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You lost the offer and nobody will tell you why. If an employer ran a background check first, the report likely came from a screening company, and Sterling is one of the largest. Sterling is a consumer reporting agency under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, so you can see that report and dispute what is wrong.
Sterling is now a First Advantage company, following First Advantage's acquisition of Sterling. You may see either name on paperwork, and some employers still refer to the product as a Sterling report. The rights below do not change either way.
What Sterling Is, and Why It Has a File on You
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau lists Sterling in its register of consumer reporting companies and describes it as providing background screening and post-hire workforce monitoring services.
That second phrase matters more than people expect. Post-hire monitoring means the file does not necessarily close when you are hired. Some employers re-run screening on a schedule, so an error you never knew about can surface months into a job rather than during the application.
Sterling does not usually hold a file on you until an employer asks for one. Screening companies generally build the report when it is ordered, which is why you may have never heard the name until the week your offer went quiet.
The Four Things That Usually Go Wrong
It is not you. Common name, a relative with the same name, a transposed digit in a date of birth or Social Security number. The report describes a different person and arrives under your name.
The record is real but stale. Section 1681c of the FCRA bars most adverse information older than seven years from a consumer report. Civil suits, civil judgments, paid tax liens, accounts placed for collection and most other adverse items fall under that limit.
The record is real but wrong. A charge that was dismissed still shows as pending. A case that ended in acquittal shows as a conviction. A felony that was pleaded down to a misdemeanour reports at the original level. An expungement went through and the screener never picked up the update.
Employment history is wrong. Dates, titles and reasons for leaving come from verification calls and databases, and all three can be recorded incorrectly.
The Two Notices the Employer Owes You
This is the part most people never learn, and it is where employers most often slip.
Before the check is run, the employer must give you a standalone written disclosure that a consumer report may be obtained, and get your written authorization. Section 1681b(b)(2) requires that disclosure to be a document consisting solely of the disclosure. Burying it in an application packet or a block of other text does not satisfy the statute.
Before taking adverse action based on the report, the employer must give you a copy of the report and a written summary of your FCRA rights, and then wait a reasonable time before acting. That is the pre-adverse action notice required by section 1681b(b)(3), and the waiting period exists precisely so you can see the report and challenge it before the decision becomes final.
If you were never given a copy of the report before the offer was withdrawn, that is a separate problem from whatever the report said, and it is worth telling a lawyer about.
How to Get the Report
You can also request your file from Sterling directly. Section 1681j entitles you to a free annual file disclosure from a nationwide specialty consumer reporting agency, and section 1681g requires an agency to disclose all information in your file on request, including the sources of the information and, for employment reports, who received the report in the last two years.
Ask for the complete file, not a summary.
How to Dispute It
Dispute in writing, by certified mail, return receipt requested. Not by phone and not through a portal, because what you need is proof of what you sent and when.
Say which entry is wrong, say what is accurate instead, and attach the documents that prove it. A court disposition, an expungement order, a dated letter from the court clerk, a Social Security card and a government ID when the issue is identity rather than the record itself.
Dispute with the employer's screening company and, separately, write to the employer. Only one of them is the consumer reporting agency, but the employer is the one making the hiring decision, and the correction is worth nothing if it arrives after the role is filled.
Keep a copy of everything, including the certified-mail receipt and the green card. Those two pieces of paper establish the date the agency received the dispute, which is when its clock starts.
The Deadlines
Section 1681i(a)(1)(A) gives the agency 30 days to reinvestigate, extended to 45 if you supply additional information during the window. The agency must forward all relevant information you provide to whoever furnished the data, and that furnisher has its own duty to investigate under section 1681s-2(b).
If the agency cannot verify the information, it must delete it. If it changes the entry, it must notify anyone who received the report in the past six months, or in the past two years if the report was for employment.
When the Dispute Does Not Fix It
A dispute that comes back verified is not the end of the matter, and it is often where a legal claim starts rather than ends.
Section 1681e(b) requires a consumer reporting agency to follow reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy. An agency that matches a record to you on a partial name and an approximate date of birth, then confirms it against its own file rather than the underlying court record, has a problem under that standard.
What the Error Cost You
Write it down while you remember it. The job title and the salary you did not get. The date of the offer and the date it was withdrawn. Any email or voicemail where the employer refers to the background check. What you earned instead, and for how long.
Damages under the FCRA include actual losses such as lost wages, and also emotional distress, which juries do award. A screening error that costs someone a job is not an abstract harm and should not be described like one.
Common Questions
Is Sterling the same as First Advantage?
Sterling is now a First Advantage company. You may see either name depending on when the report was run and which paperwork you are looking at. Your rights under the FCRA are identical either way, and a dispute addressed to the entity named on the report is the right one to send.
Can Sterling report a conviction from fifteen years ago?
Under federal law, records of criminal convictions are not subject to the seven-year limit that applies to most other adverse information under section 1681c. Several states impose their own, shorter limits, and a conviction that was expunged, sealed, vacated or pleaded down should not be reported in its original form.
The charge was dismissed. Why does it still show?
Because the screener reported the arrest or the filing and never captured the disposition. This is one of the most common errors in criminal-record screening, and it is also one of the easiest to prove: a certified copy of the disposition from the court is usually enough.
How long does a Sterling dispute take?
Thirty days from receipt, or 45 if you send additional information during the reinvestigation. That is the statutory window under section 1681i(a)(1)(A), and it runs from when the agency receives the dispute, which is why certified mail matters.
Do I dispute with Sterling or with the employer?
Both, for different reasons. Sterling is the consumer reporting agency with the statutory duty to reinvestigate. The employer is the one deciding whether to hire you, and a correction that arrives after the position is filled does not get your offer back.
What if the employer never gave me a copy of the report?
That is a potential violation in itself. Section 1681b(b)(3) requires a copy of the report and a summary of rights before adverse action is taken, and the requirement exists so you can respond before the decision is final.
Can I sue over a Sterling error?
If the report was inaccurate, you disputed it, and it was not corrected, you may have a claim against the agency under section 1681e(b) or section 1681i, and potentially against whoever furnished the data under section 1681s-2(b). The FCRA shifts attorney's fees to the defendant, so these cases are handled on contingency.
Start With the Letter
The dispute letter is the document everything else is built on. It fixes the date, it fixes what you said, and it puts the agency on notice. Our free dispute letter generator builds one for you in your own words, formatted for certified mail, at no cost and with no account required.
If you have already disputed a Sterling report and it came back verified, that is worth a conversation. Ask an FCRA lawyer what your file actually shows.