Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) Notice & Consumer Rights

1. About This Notice

VerticalRent is operated by ScreenForge Labs LLC ("VerticalRent," "we," "us," or "our"). As part of our tenant screening services, we obtain, use, and furnish consumer reports — including credit reports, criminal background reports, eviction records, and rental history reports — in connection with residential rental housing decisions.

These activities are governed by the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq. ("FCRA"). This notice describes your rights as a consumer and our obligations under the FCRA.

2. What Is a Consumer Report?

Under the FCRA, a "consumer report" is any written, oral, or other communication of information bearing on a consumer's creditworthiness, credit standing, credit capacity, character, general reputation, personal characteristics, or mode of living — used or expected to be used for the purpose of serving as a factor in establishing eligibility for credit, insurance, employment, housing, or other permissible purposes.

VerticalRent obtains consumer reports solely for the permissible purpose of tenant screening — that is, evaluating an applicant's suitability as a residential tenant. We do not use consumer report information for any other purpose.

3. Permissible Purpose

We access consumer reports only when all of the following conditions are met:

• A landlord has initiated a formal screening order for a specific applicant in connection with a specific rental unit;
• The applicant has provided written consent to the screening, including acknowledgment of the FCRA permissible purpose; and
• The FCRA consent timestamp has been captured and stored in our audit log.

Landlords on VerticalRent are required to certify their permissible purpose before any screening order is placed.

4. Your Rights as a Consumer Under the FCRA

You have the following rights under the FCRA:

• Right to know if a consumer report was used against you. If a landlord takes adverse action against you (denial, conditional approval, higher deposit) based in whole or in part on information in a consumer report, they are required to provide you an adverse action notice.
• Right to know what is in your file. You may request and obtain a copy of all information in your consumer file held by any consumer reporting agency (CRA). Under certain circumstances, this disclosure is free of charge.
• Right to request your credit score. Consumer reporting agencies that provide credit scores to lenders and landlords may provide your credit score and related information upon request.
• Right to dispute inaccurate or incomplete information. If you believe your consumer report contains inaccurate or incomplete information, you have the right to dispute it with the CRA that furnished the report. The CRA must investigate your dispute, typically within 30 days.
• Right to have inaccurate, incomplete, or unverifiable information removed or corrected. If a dispute results in a finding that information is inaccurate, incomplete, or cannot be verified, the CRA must delete or correct it.
• Right to have outdated negative information excluded. In most cases, a CRA may not report negative information that is more than seven (7) years old, or bankruptcies that are more than ten (10) years old.
• Right to seek damages from violators. If a CRA, landlord, or other user of consumer reports violates the FCRA, you may have the right to sue in state or federal court.
• Right to place a security freeze. You have the right to place a "security freeze" on your credit report, which will prevent a CRA from releasing information about you without your express authorization.
• Right to place a fraud alert. You may place a fraud alert on your credit file to warn potential creditors to verify your identity before extending credit.

5. Adverse Action Notices

If a landlord using VerticalRent takes adverse action against a rental applicant based in whole or in part on information in a consumer report, the landlord is required by law — and VerticalRent's platform is designed to support this obligation — to provide the applicant with an adverse action notice that includes:

• The name, address, and phone number of the consumer reporting agency that provided the report;
• A statement that the CRA did not make the adverse decision and is unable to explain why the decision was made;
• Notice of the consumer's right to obtain a free copy of the consumer report from the CRA within 60 days of the adverse action notice; and
• Notice of the consumer's right to dispute the accuracy or completeness of the report with the CRA.

6. SSN Protection and Data Security

VerticalRent does not store Social Security Numbers (SSNs) in plain text. All SSN data collected for screening purposes is encrypted at rest using AES-256 encryption. Only the last four digits of an SSN are stored in retrievable form for identity verification purposes. Full SSNs are transmitted securely to our screening partners and are never retained in our database after transmission.

7. Our Screening Partners

VerticalRent partners with licensed consumer reporting agencies to fulfill screening orders. These may include, but are not limited to:

• TransUnion — credit reports, eviction records
• Data Divers — criminal background, SSN trace, rental history

All partners are licensed consumer reporting agencies operating under the FCRA. Their contact information and consumer dispute processes are available on their respective websites.

8. Criminal Background Report Review and Adjudication

When a criminal background search returns potential matches, specific record details may be withheld from the initial consumer report pending verification by VerticalRent's licensed CRA review team. This practice helps ensure that only accurate, complete, and properly attributed information is furnished in accordance with the FCRA.

If potential matches are identified, the ordering party may choose one of the following options:

• Request CRA adjudication.ScreenForge Labs LLC's CRA review team manually verifies each potential match against source records and furnishes a complete consumer report upon completion of review. A separate adjudication fee applies.
• Request a screening credit refund. The ordering party may elect to restore the screening credit used for the original order. A redacted summary indicating that potential matches were found will remain on file; full record details will not be released.

VerticalRent does not furnish unverified criminal record details in consumer reports. All adjudication reviews are conducted in accordance with FCRA requirements for accuracy, completeness, and permissible purpose.

9. FCRA Summary of Rights

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has prepared a summary of your rights under the FCRA. You may obtain a copy of this summary at: www.consumerfinance.gov/learnmore

10. How to Contact Us

If you have questions about our FCRA practices, wish to dispute information contained in a screening report obtained through VerticalRent, or wish to exercise any of your rights described above, please contact us: