If you’re looking for someone, you’ve undoubtedly discovered people finder companies – companies that specialize in finding a current address, phone number – even criminal records for just about anyone. The problem is that most people finder businesses charge a fee for this service. The question then becomes – is there a people finder that lets you do an absolutely free background check?
To begin, it’s worth understanding why people finder companies charge for a background search while so many other types of information are available for free with a simple search engine (such as Google and Bing).
Most of the information you’ll get in a background check (or even a simple people finder report) is taken from public records. As the name suggests, public records are official government records that are available to the public. These records include things like marriage/divorce filings, criminal records, judgments, liens, bankruptcies and more.
The problem is that though the information you’re interested in might technically be public, they’re rarely (if ever) available for free and usually require a trip to the courthouse. It also means that if you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for (i.e. you’re trying to gather as much information about a person as possible), it would be pretty much impossible for you to know where to look.
The service the people finder companies provide is to collect every available public record, combine it and sort it based on the name and location information, and aggregate that information into an easy-to-read report.
Given all that, a comprehensive people finder is not going to be free (though at $10 for unlimited people finder reports, they’re still a pretty good deal). However, it’s still possible to use a people finder for free as a springboard to help you in your people search.
Most people finders offer free preview results to confirm to you that they have the information you’re looking for. With just a name (and, optionally, a last known City & State), you’ll receive an approximate age, a partial telephone number, places they’ve lived and some relatives/close associates. Try a free search below for an example:
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.
Once you’ve pinpointed the person you’re trying to find, you can take some of this free preview information and plug it into a search engine (Google, Bing, etc.) to see what comes up. It’s possible that you can fill in some of the missing blanks to get a complete phone number and a recent street address.
So, while people finder companies don’t typically offer their services to free, the information they do give you for free might be enough to help you get what you’re looking for. And – if you can’t – at least you’ll have a relatively inexpensive people finder report lined up just one click away.
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1. How to Find People Online
2. How can I find someone’s current address?
3. How to Find People in the US
Ron is the lead writer for USATrace.com. Ron has over 40 years of experience both as a private investigator and attorney. He brings excellent value to the site with his insite on public records and the changing demographics of people search on the internet. You can contact Ron via ron.richardson@usatrace.com.