What to do when you get an adverse action notice

A pre-adverse-action notice is not a rejection. It is the legally required warning before one, and the gap between it and the final decision is your window. Most people either do not understand that or do not act in time.

Difficulty

◷Moderate

Time

Act within 5 business days

Cost

Free

Steps

6

1. 01Read the report they sent with itThe employer must include a copy of the report and a summary of your FCRA rights. If they did not, that is itself a violation — note it.
2. 02Find the specific entry causing the problemIt is usually one item. Identify it precisely and decide whether it is accurate, inaccurate, or accurate but unreportable.
3. 03If it is wrong, dispute it immediately with the agency and tell the employerWrite to the screening agency with documentation, and tell the employer in writing that the item is disputed and under reinvestigation. Ask them to hold the decision.
4. 04If it is accurate, respond with context and your fair-chance rightsMany jurisdictions require an individualised assessment considering the nature of the offence, time elapsed, and its relationship to the job. Provide that context in writing — rehabilitation, time passed, relevance.
5. 05Move fastEmployers typically allow around five business days. Diary it the day the notice arrives.
6. 06Keep every documentIf the process was defective — no pre-adverse notice, no copy of the report, no chance to respond — that documentation supports a claim later.