There are laws about pre-employment background checks; in general they can only be run with the consent of the person being investigated, and the person being investigated must be able to receive a free copy. So you will know.
In addition, the FCRA mandates the following cannot appear on background checks:
- Bankruptcies after 10 years
- Civil suits, civil judgments and records of arrest, from date of entry, after seven years
- Accounts placed for collection after seven years
- Any other negative information (except criminal convictions) after seven years
(Note: I'm not actually that worried about this -- I think society will adjust -- but I think collecting anecdotes only shames the people using your data in ways that are trying to be helpful to you.)