How Far Back Do Background Checks Go in Maryland?

In Maryland, most background checks can look back seven years. That cap, set by Maryland Commercial Law § 14-1203, covers arrests, indictments, and criminal convictions, along with civil judgments, paid tax liens, and collection accounts.¹ Bankruptcies have their own window of ten years. The seven-year limit drops away, though, once a job pays $75,000 or more, and a handful of other exceptions can also pull older information back into view. So the honest answer to how far back do background checks go in Maryland is: usually seven years, sometimes forever.

What the Seven-Year Cap Covers

Maryland’s seven-year clock runs from the date of disposition, release, or parole, depending on the item.¹ Within that window, a consumer reporting agency can include:

Arrests, indictments, and criminal convictions
Civil suits and civil judgments
Paid tax liens
Collection accounts and other adverse account history

Bankruptcies sit on a separate ten-year timeline, measured from the date of adjudication.

Where Maryland law really matters is on criminal convictions. The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act explicitly exempts “records of convictions of crimes” from its own seven-year cap, which means under federal law alone a conviction can be reported forever.² Maryland closes that gap by pulling convictions into its state cap. If you were convicted more than seven years ago in Maryland, a standard employment background check isn’t supposed to show it.

When Background Checks Can Reach Back Further

The seven-year limit comes with built-in exceptions, and they are not small. Under § 14-1203(b), the cap does not apply when the check is being used for:

Employment at a salary of $75,000 or more per year
A credit transaction of $150,000 or more
A life insurance policy with a face amount of $150,000 or more

The FCRA uses the same thresholds.² If you’re applying for a job that pays $75,000 or more, the background screener can legally include arrests, convictions, and other adverse items from well beyond seven years ago. For higher-earning positions, there effectively isn’t a look-back limit.

Separately, certain industries require broader criminal history checks no matter what the salary is. Positions in education, healthcare, financial services, and roles involving minors or vulnerable adults often fall under federal or industry-specific rules that mandate deeper screening.

When Employers Can Even Ask

Maryland’s “ban the box” law restricts when the question of criminal history can come up in the first place. Employers with 15 or more full-time employees in Maryland cannot ask about criminal history on a job application or at any point before the first in-person interview.³ Phone and video interviews count as “in person” for this rule.

The 15-employee threshold only counts full-time employees working in Maryland.⁴ Employers who are required or expressly authorized by other state or federal laws to run criminal background inquiries are exempt, including certain positions in education, healthcare, information technology, the financial sector, and roles providing direct care to minors or vulnerable adults.³

Credit, Driving, and Other Non-Criminal Checks

A background check isn’t always just about criminal history. Credit history, driving records, education, and past jobs all show up depending on what the employer orders.

Credit Reports

Credit reports follow the same seven-year rule for most negative items under both Maryland and federal law. Late payments, collection accounts, civil judgments, and paid tax liens roll off after seven years. Bankruptcies remain for ten.¹ Positive history and open accounts in good standing have no reporting limit.

Driving Records

A standard Maryland driving record from the Motor Vehicle Administration covers the most recent 36 months. A complete driving record showing full history is also available, though access depends on legal authorization level.⁵ Transportation employers and employers hiring for driving-heavy roles often request the complete record.

Education and Employment History

No Maryland or federal statute limits how far back an employer can verify your degrees, certifications, or past jobs. A school you attended decades ago can still confirm enrollment and graduation. Very old employers may no longer have records to verify, since federal recordkeeping rules don’t require them to keep internal files that long, but nothing in the law blocks the inquiry itself.

How Expungement Changes What Shows Up

Expungement seals records from public inspection and from standard background checks. Once a record is expunged in Maryland, consumer reporting agencies cannot include it in a report, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has stated that reporting expunged records violates the FCRA’s accuracy requirements.⁶

Expungement is not the same as erasure. Law enforcement agencies, certain government bodies, and specific licensing authorities may still access expunged records under limited circumstances.⁷ For most employment purposes, though, an expunged record effectively disappears from view, and you generally don’t have to disclose it on a job application.

Your Rights If a Background Check Is Used Against You

An employer who plans to reject you based on something in a background report has to follow a two-step process under the FCRA.

The first step is a pre-adverse action notice. Before any final decision, the employer must send you a copy of the background report and a summary of your rights under the FCRA, giving you a chance to review the report and flag errors.⁸

The second step comes if the employer still decides to move forward. They must send a second notice with the name and contact information of the background screening company, a statement that the screening company did not make the hiring decision, and notice of your right to dispute inaccurate information and request a free copy of your report within 60 days.⁸ Skipping either notice violates the FCRA and can support a lawsuit. If you were turned down for a job and never received these notices, the employer likely didn’t comply.

1
Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Commercial Law Code 14-1203 – Certain Information Prohibited in Consumer Reports
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681c – Requirements Relating to Information Contained in Consumer Reports
3
Maryland Department of Labor. Ban the Box – Criminal Screening Practices Frequently Asked Questions
4
Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Labor and Employment 3-1501
5
Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration. Driving Records User Guide
6
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Fair Credit Reporting; Background Screening
7
Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Criminal Procedure 10-110
8
Federal Trade Commission. Using Consumer Reports: What Employers Need to Know