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Investigative Consumer Reports. What Will Your Neighbors Say?

Can an employer ask my friends and neighbors about me?

Yes. Under the FCRA, a background check that includes interviews with "neighbors, friends, or associates" about your "character, general reputation, personal characteristics, or mode of living" is called an "investigative consumer report." (The term "investigative consumer report" has a different meaning under California Law.

See www.leginfo.ca.gov, Civil Code �1786.)

When information about you is gathered from interviews, the FCRA requires a separate disclosure. You are also entitled to know the "nature and scope" of an investigative consumer report, but you have to ask. For more on how the FTC staff interprets the term "investigative consumer report" and other keys topics under the FCRA, visit the FTC web site www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fcra/index.htm

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