Free Background Check Myth Or Reality?

Is Free Background Check Really Free

So, I assume you landed on my page after searching for terms like, “Free background check”, “free criminal background check” or “advanced background check” using Google, Bing or Yahoo search, right?

Straight off the bat, I ‘m going to tell you that there is no such thing as 100% free background check (and yeah that also includes freebackgroundcheck.org), if you don’t believe, try it yourself and you will end up paying much more than just reading a bit more of my research below and choosing the BBB A+ trusted and recommended option.

The simple fact is that, If you are actually looking for something useful for background checking purposes, you will have to pay for it or just forget about it.

So to answer the question if it’s a scam, there isn’t a yes/no answer, it all depends on your requirements, if you are looking for something very simple, then yes you can do it by yourself for free, but getting a free advanced background check, which actually have useful information, unfortunately it’s not going to happen. The reason is very simple, there are certain costs involved to get you all the detailed information, so this is exactly what you will be paying paying for.

If you ever find a “free” check, very soon you will realize it isn’t really free, trust me. If you try any of the “free” ones, you’ll be doing a whole lot of waiting….and after all the waiting it will include none of the most important information you are looking for and at a minimum you will have to give them your e-mail address (which by the way is pretty valuable for any company).

Not to worry, I will go through all the details in this article, so keep reading to find out what kind of records check you can do for free and when you should bite the bullet and leave it to the professional background checking companies.

Whatever you do, do NOT miss the reporting company reviews in the end of this article.

Bit Of The Employment Verification History First

Hiring was an easy process for small businesses a few decades ago. When they needed a new employee, they would interview a few people, check their references, then do a “gut check” and decide who to hire.

Today, that procedure would just be foolish. Resumes with faked details, illegal substance problems and previous arrests are commonplace. It’s almost impossible to trust references, because most companies fear the legal ramifications of giving out information on former employees. And these days, as Dr. House so succinctly observed, “everybody lies.”

Human resources and personnel directors will tell you the only reliable approach is to do an advanced background check before making a hire. That costs money, though – money which some small businesses would prefer not to spend. That’s why many try to do their own free background check of the applicants, but mostly end up empty handed or with unreliable information and the only option left is to pay the small fee for the professional employment verification.

Here are some tips for free background check, if that’s your thing.

Use the Internet: There is a treasure trove of information about most people online, and that’s the first place to start your search when you want to know more about a potential employee without doing an advanced background check.

• Social Media: It doesn’t matter whether you spend every spare hour online, or only use your computer for email and research. Chances are good that an applicant has set up accounts on the major social sites, and you’d be amazed at what you could find. A soft-spoken, well-dressed 20-something on a job interview may be a lot more likely to post pictures of themselves with their favorite bongs, talk about how they missed work after a night of partying, or ask for advice for their next court appearance, when they’re just hanging out, Tweeting or Facebooking with friends

• Start with Facebook and Twitter to look for personal accounts. It’s quite possible that an applicant has listed a Facebook page or Twitter handle on their resume, but those could just be “business” accounts that they don’t use for personal interactions. Check them out, but then dig a little deeper to see if you can find other accounts or pages under the applicant’s name as well. It’s not always easy to find someone on a social platform because so many people have similar names, so combine your search with city or school names, or other identifying features of the applicant to be sure you’re looking at the right person’s accounts. Other platforms you can check include Pinterest, Tumblr, Instagram and Vine.

• LinkedIn and Professional Sites: as you probably know, LinkedIn is a platform primarily used for professional or business reasons, but you can get a good sense for how an applicant carries him or herself by what they post and how they interact online. If there are professional networking sites specific to your industry, look there as well to see if the prospective employee has any interesting posts or profile information there.

• Google Search: Just typing an applicant’s name into a search box can often produce useful information. You may find very little, or you may find harmless results from their personal website or social accounts. You may even find links that confirm the research or college work they’ve listed on their resume. However, it’s also possible you could discover their names in unfavorable newspaper reports or on court docket listings. Again, be cautious; many names are common, so be sure you’re not making snap judgments based on someone else’s information.

• State and Local Government Sites: Most states (and larger local governments) have a wealth of information available in online databases, ranging from court reports, to lists of registered sex offenders, to bankruptcy filings. It can take some time to drill down and find exactly what you’re looking for, but those types of reports could be an important resource to search if you’re hiring someone for a sensitive position such as security professional, care-giver or financial advisor.

These searches are no substitute for a full criminal background check, of course, but they may tell you something if not all you need to know.

Make Some Phone Calls

The phone calls to previous employers which were always the most important part of any hiring review have now become relatively useless. Today, most companies will only confirm that someone was indeed a former employee. There are some people, however, who may still pick up the phone and help in your screening process.

• Colleges and Other Schools: It’s increasingly common that applicants will lie about receiving a degree from a university, when they never really graduated. Most institutions of higher learning are willing to tell you whether someone has actually received the degree they’ve claimed, although they can’t release any other information without a signed consent form.
• The Military: Armed Forces Officials are able to disclose service rank, awards and duty status without an applicant’s consent.
• The Police: If you’re in a small city or town, and you have a good relationship with the police department, it’s often possible to make an informal inquiry with a friendly desk sergeant about an applicant. You may hit a brick wall, but you may also be surprised at how talkative some police officers can be. It’s worth picking up the phone to find out.

Bite The Bullet And Get The Advanced Background Check

No matter how much time you spend trying to do your own “free criminal background check” on an applicant, there are times you just can’t find enough information to make an educated decision.

That’s when spending a little money on a reliable professional investigation service can be worth the expense. These services, such as eVerify.com, conduct just about all of the searches mentioned in this article, including social media, criminal records, people search and naturally background check. One of the major advantages is that it will be done almost instantly, so if you value your time, you will leave it to the professionals.

And they have many more resources and searchable databases than a small business could realistically manage to obtain. A full report only costs about $19.95, which is a small price to pay when you see all of the information you get for this price.

For this small fee you will get the most important records such as;

• Name
• Age & DOB
• Phone Numbers
• Address History
• Criminal Records
• Court Records
• Bankruptcies & Liens
• Marriage/Divorce Records
• Property Ownerships
• Relatives & Associates
• License
• Felonies
• Misdemeanors
• Mugshots
• Sexual offenses

And much much more.

eVerify.com offers;

• Onetime report option for $19.95
• Monthly subscription of $19.95/month with a $2.95 5-day UNLIMITED trial
  

This is the most cost efficient subscription among the top rated reporting providers.

And talking about ratings, here you can confirm their Better Business Bureau A+ rating. Simply search for eVerify.com and you will find that they really are the most trustworthy company who has built their excellent reputation in the industry for years.

Most of the other suppliers offering similar services with higher costs when comparing 1 month subscriptions and what comes to the BBB ratings, well you can judge them by yourself.

Comparing Free Background Check Reporting Companies

Just to freshen your memory, this is what eVerify.com offers:

• $19.95 Onetime report option
• $2.95 5-day UNLIMITED trial for Monthly unlimited reporting of $19.95/month
• eVerify has A+ BBB rating
• Comprehensive, complete, hassle free and fast reporting

Then here are some of the other providers to compare:

• Beenverified.com offers you;
  • NO Onetime report option
  • NO trial
  • Monthly charge of $22.86/month
  • This business has NO BBB rating

• Checkpeople.com offers you;
  • NO Onetime report option
  • NO trial
  • Monthly charge of $22.56/month
  • This business has F BBB rating (which is the lowest BBB rating available)

• Advancedbackgroundchecks.com offers you;
  • NO Onetime report option
  • NO trial
  • Monthly charge of $22.86/month
  • This business has C+ BBB rating (which is definitely not worth popping the champagne)

• Freebackgroundchecksusa.com offers you;
  • NO Onetime report option
  • NO trial
  • Monthly charge of $19.95/month
  • OR $1 trial which will auto renew for $29.95/month if you don’t cancel within the 7 days.
  • This business has NO BBB rating.

• Spyfly.com offers you;
  • NO Onetime report option
  • $1 trial, which will auto renew for $29.97/month if you don’t cancel within the 7 days.
  • This business has A- BBB rating.

• Intelius.com offers you;
  • Onetime report option for $49.95
    • Just read the small print on every page, you might end up paying much more than you initially thought (up to ~ $82)
  • $7.95 trial, which will auto renew for $19.95/month if you don’t cancel within the 7 days.
  • This business has A+ BBB rating

So, which one would you choose? No doubt which one I would choose, eVerify.com any day over the others! Simply based on the overall value. But that’s me, now it’s up to you.

Use Caution With Free Criminal Background Check

            There is one important fact to consider before using any information in your hiring decision. The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires that you only use background checks from a federally certified Consumer Reporting Agency, if they’re used to make employment verification or tenant decisions. If you use a non-CRA report to reject an applicant, you could find yourself in legal trouble.

A full list of certified CRAs is available from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau website [http://www.consumerfinance.gov/]. By looking at this website, the list of the companies and their websites, I wish you good luck if you want to try this route. It seems to be just like any other federal or government agencies “spider web”, which is almost impossible to navigate to actually find the information you are looking for…and this is no different from that norm.

There’s nothing wrong with doing your own research, be it your own free background check or any paid service – just be careful what information you actually use in your formal hiring decision and make sure you read all the provided terms and conditions or any other legal information provided to understand the limitations.

So, I hope you found this article useful and it helped you to choose wisely! In the end it’s up to you, but I know which one I choose when the need arises.

An advanced background check involves making an extensive records check into the past of a certain individual. Usually there are four different aspects of a complete background check. Those are:

• Social Media Check
• Criminal Records
• People Search
• Background Check

Let’s take a look at what each of these different aspects entail:

Social Media Check

A social media check involves taking a look at the photos, videos and posts of someone on their social media pages. Some of the most obvious major social media sites that will be checked are;

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Twitter
• LinkedIn

For many hiring managers, this is generally the first step in their process of hiring someone because it’s the best way to get an immediate idea of the personality of an individual.

Criminal Records

The criminal record portion of the advanced background check is pretty cut and dry.

It involves finding out about any;

• Arrests
• Possible convictions
• Any sexual offender information that may be relevant to the specific person.

It can sometimes be difficult to find misdemeanors on a free background check, so there may be smaller criminal activities that the person you’re searching can hide from you.

People Search

The people search is pretty simple and basically involves the ability to confirm the birthdate and address history of an individual. It’s not going to tell you much about someone but it can be something that helps you to confirm certain red flags with someone. You may also have the ability to check out some of their relatives and/or acquaintances, which can be valuable if you’re really looking to do an extensive search.

Background Check

The background check is pretty straightforward. It involves getting information such as;

• Court records
• Property records
• Asset information
• It can also help you find out about a person’s marriage records.

Now that we’ve seen exactly what type of information an advanced background check can get you, let’s take a look at some of the many reasons getting a free background check would be a wise decision for you:

Hiring a Babysitter

Getting a criminal background check for a babysitter is an absolute necessity. Babysitters are going to be someone that your child is going to develop a relationship with on many different levels, including emotionally. When we’re talking about protecting our children, every possible precaution should be made to prevent any harm doing.

I would highly suggest getting a complete advanced background check, with everything from their social media history to their criminal records. You can never be too careful when you’re talking about the protection of your children, so don’t feel like you’re going overboard by doing this. Any serious babysitter is going to understand this and if they have a problem with you running a background check, then that would certainly raise some red flags immediately.

Hiring a Teacher or Tutor

Generally, schools will have already vetted their teachers thoroughly to make sure that they pass a background check and don’t have any marks against their records. If you’re hiring a tutor, however, then you may have to go about doing it yourself.

Sites like www.eVerify.com offer an excellent and cost efficient option for users looking to find out about the person that will potentially be spending a lot of 1 on 1 time with their child. The free background check trial they offer, hands you the opportunity to test their services before going with their paid one. But in case you read my previous article, there shouldn’t be much doubt about their experience in the industry at an affordable rate.

Hiring a Contractor or Landscaper

While a lot of families would argue that this isn’t necessary, I would suggest that you at least do a free criminal background check on anyone you plan hiring as a contractor or landscaper.

The reason for this is simple.

If you’re allowing someone in or around your household, then they are going to have a very good idea of the valuables that you have in your home as well as exactly where they are located.

While you may not think they would dare stealing something while they’re working, there is absolutely nothing stopping them from coming back in a few months after any possible suspicion would cease. There’s also nothing stopping them from selling the information to somebody else for them to steal.

It’s probably not necessary to get anything more than a criminal background check in this instance but I would be on high alert for anything involving even the slightest bit of theft.

These are just a few of the reasons why getting a background check would be a good idea for you and your family. A coach of a sport that your son or daughter is playing may be another good reason, although organizations have begun doing much better job of sifting through any suspicious characters after the Penn State scandal.

Nevertheless, we still see those disgusting cases in the evening news way too often, so doing a bit of your own detective work does no harm and might be a lifesaver in the end, you never know.

Basically, any situation where you feel your son or daughter could be put in a one on one situation with another person is a good reason to get an advanced background check.

A criminal background check is a step that many employers take before they even think about hiring a particular person. While it’s used most often by employers, there are a lot of other reasons that you may want to do a free criminal background check to take a look at the history of a certain individual.

Some people may be slightly confused about what exactly a free background check can reveal to you about someone. Let’s take a look at some of the information available in the criminal background check and also delve a little more into exactly what that means.

Here’s a list of some of the things that a criminal background check can provide:

• Any past arrests and convictions
• Felonies and some misdemeanors
• Sex offender information
• Any possible mug shots that they’ve had
• Driving Infractions
• Court or possible probation records

Past Arrests & Convictions

This will show you anything that an individual has been arrested for in the past. This will more than likely also include things that they may have been arrested for without conviction. While you wouldn’t want to judge a person by arrests that didn’t amount to anything, the combination of past arrests and subsequent convictions can give you a very good idea of the person in question.

Felonies and Misdemeanors

You should have no problem getting any past felonies off of your free criminal background check. Misdemeanors, however, can sometimes be a little tricky because there are many different types that may not show up during the check. Many times, misdemeanors that happen out of the state that the individual lives in won’t make it back to the criminal records that are available.

Sex Offender Information

This is the most important thing that parents and guardians will be looking for in an individual, especially if their kids will be working with the person that the check is being done on.

Be careful how you judge someone for this as there are some pretty odd ways that people end onto the sex offender list without doing things that would be considered such by someone other than the courts.

Here are some of the oddest ways that people can end up on the sex offender list:

• Minor taking a nude photo of themselves
• Peeing in public
• Visiting with a prostitute
• Flashing or mooning
• Incest or sex with a sibling

While committing some of these would mean you deserve to be on the list, there are also a few there that seem ridiculous to be placed on such a serious and judgmental list.

You’d be wise to do a little digging if the person you’re searching does happen to come up on this list.

Mug Shots

A free criminal background check can also show any past mug shots that a person may have. This can be useful in order to confirm the appearance of someone that you’re trying to look up.

This is another instance where you will need to be careful with your judgment, since a person can have a mug shot without ever being actually convicted for anything.

Driving records

Sites like eVerify.com also offer the ability for you to look any past driving infractions that an individual may have had besides the many other important details. This can be very useful if you’re hiring a babysitter or nanny that may be required to take your kids to activities on a consistent basis.

It’s important to note that not all information on past driving infractions will be available through a free background check, as you would have to do a much more advanced background check to obtain all the records.

Court or Possible Probation Records

This can be important because it has the ability to show you the type of issues that a person has had to deal with. The amount of times that someone has had to go to court and defend themselves is certainly something that you’d like to know if you plan on dealing with a person.

Probation records is a big thing as well, although you will probably be aware of any types of probationary periods that they’ve had once you take a look at the misdemeanors and felonies that they’ve had.

So, these are some of the records you will get with free criminal background check, so it’s up to you if a free search is sufficient for you or if you would have to go with the advanced background check to obtain much more in detailed information for the person in question.