The information on a background check is the set of records the screening company retrieved and is legally allowed to report. It is not a dossier on your life. It is a structured report covering identity, criminal history, and whichever verifications the employer ordered — with defined legal limits on how far back each item can reach.
The fields you will see
Identifiers. Legal name, known aliases, date of birth, and address history. These drive every other search, so errors here cascade.
Criminal records. Each entry shows the court, case number, filing date, charge, disposition, and sentence where applicable. County searches, state repositories, and federal searches are reported separately because they draw on different sources.
Sex offender registry matches. Included where required or ordered.
Verification results. For employment: employer, title, dates, and a matched / not-matched flag. For education: institution, degree, dates, and the same flag. For licences: issuing board and current status.
Driving records. Violations, suspensions, and points, for roles where the MVR was ordered.
Credit summary. For permitted roles, a summary rather than a full tradeline report.
The legal limits on each item
Under the FCRA, most adverse items are reportable for seven years. Key exceptions and limits:
- Arrests without conviction — excluded after seven years.
- Bankruptcies — reportable for ten years.
- Convictions — reportable indefinitely in some states, seven years in others.
- State overlays — California, Massachusetts, Montana, and Washington are stricter than the federal floor, and several states ban credit checks for most roles outright.
What is not on it
Race, religion, national origin, disability, medical history, sealed or expunged records, juvenile records, and non-conviction arrests older than seven years. Salary appears only if separately ordered and legally permitted in your state.
Why the same person can get different reports
Two employers ordering the same person can receive different reports because the scope differs: different counties searched, different components ordered, different state rules applied. A report is a function of the order, not a fixed profile.
Reading your own report
Check the identifiers first — a wrong date of birth or a missing address is the root cause of most mismatches. Then check every verified item against your own records. Anything wrong goes into a written dispute with the screening company during the pre-adverse window, with documentation attached.
For employers
Keep the report's scope documented per role, and keep it consistent. A report is only defensible if you can show why each component was ordered and that you applied the same standard to every candidate for that role.
Where this fits in a hiring process
If you are the one running these checks at volume, the hard part is applying the same standard to every candidate rather than the search itself — AI candidate evaluation covers how to structure that step.