent law of the United Kingdom or Canada.

Accounts used for a prohibited purpose are terminated without refund, and we reserve the right to report the activity to the relevant authorities.

Why this notice exists

The Fair Credit Reporting Act regulates "consumer reports" — information used to decide whether someone gets a job, a loan, a home, or an insurance policy. Consumer reporting agencies that furnish those reports must follow strict rules about accuracy, dispute handling, and telling a consumer when a report was used against them.

PeopleCheck is deliberately not built to be one of those agencies. We aggregate publicly accessible information and licensed third-party data for personal knowledge, reconnection, due diligence on a counterparty you are already dealing with, and situational safety. That is a different product with a different legal footing, and mixing the two would harm the people we write about.

What you may use PeopleCheck for

• Confirming that a person you met online is who they say they are, before you meet them in person or send them money.
• Reconnecting with someone you have lost touch with.
• Checking the public footprint of a private counterparty in a transaction you are already engaged in.
• Reviewing your own public footprint.

What you may never use PeopleCheck for

Employment screening (including contractors and volunteers), tenant screening, credit decisions, insurance underwriting, professional licensing, educational admission, or any other decision listed in 15 U.S.C. § 1681b. Also never for stalking, harassment, intimidation, doxxing, or discrimination on the basis of any protected characteristic.

Accuracy

We do not verify the information we surface. A Trust Score expresses only how strongly the sources we reached corroborated one another. Sources can be stale, mismatched, or about a different person with the same name. Never take an adverse action against anyone based on a PeopleCheck report.

UK and Canadian users

The FCRA is a US statute, but the underlying principle applies to you too. In the United Kingdom, using this Service for employment vetting may engage the Data Protection Act 2018 and, for certain roles, the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the Disclosure and Barring Service regime. In Canada, employment and tenancy screening is regulated under provincial human-rights and consumer-reporting legislation. In both countries, use a properly regulated screening provider for those purposes.

Enforcement

Acceptance of this notice is recorded against your account with a timestamp. Where we have reason to believe an account is being used for a prohibited purpose we suspend it immediately, refuse a refund, and may report the activity.

If you are the subject of a report

You may have your record suppressed permanently and free of charge. Use the "Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information" link in the footer, or write to privacy@peoplecheck.online. No account is required.

PeopleCheck Online LLC · PeopleCheck Online LLC, Legal Department, 8 The Green, Suite 17337, Dover, DE 19901, United States