How to do a Background Check (hint: it’s easy!)

There are any number of valid reasons to want to do a Background Check on someone.  You might have questions or concerns about a new neighbor or co-worker; maybe you want to know a little more about someone’s past before becoming romantically involved.

Whatever the reason you have for wanting to do a Background Check – thanks to the digital age we live in – that information is little more than a click away. You can even start an instant, anonymous background check for free below:

Through our partnership with PeopleFinders.com, you'll receive Industry-Leading data by combining over 43 Billion Verified Public Records giving you the most comprehensive Background, Criminal, People, Marriage and Divorce Checks available Online. We receive income from our partnerships.

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Conducting a Background Check
As you can see from our people search form above, the only information you need is a name (or possibly a maiden name, where applicable) and a last known city/state combination and you’re off and running. It will help to know an approximate age of the person you’re researching to narrow it down when you get more than one search result. In years past, you could only get a thorough background check with a social security number, but people search companies have made it possible to get the same details even with a limited amount of information.

What’s in a Background Check?
criminal records
Great question!  Background checks dig deep into public records and other sources to provide an address history, phone numbers, divorce records, criminal convictions, bankruptcies, aliases, possible relatives and much more.

It’s comparable to what you could if you hired a private investigator (who – more often than not – use this exact same kind of search) – for only a fraction of the price and with instant results.

Am I allowed to run a Background Check?
There are tons of reasons people run background checks and most of them are perfectly legal. However, there are some circumstances when you should not use a standard People Finder service, which we have outlined in this post here.  In essence, as long as you’re not using a background check for an “official” purpose (i.e. to make a hiring decision, to decide whether or not to rent a home/apartment to someone, etc.), you’re probably okay.

How Much does a Background Check Cost?
lawyer
With some people report/background check companies, the cost to do a background check can range up to $50 (which is still a significant saving from hiring a private detective or lawyer to run a similar search).

Fortunately, USA Trace is proud to offer one of the industry’s best instant background checks for just $11.95. We’ve been in business for over 20 years and have sold thousands of background checks for $40-45; when we say this is an absolute bargain, we mean it.

So, if you want to fact check someone, learn more about a possible significant other, or are just curious about someone’s history, you can do a background check online and – in just seconds – find out just about everything you need to know.

Related Posts
1. When am I allowed to run a background check on someone?
2. Running a Background Check on an Online Buyer
3. Background Checks for Online Dating