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How to run a background check on someone
Whether you are hiring, renting, going into business, or simply want to know who you are dealing with, a background check turns uncertainty into fact. Here is how to do it properly — thoroughly, and within the law.
What a background check actually covers
A background check is simply the process of confirming who a person is and surfacing the public record of their history. A thorough one draws on far more than a single database, and — crucially — verifies what it finds rather than repeating it.
Depending on your purpose and what the law allows, a complete check can include:
- Identity and Social Security number verification
- County, state, and federal criminal records
- Nationwide criminal and sex-offender registry searches
- Employment and education verification
- Professional licenses and their standing
- Civil suits, liens, judgments, and bankruptcies
- Motor-vehicle and driving records
- Business affiliations and online presence
The catch: the law decides what you can use, and how
This is where most people go wrong. The moment a background check is used to make a decision about employment, housing, or credit, it is governed by the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and often stricter state law. That brings real obligations: you generally need a permissible purpose, a stand-alone written disclosure, the person’s signed authorization, and — if you take adverse action based on what you find — a specific notice process.
Running afoul of these rules is not a technicality; it is one of the most common and expensive mistakes an employer or landlord can make. A check run for simple personal curiosity, on the other hand, is not covered by the FCRA — but it still must be conducted through lawful means.
Why the instant online search falls short
The $2 “people search” sites are tempting, but the information they sell is frequently outdated, incomplete, or attached to the wrong person entirely — common names produce a mess of mismatched records. Acting on that can be worse than acting on nothing at all, and using those sites to make a hiring or tenancy decision can itself violate the FCRA.
A licensed investigator verifies information at the source, knows which records are lawful to access and how, and can tell the difference between two people with the same name and date of birth. The result is something you can actually rely on and, if it ever matters, defend.
When to bring in a professional
For a hiring program, an FCRA-compliant screening partner keeps every check lawful and defensible. For a personal decision — a new business partner, a tenant, someone you have met online — a licensed investigator delivers a verified, comprehensive report without the legal exposure and guesswork of doing it yourself.
Background-check questions
You can lawfully learn a great deal about most people through public records — but if you will use the information to make an employment, housing, or credit decision, the FCRA requires a permissible purpose, disclosure, and written authorization first. For personal knowledge, a check must still be conducted through lawful means.
It depends on the state, the record type, and the purpose. For employment screening, some items are commonly limited to a seven-year look-back, though criminal convictions are often reportable longer and several states set their own limits. A professional scopes each check to the applicable law.
For employment, housing, or credit decisions — no; disclosure and written authorization are required. For a purely personal inquiry conducted through lawful public records, the subject is not necessarily notified. When in doubt, tell us your purpose and we will keep your request compliant.
Our self-service background check is a flat $99 per person. Employer screening is a flat $49 per employee. More complex investigations are scoped and quoted up front.
Know who you are dealing with.
Skip the unreliable data-broker sites. Have a licensed investigator deliver a verified, comprehensive background report you can actually rely on.
Order a Background Check