Background Checks:
Understanding the Basics (continued)

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Marital Status Verification

Here are the steps to follow:

1. Check the marriage license of the subject.
2. Review credit applications.
3. Run a social security trace or national identifier.
4. Go to the State Department of Vital Statistics and check for a divorce record.
5. Through the county courthouse civil records, check for the divorce filing.

Know if the Subject Has Children

1. You can dial the local schools or daycare centers’ telephone number and verify if the subject has a child or children studying.
2. Call the office of State Child Support.
3. Conduct an Atlas search, like interviews of the subject’s neighbors.

Determine His/Her Social Security Number

Before taking any action, note that accessing your subject’s social security number is ethical and legal providing that your use of the information does not invade his/her legitimate rights for privacy. Also, you should be aware that it is illegal in the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCDA) to use a social security number for the purpose of accessing the subject’s personal credit history except for certain specific permissible aims.

Where to obtain the person’s social security number:

1. Voter’s registration records
2. DMV records
3. Civil litigation files
4. Tax liens
5. National Identifier Search

Litigation History

This background check service focuses mainly on the civil suits filed against the or by the subject. It also provides information if the subject has even been bankrupt. To identify civil suits, check the county courthouse or the federal court records. And, to identify bankruptcy, you can check the federal district court, the PACER, or the bankruptcy.com for business bankruptcies.

Tenant Screening

This service particularly determines the kind of tenants renting the place. The records that can used for this background check include the current public records, employment and tenant credit report information as well as interviews with current and past landlords.

Pre-Employment Screening

The pre-employment screening was developed to weed out undesirable potential employees. When it comes to conducting background check for employment services, one must follow a number of laws and guidelines, and since the livelihood is at stake, one should make sure that all the gathered facts are accurate.

Criminal Background Checks

Generally, the criminal background checks are required by law in some professionals. These are usually conducted for jobs involving children, elderly and disabled persons.

It is important to note that today there is no publicly available central repository for criminal records. As such, it is commonly advised that at a minimum, you should check the current county of residence of the subject, plus his state of residence. You can start your search by checking at the county level, then at the state level and to the federal level.

Business Background

Dealing with business, it is so typical for the business background checks to look into the database of businesses within the state or county’s jurisdiction to find out the relevant business background of the subject.

Educational Background

This service deals with the investigation of the subject’s educational attainment, whether he/she graduated from college or not. And if he/she did, what degree or he/she pursue. You can check the college registrar’s office to find out the answer.

Professional/Occupational Background

As the name implies, the professional or occupational background check deals with the person’s occupation or the profession that he/she belongs to. This service can also determine if the person has published anything, has a website, or affiliates in online forums.

Nanny Checks

The term “nanny” bears the explanation for this service. Well, it actually works on the investigation on your child’s nanny or babysitter. This is done by checking the criminal record, driving record, and references.

Asset Search

The asset search primarily locates the person’s real property assets, including his/her financial assets. It is just somehow necessary for you to be aware of the illegality of “pretexting” in attempting to locate the bank accounts and other financial assets of a person.

So you’ve learned the basics of background checks. Well, as presented, background checks are a good start to get to know someone. Just about anything that you would like to know about someone could be archived somewhere or known by someone. Background checks could also assist you in verifying facts, and whether it is a personal or business relationship, people highly need to feel secure and comfortable about the people they enter into relationships with. We can’t even deny the fact that even in the workplace; the value of background check is undisputed.

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