How to Dispute a Background Check After Michigan Expungement

Your set-aside order is signed. Your ICHAT search comes back clean. Then you apply for a job or apartment, and your expunged conviction appears on the background check anyway. This is not rare. It is the normal outcome.

Why Expunged Records Keep Appearing

Commercial background check companies — Consumer Reporting Agencies (CRAs) under federal law — may use court records, data broker feeds, or other sources, and their records do not necessarily update when the Michigan State Police database changes.

When a court grants a set-aside, the court clerk transmits the order to the MSP. The research does not indicate that private screening companies automatically receive those updates, so they may continue reporting an older record.

The FCRA Dispute Process

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. § 1681i), you have the right to dispute inaccurate information appearing in a consumer report. If a report presents a set-aside conviction as current or otherwise contains inaccurate information, you can dispute it. Here is the process:

Michigan law separately provides that an entity is not liable under MCL 780.623 for reporting a conviction that was public on the report date. That provision does not by itself determine whether a separate FCRA requirement was violated.

Step 1: Identify the company. Ask the employer or landlord which CRA ran the report and request any applicable FCRA notices.

Step 2: Request your file. Contact the CRA and request a copy of your consumer file. Follow the CRA's current instructions for requesting a copy after an adverse decision.

Step 3: Send a formal dispute. Mail the CRA a dispute letter with:

• A copy of the signed court order granting the set-aside
• A copy of your driver's license or state ID
• A clear statement identifying the conviction that should no longer appear

Send everything via certified mail with return receipt requested.

Step 4: Wait for the reinvestigation. Under the FCRA, the CRA generally has 30 days to conduct a reasonable reinvestigation and record the disputed information's current status or delete it. It may take up to 15 additional days if you provide relevant information during the first 30 days. If the information is found inaccurate, incomplete, or unverifiable, the CRA must correct or delete it.

Major CRAs to Dispute

The companies that most frequently surface in Michigan screening reports:

• Checkr — used by Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, and thousands of mid-market employers
• Sterling — used by Fortune 500 companies and healthcare systems
• HireRight — used by logistics, aerospace, and financial services firms
• BackgroundChecks.com — used by small and mid-size businesses
• SterlingVolunteers (formerly Verified Volunteers) — used by nonprofit organizations

File a dispute with each CRA whose report contains the inaccurate information. Different companies may use different sources.

Clean Slate Database Delays

Michigan's Clean Slate automatic sealing process has introduced additional complications. The MSP database may show a conviction as set aside while a local county court system still displays it as active. A CRA that uses that court record may continue reporting it until the court record is updated.

If the CRA contacts the county court to verify a disputed record and the court system still shows the conviction as active, the CRA may decline to change its report. In that case, contact the court clerk directly with a copy of the set-aside order and ask whether the public-facing record can be updated. Then re-dispute with the CRA.

Proactive Disputes

Do not wait for a denial to trigger a dispute. After your set-aside order is entered, proactively send dispute letters with the court order to screening companies that may hold the older record. This can help address outdated entries before you apply for jobs or housing, though it cannot guarantee a report will be corrected in advance.

The Michigan Expungement & Record Sealing Guide includes pre-formatted dispute letter templates for each major screening company, a CRA contact directory, and a tracking worksheet for monitoring dispute responses.

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