My issue got resolved late last week (approx. 10 days). 10 days took 10 years of my life! Very hard to understand these pre-employment screening companies process to retrieve information and to fix it. I learned there is no governance around this industry. Even the lawyers don’t know the agencies specific process but can help provide some understanding of the legal landscape. My attorney said “take this issue head on and not wait for the agency to fix the issue".

Steps I took.

CFPB: File an online complain to http://www.consumerfinance.gov/. They will escalate your issue. They will not represent your case. I learned companies do not like to be on this list. Additionally, the complains help the agency monitor trends on specific issues so complain right away.

Hire an Attorney: Hired an attorney in the state where you see the incorrect criminal info was reported by the pre-employment screening company. In my case the incorrect record was from NY hence hired a NY attorney. Also the attorney’s can help guide and also pull many of the reports in a very short time frame. Especially in a state like NY they get a million inquiries everyday felt the lawyer definitely helped.

FBI fingerprint report: These reports you can pull yourself but the attorney helped pull the report in 1-2 day time frame. Basically you provide your fingerprint and the respective agencies will run a criminal check.

State fingerprint report: Same as #2. All states do not have this capability but majority of them do.

Local county courts: My attorney went ahead and pulled the specific criminal record to learn additional pedigree information on the other individual

State records: Turns out there is an individual with the same name and DOB who has a criminal record. My attorney is making sure this error does not happen in the future. He is addressing the issue with multiple agencies - FBI, NY County Court, NYS Dept of Criminal Justice.

I also complained to WI Governor Office (state I live), IL Attorney General (state where the business send me the report from), Local Senator. I know the issue is escalated by these offices to the company but not sure how far these agencies can help.

I will continue to follow-up understand the root cause and how to prevent such issues that impact livelihood. Wanted to share this info to help anyone experiencing this nightmare scenario.