Self-Serve Online Background Checks

The internet has made digitized public records available for anyone to search at any time for almost any reason. If you’re curious about what’s in your record or if you’re a small business owner or landlord who’d like to run a background check on an applicant, you have a number of online options to assist you with the process.

What You Need to Get Started

Before proceeding with any online checks, you’ll need some basic information. Names, of course, top the list. You’ll need the full name, including any middle names, as well as maiden names and any other names the individual may have used. Birth dates, social security numbers, and driver’s license numbers come next, followed by a list of addresses where the person has lived. Addresses will help you narrow criminal records’ searches to specific cities and counties.

Armed with this info, you need to ask one more critical question: are you legally allowed to run this search? If you’re looking for your own info, the answer is always yes, but if you’re researching someone else, the answer is decidedly more nuanced. Personal information is protected by a number of complicated and constantly changing laws and regulations. Before you begin, make sure you’re in compliance with the laws governing your situation.

People Search

You can conduct a general “people” search online. These websites provide information, such as the following:

● Address history

● Marriage records

● Sexual offender status

● Bankruptcy history

● Court judgments

Be careful, though. Rarely are these websites accurate enough to be trusted for hiring decisions. Use people search sites as a starting point for your online search; always dig deeper and seek confirmation for anything you find on these sites.

Credit Report

Credit reports show financial information such as outstanding lines of credit, recent credit inquiries, and payment histories. Individuals are entitled by law to one free credit report per year from any one of the major credit reporting bureaus.

Motor Vehicle Report

An individual’s driving history is summarized on a motor vehicle report (MVR), which can be obtained from states’ DMV sites using a name and a driver’s license number. You’ll find license status, details about traffic violations, and information about DUIs and other crimes on an MVR.

Criminal Records

Criminal records are the most difficult to suss out online. Many websites claim to have a database of all state and federal crimes but beware of anything claiming to be free, instant, or nationwide. The reason? Criminal records are held by counties, states, and the federal government. In order to maintain an accurate and all-inclusive database, these online search companies would have to obtain digital data from each of these sources and keep it constantly updated. With over 3,000 counties in the United States, all with varying degrees of digital sophistication and disparate laws about selling information to background check providers, it’s not hard to understand why maintaining a comprehensive criminal record database is truly impossible.

With that in mind, avoid one-stop online criminal records search providers. Instead, do your own county by county search. Visit local websites and search their databases or request files via email or US mail. This might take a bit more time, but the extra effort is well worth it.

Choose a Professional Background Check Provider

Sure, it’s possible to do an online background search on your own. If you’re doing one or two a year, that may be the best option. But to get them right, they’re time-consuming and potentially expensive, and compliance is a very real issue. Save yourself the trouble by hiring a professional provider. With one click, you’ll get fully compliant information you need to make wise decisions.