The Companies That Sold Your Arrest Record (And How to Make Them Delete It)
Data brokers scraped your arrest record from public court files and sold it. Here's who they are, what rights you have under the FCRA, and how to make them remove it.
At some point — possibly years ago — a company you have never heard of quietly accessed the public records from your arrest and built a profile on you. Then they sold that profile. And sold it again. And again, to anyone willing to pay for a background check.
You never consented to this. You were never notified. There was no transaction you can point to. It happened because court records in most states are public records — meaning accessible to anyone, including commercial data harvesting operations that run automated scrapers across every court database they can reach.
This article explains who those companies are, how the industry works, what rights you have, and how to actually get records removed.
This is not legal advice.
This guide explains how the law works in general terms. Whether you qualify depends on your specific record, and a judge makes the final call. If your situation is complicated — multiple convictions, charges in multiple states, or a previous denial — consulting a lawyer who handles expungement is worth the cost of a consultation.
How the Data Broker Industry Works
"Data broker" is a broad term for companies whose business model is collecting and reselling personal information. The criminal records segment of this industry is particularly active because criminal records have specific commercial value — employers, landlords, and other businesses pay for background screening services.
The data pipeline looks like this:
- You are arrested. A booking record is created. Court filings become public records.
- Data companies run automated scrapers that pull records from court websites, county sheriff booking pages, and public records portals — often daily or weekly.
- The records are cleaned, deduplicated, and added to the company's database, matched to your other identifying information (address history, employers, family members).
- Employers and landlords pay for background check services. The company sells access to its database.
- Your record appears in background checks for years — often regardless of whether you were convicted, and regardless of whether the original charges were dropped.
There are two distinct types of companies in this space, and it matters which type you are dealing with.
- Consumer Reporting Agencies (CRAs): Companies that compile reports for employment, housing, credit, or similar purposes. Regulated by the FCRA. Examples: Checkr, Sterling, First Advantage, HireRight, Accurate Background, LexisNexis Risk Solutions, TransUnion SmartMove, CoreLogic SafeRent.
- General data brokers / people-search sites: Companies that sell data for general research, marketing, or personal curiosity. Less regulated. Examples: Spokeo, BeenVerified, Intelius, Whitepages, PeopleFinder, Instant Checkmate, TruthFinder, PeopleLookup.
- Some companies operate as both — they have a consumer reporting arm (regulated) and a general data arm (less regulated). Knowing which product was used on you matters for what rights apply.
If an employer used a regulated CRA to run a background check on you, you have specific FCRA rights including the right to dispute. If they searched a general data site themselves, different rules may apply.
The Companies by Name
These are some of the major players that may have your arrest record in their databases:
- Checkr — primary background check provider for gig economy platforms (Uber, DoorDash, Instacart, etc.)
- Sterling — large enterprise background screening for employers
- First Advantage — used by major corporations and staffing agencies
- HireRight — used extensively in healthcare, transportation, and finance
- Accurate Background — mid-market employer background checks
- LexisNexis Risk Solutions — deep database, used for employment and tenant screening
- TransUnion SmartMove — tenant background checks for landlords
- CoreLogic SafeRent — widely used rental screening product
- Equifax Workforce Solutions — employment verification and screening
- National Background Data — feeds data to many downstream companies
These are regulated consumer reporting agencies. You have FCRA rights including the right to dispute inaccurate records. They must investigate within 30 days.
- Spokeo — aggregates public records, social media, and contact information
- BeenVerified — sells background check-style reports to consumers
- Intelius — people search with criminal record data
- Whitepages — contact information and background data
- Instant Checkmate — consumer-facing background reports
- TruthFinder — similar to Instant Checkmate, marketed to consumers
- PeopleFinder — public records aggregation site
- USSearch — one of the older people-search services
- PeopleLookup — aggregates multiple public data sources
- Mylife.com — profiles built from public data, often surfaced in Google searches
These sites have their own opt-out processes, but the opt-out removes data from their consumer-facing site — not necessarily from their wholesale data feeds to other companies.
What Rights You Have Under the FCRA
The Fair Credit Reporting Act is a federal law that has been in place since 1970. It was designed to give consumers rights over information collected about them by companies that compile reports for decisions like employment, housing, and credit.
Background check companies — formally called consumer reporting agencies (CRAs) — are directly regulated by the FCRA. The key rights:
What this means practically: if a CRA is reporting an arrest that was dismissed, or reporting inaccurate information about a charge, you can dispute it. They must investigate. If they cannot verify the information is accurate, they must remove it.
There is also a specific timing rule: arrests without conviction generally cannot be reported on most background checks after seven years under the FCRA, though there are exceptions for higher-salary positions and federal jobs.
How to Submit a Dispute Letter
A dispute letter is a formal written notice to a consumer reporting agency identifying a specific item in your file that you believe is inaccurate, incomplete, or impermissible.
An effective dispute letter includes:
- Your full legal name, address, date of birth
- The specific item you are disputing and why (e.g., "Case 2021-CR-00499 was dismissed on June 3, 2021. Your report still shows it as pending/charged.")
- Copies of supporting documentation — court disposition, expungement order if you have one
- A clear statement of what correction you are requesting
- A request for written confirmation of the outcome
You send this letter certified mail, return receipt requested, so you have proof it was received. The company then has 30 days to investigate. They must notify you of the results. If they find the information is inaccurate, they must correct or remove it and notify any other companies they have provided the report to in the past two years.
- Failure to investigate within 30 days is a potential FCRA violation
- Continuing to report information found to be inaccurate is a potential FCRA violation
- FCRA violations can result in actual damages (lost wages, etc.), statutory damages up to $1,000 per violation, and attorney fees
- Willful violations can result in punitive damages
- Many consumer protection attorneys take FCRA cases on contingency — meaning no upfront cost to you
- You can also file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) at consumerfinance.gov
This is not a scare tactic — it is the actual law. Background check companies are aware of FCRA requirements and most serious ones do investigate disputes in good faith. But you have real legal leverage if they do not.
The Real Challenge: There Are Over 100 of These Companies
Here is the honest part. A single dispute letter to a single company is manageable. But your arrest record may be in the databases of well over 100 companies — a mix of consumer reporting agencies with formal dispute processes and data brokers with their own opt-out systems.
Each company has different addresses, different dispute formats, different required documentation. Doing this manually means tracking which companies you have contacted, following up when the 30-day window runs, and repeating the process for every company that fails to respond.
People who go the fully DIY route report spending 20 to 40 hours on this process. That is realistic. It is also something most people can do — it just takes time and organization.
The alternative is to use a service that generates the letters for you, addressed and formatted for each specific company, so the manual part is just printing, signing, and sending.
These companies built their databases without your consent. But the law gives you a path to push back. The FCRA dispute process exists precisely for this reason, and it works when it is used. The only thing it requires is engaging with it.
You cleared the court record. Now clear the private databases.
FCRA dispute letters to 164+ background check companies. Addressed, ready to send. $199.