South Carolina Change in Criminal Reporting
Effective January 1, 2026, the South Carolina Judicial Department implemented statewide changes that impact how criminal records are reported. Criminal court records in South Carolina no longer include a defendant’s address, and in many jurisdictions courts now only provide a name and year of birth. In some cases, a full date of birth is not available.
Under federal consumer reporting requirements, criminal records must be verified using at least two full identifiers before they can be reported. When the courts are unable to provide sufficient identifiers, the information becomes “unreportable” for compliance reasons.
For clients conducting county criminal searches in South Carolina, Reliable has implemented the following compliant process:
How This Impacts Your Reports
- No Record Found
If no record is found at the county level based on the individual’s name, the report will be completed as usual with no issue. - Potential Record (“Hit”) Identified
If a potential record is identified but cannot be verified due to insufficient identifiers, Reliable will conduct a South Carolina Statewide Criminal Search to properly verify the record, as this statewide search still contains the full date of birth.
- This statewide search is the only compliant method available to confirm accuracy when county-level identifiers are incomplete.
- The cost for this additional search is your cost for a Statewide Criminal Search (which is generally the same as your County Criminal Search fee), plus the current South Carolina State access fee (pass-thru fee) of $26.00. This process ensures compliance with federal consumer reporting requirements while allowing us to accurately and responsibly verify potential records.
We will continue to monitor this situation closely and provide updates should the reporting process change in the future. We share your concerns and hope the courts revisit this approach to restore access to complete identifying information.
Please feel free to reach out by contacting us at service@reliablebackground.com if you have any questions regarding this update or how it may impact your screening program.
