The best background check services allow you to simply and easily verify someone's identity and provide useful information on that person.
There are a number of reasons why you might want to run such a check, such as to search for family or friends you've lost contact with; or indeed you may even want to simply see what data has been made available on you.
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Top 4 Background Check Services
1. Intelius
Best background check service for beginners
REASONS TO BUY
-Includes education
-Useful visualizations
-Subscription and single-report options
-Social network viewer
REASONS TO AVOID
–Relatively expensive
Intelius’s background checks are more exhaustive than many. In addition to the usual addresses, criminal history and financial information, it also includes educational history – useful data if you’re trying to use Intelius to get in touch with someone from your past.
Intelius specially recommends using its service to reconnect with old friends, check someone’s criminal record, and see what appears in your background check. It also allows you to find out who is calling you, review property data on the house you want. The service is quick at getting you the information you want, and all searches are private and confidential and will not show that you searched for that information.
Intelius offers seven unique background search products, ranging from phone directory lookups to full-scale background checks. No matter which of these you want to use, you’ll need to sign up for a long-term membership to access them. Each plan comes with a similar monthly subscription cost, but initial trial period prices vary.
Besides that extensive database, Intelius is notable for its intuitive interface. Despite some slightly confusing billing practices, we consider this to be one of the best background check services. We also like the way Intelius shows connections as a graph, making it easy to see how things are related. There’s also a monthly subscription option and with the quality on show from Intelius, it should be worth the expense.
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2. Instant Checkmate
Best background check service for data
REASONS TO BUY
–Good value for money
–Accurate and timely data
–Great search tools
–Unlimited reports with subscription
REASONS TO AVOID
– No single-report option
Instant Checkmate is a people search finder that aggregates data from public records. The service is simple to use and offers a wide range of information, including contact details and criminal records. Results aren’t instantaneous and the service prompts you with a lot of questions and warnings before delivering a report, which can be annoying.
Instant Checkmate enables you to search for someone based on just their name, city, and state. There’s also a reverse phone lookup feature, although this is somewhat hard to find on the Instant Checkmate website. When you run a search, you’re presented with a list of potential matches and you can pull a detailed report for any individual.
The service only checks public records, so there’s no information available through Instant Checkmate that you can’t get elsewhere. However, the platform does cast a wide net and includes details about properties, vehicles past address, family members, marriages, and bankruptcies in its reports. The tool will also tell you if the individual you’re searching is a registered sex offender, if they hold a gun license, or if they have any criminal, arrest, or traffic records.
One of the best things about this service is that you get a huge range of data compared to similar search tools. Running a search with Instant Checkmate can be frustrating since you have to click through more than a dozen pop-ups before you can see the final report. If you can overlook this flaw, though, Instant Checkmate is relatively easy to use.
3. TruthFinder
Best background check service for frequent checks
REASONS TO BUY
–Unlimited background checks
–Self-monitoring tools
–Impressive people finding capabilities
REASONS TO AVOID
–Not cheap
TruthFinder offers a range of different background check features covering both public and private databases, and the likes of self-monitoring tools – so you can see what other people might find out about you.
TruthFinder offers many of the same features that you’d expect to find with other background check services. These include searches that cover both public and private databases plus the ability to identify potential associates and relatives of your search subject.
The TruthFinder platform also offers self-monitoring tools, meaning you can view your record to see what potential employers, or other people who search for you, will see on the platform. Through TruthFinder, you can even claim a particular record as your own. If you do this, you’ll be able to correct factual inaccuracies on it or hide it from other TruthFinder users.
Its skills as a people finder platform are impressive, and TruthFinder provides a wealth of information on the person you’re searching for. Another major strength here is the ability to complete unlimited background checks. The main downside is it isn’t a cheap service, but if you’re going to use TruthFinder a lot, it’ll certainly be worth the outlay.
4. US Search
Best budget background check service
REASONS TO BUY
–Affordable reporting
–Good search options
–Up-to-date data
–Search results are free
–Reports include contact information
REASONS TO AVOID
–No option to buy a single report
In addition to background checks, US Search enables you to travel back in time: the site looks and feels like Yahoo circa 1998. But the lack of web design budget appears to mean that US Search has been able to invest more in thorough search options and excellent price points.
You can search people by name, phone number, address, or email address, and US Search will turn up a large list of search results to help you find the exact person for whom you are looking. Unlike other people search tools, US Search doesn’t put up a paywall in front of the search results. You’ll be able to see the list so you can find the right person—you only pay to access the full report for an individual.
The reports contain basic information like the names of family members, past addresses, properties owned, and any criminal records. Helpfully, they also offer any known phone numbers, email addresses, and social media handles so that you can get in touch with the person you’re searching for. That makes US Search particularly useful for reconnecting with an old friend or long-lost relative.
There are various pricing options available, starting with a single report cost, or a monthly subscription available for unlimited searches, or a quarterly package for the same but with a discount.
It may not be pretty, but it’s certainly pretty good value for money, not to mention a robust background check solution.
Highly Rated Background Check Software
Checkr
What is Checkr?
Checkr is a cloud-based screening solution designed to help businesses of all sizes manage background verification for employees and job applicants. The platform enables users to streamline workflows, add new users, share candidate records with review team, and insert multiple checks at different stages of recruitment.
Checkr comes with a centralized dashboard, which displays a colour-coded status for every screening performed for each candidate. Features include in-house monitoring, information encryption, third-party testing, real-time audit logs, and data source tracking. Its screenings management feature facilitates checks for Social Security Number (SSN) trace, criminal records, credentials verification, drugs, and more. Besides, its artificial intelligence-based (AI) system automatically classifies records based on FCRA, EEOC and other state regulations.
Checkr enables hiring managers to pull consumer credit reports for verifying financial performance and get insights into credit accounts, liabilities, late payments, charge-offs, and public records. The platform integrates with various applicant tracking systems and third-party applications such as Oracle, Kenexa, Workday, and Greenhouse.
(sources: techradar.com, getapp.com)