First Advantage collects personal data to help perform background checks, drug testing, and other services at the request of our customers (your employer, employer, prospective landlord, etc.), to answer questions you ask about our services, to improve your experience with our products and services, and to process information you may submit on our platforms.
Yes, data security is a priority for First Advantage. Our systems and processes are designed to protect your personal data that we gather about you, maintain, or disseminate, including using appropriate administrative, physical, and technical safeguards.
First Advantage collects personal data that is relevant for the purpose(s) for which it is to be used. We collect personal information about you:
- Directly from you, including instances such as part of a background screening, when you submit a query on our website, or when you apply for a job with us.
- From our customer, including where we are engaged to provide preemployment screening, periodically screen a customer’s employees or contractors, or for First Advantage tax-related lines of business.
- From third parties, who are authorized to disclose that information to us, such as government agencies, law enforcement bodies, publicly available records, public registries, court or tribunal records, insolvency registers, educational institutions, current and/or previous employers, regulatory and licensing bodies and medical assessment providers; and from public sources, such as social media and through search engine searches.
We use the personal information that we collect about you for the following purposes:
- to help verify your identity when you are dealing with us.
- to enable us to provide our products and services to you or one of our customers, including but not limited to our background screening services.
- to answer your queries and requests.
- to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.
- to manage and resolve any legal or commercial complaints or issues; and
If you opt into receiving updates from us, we may from time to time use your personal information in order to send you marketing materials about products or services that we think you may be interested in (including in some cases products and services that are provided by a third party). You can opt-out of receiving marketing communications from us by emailing employment.solutions@fadv.com or following the “unsubscribe” link in the communication.
We may also use your information for other purposes if you ask or tell us to do so.
We take steps to protect against the loss, misuse, or unauthorized alteration of personally identifiable information collected. We limit access to personally identifiable information to those employees who need access in order to carry out their job responsibilities. We recognize the importance of data security and take steps to protect its security on our systems. In the event we request or transmit sensitive information, such as credit card information or government identity numbers such as Social Security Numbers, we use industry standard, secure socket layer (SSL) encryption as well as:
- Limit Access: First Advantage helps protect your data by limiting the distribution of personally identifiable information consistent with the nature and sensitivity of the information. In its services, First Advantage also strives to make available personally identifiable information from sources other than public records or publicly available information only to its authorized users or customers. Similarly, where applicable, First Advantage strives to restrict access to information in accordance with privacy laws such as the FCRA, the GLBA, and the GDPR, as well as comparable state and country laws. In the case of public record information available to the general public (such as bankruptcy, liens, judgments, criminal records and Uniform Commercial Code filings) and publicly available information (such as telephone directory information or personal information available through widely available media), we may use this information in our reports for customers.
- Limit Data Visibility And Mask Where Possible: First Advantage strives to limit the availability and access to full Social Security Numbers (“SSNs”), Driver’s License Numbers and State or Government Identification Numbers. First Advantage strives to protect the confidentiality of SSNs by limiting access to SSNs to certain legitimate and authorized users, such as: state, local and federal government entities; financial institutions; insurers; employers; creditors; debt collectors and other user types to which First Advantage may decide to provide such access. First Advantage prohibits the unlawful disclosure of SSNs. First Advantage also takes steps to limit the availability of Driver’s License Numbers (“DLNs”) and state identification card numbers.
- Educate: First Advantage strives to inform its employees, users and the general public about appropriate use of First Advantage products and services.
- First Advantage strives to inform its users and employees about:
- Privacy and security issues associated with First Advantage information products and services; and
- The responsible use of personally identifiable information.
- First Advantage strives to inform the public about:
- The responsible use of personally identifiable information; and
- Measures First Advantage has undertaken to enhance consumer privacy; and choices available to consumers regarding information access and the ability to opt-out of certain products and services which utilize personally identifiable information.
- Conduct Third Party Reviews: First Advantage will obtain assessments from a qualified, objective, independent third party, who uses procedures and standards generally accepted in the profession to assess First Advantage’s administrative, technical, and physical safeguards, as appropriate. An example of this is our ISO 27001 and 27701 certifications.
- Dispose Appropriately: When we dispose of personally identifiable information collected, we use procedures to dispose of personal information by means such as shredding documents and erasure of electronic media that information cannot be practicably read or reconstructed.
We may disclose information you provide to us to third parties in order to complete a transaction with our customer that our customer requested. In other cases, it may be necessary to disclose information you provide about yourself or third parties in order to obtain the information product you requested. We may also outsource some tasks, including the operation of some website functions, which require access to information you supply online. In such cases, however, we require that the companies acting on our behalf abide by our privacy policy and institute safeguards to protect the confidentiality of your information.
- If our company or our assets are acquired by another company, that company will assume responsibility for the personal information collected by us through this Web site and it will assume the rights and obligations regarding the information collected through this Web site, as described in this privacy policy.
- Finally, please note that we may disclose personal information when required by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary in order to conform to the law or to comply with a legal process.
We may share personal information about you with:
- Our customers when we report back to them after we complete a background check, tenant screening, or produce a similar report on you.
- Your representatives, advisers and others you have authorised to interact with us on your behalf.
- Our staff who need the information to discharge their duties.
- Related entities within our corporate group to the extent necessary for processing.
- Our business partners, agents and service providers.
- Professional advisers who we engage to provide advice on our business.
- Government authorities as may be required by applicable laws; and
- Third parties who we use to help us provide our background screening services, such as government agencies, law enforcement bodies, educational institutions, current and/or previous employers and medical assessment providers.
If we need to disclose personal information to third parties in a different country to where the information was collected, we will take steps to ensure that there is a lawful basis for the disclosure and that the disclosure complies with all applicable laws. This may include entering into a legally binding contract with the recipient under which they are obliged to handle your information in accordance with applicable laws.
Yes. Generally speaking, First Advantage strives to allow individuals to opt out of the dissemination of personally identifiable information from certain First Advantage owned databases that may be used for marketing our services to which customers have previously opted in. In some instances this could require authorization from your employer or prospective employer and in some instances we may be prohibited by law from allowing you to opt out.
To opt-out, email your request to the country in which you reside
- EMEA: gdpr@fadv.com
- SAPAC*: sapac@fadv.com
- NAPAC**: napac@fadv.com
- Americas (non-US): USDataPrivacy@fadv.com
- Americas (US): privacy@fadv.com
* Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, French Polynesia
** Bangladesh, China, India, Japan, Pakistan, Philippines, S. Korea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, Bhutan, British Indian Ocean Territory, Kazakhstan, Macau, Mongolia, Nepal
If, upon investigation, First Advantage finds that personally identifiable information has been used or accessed inappropriately or unlawfully, First Advantage strives to take reasonable steps to stop the misuse or access, educate the user concerning the appropriate use of the information, and prevent similar future misuses. Such steps may include measures up to and including discontinuation of the user’s access to First Advantage information products and services, pursuit of other legal remedies, and the referral of misuse to the appropriate authorities.
First Advantage strives to accurately report information in its products. First Advantage recognizes, however, that reporting errors may occur and offers consumers opportunities, where applicable, to dispute and correct information that we report. If you see something wrong with your report, please complete the following form or you can contact us at 800.845.6004 or consumer.documents@fadv.com
Please visit the Candidate Center to learn how to report possible identity theft.
First Advantage strives to prevent the acquisition of information from its products and services for improper purposes, such as identity theft. First Advantage believes that it is important that individuals who may have had their sensitive personally identifiable information acquired by an unauthorized individual be notified as follows:
- Where an applicable law requires notice, First Advantage complies with the law.
- Where notification laws do not exist, First Advantage follows its data privacy and information security policies and procedures related to data breaches as well as contracts with our customers and vendors, which generally provide that affected individuals will be notified when sensitive personally identifiable information owned or licensed by First Advantage is acquired by or disclosed to an unauthorized individual and whenever First Advantage has a reasonable basis to believe the breach has resulted in, or there is a significant risk that it will result in, identity theft to the individual to whom the information relates.