So, is there a totally free background check you can use if you need to hire somebody or if you would like to look into their past?
You may be financially strapped if you’re getting your business off the ground or renting out your home for the first time.
Most likely, you are aware of background checks’ significance but uncertain of the appropriate cost for this service.
You also want to ensure that everyone who joins your inner circle has a good time, is safe, and contributes to your success.
Free solutions are promoted by some service providers, but the reality is more nuanced than just choosing between free and paid services.
This post will investigate free background check options, including their pros and cons.
Is There A Totally Free Background Check?
Doing a background check on your own is a time-consuming process that could cost you. This is why numerous businesses provide such services, although for a price.
A private investigator’s services might be utilized to investigate a person’s past. No private investigator would do their job for free.
So, you need to know if there is a free people search engine or business.
You’ve probably become aware of online resources that perform background checks. Some may even claim that you perform extensive searches without paying anything.
The complete reports will likely cost money, but there’s always a catch.
Most of these free background check services hide the most relevant information behind a paywall, like a person’s criminal past.
Just to make it clear, there are NO free background check services.
Here are the best one’s, and yes they do charge a fee.
- Instant Checkmate
- TruthFinder
- Spokeo
- Intelius
1. Instant Checkmate
Instant Checkmate is a company that does background checks and public record searches.
Instant Checkmate and similar services are de facto registries of public records, from which they and other data brokers can capture personally identifiable information about people in the United States through automated means.
All the information provided in reports is data that can be accessed in other places without a personal search site, such as public records, basic facts, property details, and so on.
Services such as Instant Checkmate streamline its accessibility by centralizing and digitizing this data.
When public records are not yet digitized, not all relevant documentation may be included in online reports like Instant Checkmate and others.
People Search Function
The people-searching functionality of Instant Checkmate is its most well-known use. This feature retrieves a person’s past details after the user enters some introductory data.
You must provide a first and last name to access specific details.
You don’t have to provide a state if you don’t want to, although doing so will improve the quality of your search results. This search function is available to everyone, including you.
If you notice any personally identifiable information about yourself on the site, you can request its removal.
It’s important to remember that this choice only deletes your data from Instant Checkmate’s servers, not from any other databases.
Mobile Application
The Instant Checkmate app performs a background check in the background and is available for download on mobile devices.
By downloading the app, you can use the service from your mobile device whenever and whenever you need a people search or background check.
The UI is well-designed, making it simple to use. Sign up for a free trial before considering whether or not to pay for the service.
If you’d rather utilize a desktop or laptop computer, the Instant Checkmate site is accessible for your use, too.
Fast Service With Instant Results
Instant Checkmate’s speed and near-immediate results are two of its best features. It can provide background check results on a person in a matter of minutes.
If you need an immediate contact’s address and phone number, this may come in handy.
Customer Service
Customer service for Instant Checkmate is available Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. EST, via phone or email.
Monday through Friday, between 11 a.m. and 8 p.m., Emails to customer service are typically answered within 24 hours.
To stop your subscription service, contact the service’s support team. Customers are not excessively upsold, and refund requests are fulfilled promptly.
If you uncover personal information about yourself on the site, you can request its removal by contacting customer service.
In most cases, your request to have your information deleted from the site will be fulfilled within two days.’
Report Design
The data presented in Instant Checkmate’s reports are generally well-structured, making it simple for users to locate the specific data they require.
Reports typically have rather detailed descriptions of the types and amounts of data they contain.
We observed that the report was more user-friendly than those generated by other persons’ search and background check services, despite its design having some shortcomings.
We also liked how the major details of a person’s profile could be viewed in a time-based order.
2. TruthFinder
If you need help tracking down a lost friend or family member or wish to research anyone you met on the internet, TruthFinder is the place to go.
Doing background checks, finding long-lost family members and old friends, or even doing a background check on yourself.
TruthFinder, headquartered in San Francisco, California, was founded in 2014 as an online provider of background checks.
Truthfinder has conducted countless people checks throughout the years. Truthfinder allows you to perform unlimited background checks on a target.
However, a premium subscription is required to access more features and do more extensive searches.
It’s common knowledge that this is a fantastic resource for conducting background checks online if you’ve ever done a web search.
Truthfinder allows you to narrow down your search results by answering a few questions about the person you’re looking for, such as their age or whether they now reside in a specific city.
TruthFinder will look through public documents, the dark web, and criminal records to verify a person’s identity. You won’t believe the amount of data at your fingertips.
Customize Search
Five distinct search options are available in TruthFinder, each of which may yield different results.
In addition, there are two report tiers available from the firm: ordinary and premium. Regrettably, there is a price for premium reports.
On the other hand, these reports are the most in-depth you can acquire from a TruthFinder inquiry.
Ease Of Use
TruthFinder is unlike any other service since it can scour the dark web for information.
This type of search is far more in-depth than a standard web search and is something that no other background check service offers.
Another purpose for a deep internet search is to determine if your personal internet safety has been breached.
Furthermore, TruthFinder stands out from the competition because of the richness of its knowledge base and the efficiency of its customer assistance.
Complete History Reports
It can be time-consuming and difficult to search through thousands of publicly available information to discover additional basic details on someone when you are trying to find somebody to care for your kids, join carpooling, or meet an individual for the first time in the workplace.
As part of a background check might include the following:
- Professional and Academic Background
- Driving and criminal histories
- Those who could be potential housemates, friends, relatives, and acquaintances
- Birth and death certificates
- Methods of contact
Social Media Pages
If you’re hesitant to initiate a new relationship or business partnership because of questions about the other person, you could use Truthfinder to help ease your mind.
You can also search for yourself to see what kind of data is out there about you. The content in the background check findings is presented clearly and concisely.
3. Spokeo
When it comes to background checks, Spokeo’s numbers are quite staggering. Currently, it provides results for 500,000 queries every day and serves 20 million users per month.
It’s clear from this how widely used this service is for background checks. Spokeo’s popularity can be attributed to the superiority of the reports it provides.
Spokeo uses its massive database of 12 billion records culled from thousands of sources to deliver comprehensive profiles of any given person.
Spokeo’s user-friendly reports contain all accessible data about a person, such as their contact information, images, social media profiles, location tracking, court papers, family and friends, and places of employment.
Personally identifiable information such as date of birth, marital status, educational attainment, and interests are also included in the reports.
Speed
When conducting a background check online, the search engine’s algorithms determine how quickly results are returned.
A search requires the engine to sift through potentially billions of records before returning any results. This can lead to frustratingly long wait times at times.
Unlike Spokeo, the proposed technique is powered by cutting-edge technology optimized for rapidly traversing large data sets.
A complete report can be generated in under 5 minutes, which is not unusual.
Help & Support
Spokeo provides multiple contact channels for its users, including phone, email, and real-time chat. Online support is available all day, every day, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
You can reach them at 1-877-913-3088, toll-free, from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. If not, you can always fire off an email.
If you feel confident in your ability to troubleshoot and resolve problems, you can always check out the FAQ area of Spokeo’s website.
Compared to the information repositories other background check services provided, they found this to be woefully inadequate.
The material, however, is written in plain English and requires little effort to comprehend.
The tech blog maintained by the company’s developers is an educational resource and an intriguing look behind the scenes of a background check service.
Uncover A Person’s Criminal History
Even if your past convictions are sealed from public view, Spokeo can help you uncover them by searching through public records.
The site can reveal details on criminal records, such as the nature of the offense, the place, and the time frame in which it occurred.
Spokeo also provides details about driving offenses like DUIs and suspensions.
You can rest easy knowing that it can also tell whether or not your neighbors have committed sexual offenses.
Spokeo’s criminal history search is not included in the site’s free tier and will cost you extra if you want to use it.
4. Intelius
In 2003, a group of seasoned businesspeople launched Intelius to meet the growing market need for people lookup services.
The Seattle-based corporation is the industry standard in terms of address lookups.
As time passed, it was able to expand by purchasing other address-search businesses because of the stellar reputation it had earned.
Intelius is a background check service that works much like others out there.
The website’s search function sifts through publicly available data to find anything relevant to your query.
This may contain current and past residences, contact details, and social media profiles.
Fast Results
Generally, the turnaround time for a response from a background check firm is between 24 and 72 hours. A week or more is the norm for some.
Intelius, however, allows you to do background checks and receive the results returned on the same day.
The whole thing is done while you’re still on the website, requiring less than 15 minutes.
Run Checks With Minimal Information
Intelius background checks don’t require a lot of personal information. Start with the person’s name, contact information, or address.
Intelius may reconfirm information regarding the report’s subject to ensure it is gathering accurate information.
Someone’s prior or current address is two possible examples. However, you can still move forward and make a report without knowing the answer.
Versatile Use Cases
Intelius can be used for basic tasks like tracking down a long-lost contact’s phone number or postal address.
The site can also be used for more complex purposes, such as researching a potential new neighbor’s criminal record.
You can use Intelius to do a quick background check on a potential date or to vet job candidates before you meet with them.
Customer Service
If you need assistance with Intelius, you can reach the company by phone Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Customers can also contact the customer service email address for technical support.
As far as they can tell, the customer service agents at Intelius are the best at explaining the site’s confusing membership requirements to new users.
They may also provide details on how to get in touch with technical support for their website or app.
Support For Conducting Verifications Of Personal Identities
Users can use the Identity Check feature to confirm their own identities. Users of Intelius can access the data from various sources, and the information may be put to various purposes.
The vast majority of landlords and businesses now outsource the responsibility of conducting background checks to a third-party company.
When we need to look into our past and be warned of any problems, we use Intelius.
Concluding Thoughts
In this article, we have covered the most popular totally free background checks.
A background check involves learning about an individual’s identity, history, and reputation by examining available records and information.
Most checks on someone’s past are now done mechanically, pulling information from databases kept by private corporations and government agencies.
Paying for a background check can help you get more detailed results, which will improve the quality of your report.
In addition, regular database updates mean that you can rest assured that no important information will be left out of the report.
Nonetheless, if you need to double-check someone’s identity, for the time being, a free background check could be all you need.
