What Kind of Information is Available?
Criminal records searches are the most commonly requested data. It is important to know that there is NO nationwide criminal records source available to the private sector.
Criminal records are maintained in the court where the case was heard. Generally, these are referred to as County Criminal Record sources since most counties maintain their records in a central facility.
Some states maintain central records repositories (Washington, Texas, and North Carolina). But, even these do not always have all of the records and there are often delays in delivery of records to the central repositories.
Under the doctrine of negligent hiring and retention, it is incumbent on every employer to do a criminal a background check on every applicant. Failure to do so could result in severe civil penalties.
In performing criminal background checks, it is vital to know where the individual has resided. Since 30% or more of individuals omit some of this data from applications, it is strongly recommended that a Previous Residence search be performed.
Previous Residence data is gathered from credit reporting agencies and other sources. This report provides (in addition to where the applicant has lived), aliases, telephone numbers, often the name of spouses and children. This should be the first report ordered.
Statewide Criminal data is available from private sources that accumulate this data and make it available to the private sector. Some of this data is gathered from "corrections" sources. This means that these are records of people who have served time or were put on probation from state prisons. These often omit county level incarceration and probation.
National Criminal Matrix data is available. It is a single search that includes all of the criminal records we have available to us in our Statewide Criminal databases. Currently this includes 36 states and 12 metro (county) areas.
Credit Reports provide insight into an individual's character. Use of these reports are tightly regulated and require additional authorization before they may be accessed.
Driver Records should be checked if the individual will be operating a vehicle while on company business. Typically these are available for only the past 3 years and do not contain information as to the individual's address. These are available for all states and Canadian Provinces except Washington.
International Criminal searches are available for more than 70 countries and protectorates.
Previous Employment Verifications confirm dates of employment, reason for leaving, wages, and position held. Although many employers perform this function in-house, more and more are realizing that this time consuming chore should be subbed out to firms more accomplished at dealing with other employers. We announce our calls as from a Consumer Reporting Agency and often get more truthful answers.
Education Verifications are recommended when hiring for tech, administrative, and management positions. "Embellishment" of educational achievements is wide-spread and a cause of failures to perform.
Civil Court Records searches can provide insight into a potential litigious character. Highly recommended for mid or upper-level management and technical positions. This can also prove a valuable tool for investigators an attorneys.
Workers' Comp Claims searches can uncover previous injuries that may preclude the individual from physically being able to do the job. These are also valuable to attorneys and child support services organizations. Often judgements arising out of such claims may be attached. We can also provide a service that will notify these organizations when a claim is filed so that a lien may be placed against pending judgments. Contact us for more information about this service.
National 411 is our nationwide telephone number look-up. In addition to all telephone directories, we have over 750,000 unlisted phone number.
Personal Bankruptcy is a simple, straight-forward search of all federal courts to determine if the subject has file for protection under the bankruptcy laws.
Business Bankruptcy is similar to the Personal Bankruptcy search except it searches for business bankruptcies.
Eviction Searches are also know as unlawful detainer actions. This is available for 42 states. There are 2 searches available, personal or business evictions.
Nationwide State and Federal Tax Lien searches are nationwide in scope and list all such liens. These may be searched by individual or business name.
Reverse Telephone Look-up uses the same database as our National 411 to ascertain a name and address (when available) from the telephone number. This can access personal or business numbers.
National Property database search may be used to determine the owner and value of a given piece of real estate.
Neighbor Search is valuable when skip-tracing. We provide the names, addresses and telephone number of the neighbors of your subject.
UCC Filings Search can alert you to liens or ownership of business assets and resources. A must for those planning on buying and existing business or providing business financing.
The Personal Dossier is a complete report on an individual including: previous residence information, neighbors, possible business associates, possible family, property ownership, tax and other liens, and more.
Fictitious Business Name search provides the names and listed addresses of businesses operation under a fictitious name.
Death Index provides the ssn, date of death and the state in which the individual died. Also be used to determine if an individual is used the ssn of a deceased person.
3 in 1 Search includes any or all of a credit report, eviction search, and criminal record search. Excellent for tenant screening.
Package Searches that combine many of the searches available with a single entry form to facilitate complete background checks.
SSN Verification results include whether or not the number was issued, the state in