With Aptly Screening, you can automatically share credit reports with your applicants after you’ve run their credit screening. This simplifies sharing the consumer credit report and helps your company remain compliant!
How to Manage the Consumer Credit Report Settings
All Aptly Screening accounts will have automatic Consumer Credit Report distribution enabled. Once a credit report is returned, the applicant will get an email stating that their credit was checked and provide them with a link to view their report.
How to turn on or off the automatic sharing of the report:
- Click on your avatar.
- Click Settings.
- Click Screening Management.
- Select Organization Settings.
- Scroll down to and expand Application Options. Then, find Enable automatic consumer credit report distribution.
How to Download the Consumer Credit Report
You can download a copy of the Consumer Credit Report for any returned credit screening for any applicant.
This action is only available if your user role has permission to view credit details.
- From the Application Household, scroll down to the Applicants List.
- Click on the 3 dots to the far right of the applicant.
- Select Download Consumer Credit Report. A PDF will begin to download.
How to Share the Consumer Credit Report
You can also manually share the link for the applicant to view their report. It will be accessible to them in their application portal.
You cannot share a link to a Consumer Credit Report is the application was manually created.
- From the Application Household, scroll down to the Applicants List.
- When you hover over an applicant, 3 vertical dots will appear on the far right. Click on the 3 dots.
- Select Share Consumer Credit Report link.
- Confirm sending the email and an email will be sent to the applicant.
How an Applicant Downloads a Shared Credit Report
After sharing the credit report with the applicant, they will receive a notification indicating that the report is available for viewing or downloading.
Upon clicking ‘View Report’, the applicant will be directed to their Application Portal, where they can download their report.
How to Audit Sends and Downloads
Every report send and view is logged in Aptly’s history table for visibility and compliance purposes.
- Find and open the application you previously sent the consumer credit report.
- Click on the large card view icon in the top right-hand corner of the application.
- Navigate to the History tab to view the send and download history.
What About Compliance?
Recent legal developments, beginning in California and now influencing regulations in other states and counties, are encouraging increased transparency for consumers regarding their credit information. These laws aim to empower consumers by giving them more direct access to their credit data, which can help in identifying and correcting errors before they affect financial decisions. In order to address these concerns, we introduced the following:
- Credit Score Protection: The shared report is designed so that the credit score is hidden. This redaction ensures that even if a consumer accesses the report, they are not viewing sensitive scoring details that could lead to potential misuse, keeping your process within compliance parameters.
- Enhanced Transparency and Trust: By voluntarily sharing a redacted version of the credit report, companies can improve consumer trust. Transparency in the credit review process can reduce disputes and foster a better relationship between the applicant and your organization.
- Compliance with Adverse Action Requirements: When credit data is used in decision-making, FCRA requires that consumers are provided with specific adverse action notices. Our feature is structured to complement these disclosures, not replace them. The redacted report is an additional tool for the consumer’s benefit, rather than a substitute for the required adverse action communication.
This new feature is a proactive measure aligned with evolving consumer protection laws. It provides a secure, to increase transparency without compromising the regulatory safeguards fundamental to FCRA compliance. As other counties and states make changes, you’ll already be prepared and ready to meet them head-on.