Backgroundchecks.com General Questions

There is no background check that provides a list of places a candidate has worked. However, we can individually verify the workplaces that a candidate lists on their resume.

You should consider background check records a part of candidates or employees’ private files and not share these checks beyond your company’s hiring team, aside from sharing them with the candidates or employees themselves.

Yes, salary is one of the pieces of information that a work history verification check can verify.

One of the most common questions about criminal background checks is whether reports will show arrest records. 

The answer depends on the state. Some states have laws prohibiting employers from asking about arrest records or using them for employment-related decisions. Since arrests themselves are not proof of guilt, they are unreliable and often unfair when used as a barrier to employment. 

At backgroundchecks.com, we always exclude arrest history information from our background check reports to protect our customers from compliance issues. To learn whether your state legally allows the use of arrest records for hiring, read our white paper on the matter.

Similar to arrests, dismissed cases are not proof of guilt. However, a dismissed case may appear on a candidate’s background check. An arrest that never led to a criminal charge is one thing, but a criminal charge stays on the person’s record even if the charges are dismissed, or the case ends in a not guilty verdict. 

Just because dismissed charges may show up on a background check doesn’t mean employers need to consider them. In most cases, employers recognize the difference between a formal conviction and a charge that ultimately didn’t go anywhere. To learn more about this subject, read our full post about dismissed cases and background checks.

If a candidate has successfully petitioned to have their criminal records sealed or expunged, those convictions should no longer appear on a background check report. An expunged record is essentially scrubbed from existence, while a sealed record should only be accessible to law enforcement. 

Does your business have candidates whose criminal histories make hiring or providing specific benefits challenging? At backgroundchecks.com, we designed a program called MyClearStart to help employers get information about expungement into the hands of their applicants.

Before you order any searches from us, you’ll need an account with backgroundchecks.com. Under various laws, including the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), you must prove that you have a permissible purpose to order a background check before you access the content of the reports. This process is easy and 100% online through our platform. If you don’t have an account, don’t worry. It’s fast and easy to set one up. To see what information you need, go here:

Before you order any searches from us, you’ll need an account with backgroundchecks.com. Under various laws, including the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), you must prove that you have a permissible purpose to order a background check before you access the content of the reports. This process is easy and 100% online through our platform. If you don’t have an account, don’t worry. It’s fast and easy to set one up. To see what information you need, go here:

We incorporate Social Security Numbers into many of our checks—particularly criminal history—so that we can find past names associated with those SSNs. If a candidate has previous legal names, we will note this information and recommend running additional checks on those names.

In most cases, traffic tickets or other driving-related infractions will not be included in criminal background check reports. Most speeding tickets are considered civil infractions rather than misdemeanors or felonies, and civil infractions rarely show up on criminal history checks. 

That’s not to say that employers cannot find traffic citations with a background check. Motor vehicle record checks offer a way to find this information and are common for jobs that involve operating vehicles or heavy machinery. 

Of course, there are driving offenses considered misdemeanors or felonies, including reckless driving and driving under the influence of alcohol. These convictions will appear on a criminal background report. 

To learn more about what information may appear on a driving history check – from traffic tickets to license classification – visit our driving record background check product page.

Juvenile records are not part of our coverage. Information on most juvenile offenses is not released and most courts and states do not provide information on people under 17.

No, bank account information is considered private and is not publicly available. However, we do provide reports that may include bankruptcy information which is publicly available and may be viewed as a financial record. For interested customers we can purchase credit reports from a credit bureau.

No, we do not provide results on an individual's credit in our criminal reports. Credit history is not publicly available and is considered private information. For interested customers we can purchase credit reports from a credit bureau.

No, social security number information is not usually publicly available. However, date of birth information is commonly found in public records. Many of our criminal record data sources include date of birth in the information they provide.

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We collect publicly available information from hundreds of data sources which include county courts, state administrative Office of the courts, state departments of corrections and many more. We have limited control in their update frequency as it is set by and varies by each data source. However, data strength is one of many aspects that sets us apart from our competitors and we go to great lengths to acquire and maintain our data. We are continually evaluating our processes to ensure timely and quality results.

An employment verification check is mostly meant to check the validity of the work history information a candidate provides on their resume. It’s not uncommon for job applicants to embellish their work history to make it look more impressive to a prospective employer. That might mean tweaking a job title, changing a start or end date, or listing job responsibilities outside the scope of the position. Employment verification checks involve contacting previous employers—usually HR staff—and verifying the accuracy of these key information points.

On the subject of employment history checks, one common question is what employers can or cannot say about a previous employee. If you are an employer, you may be wondering what you can ask a former employer about a job candidate or what you are allowed to say if an employer contacts you about a past employee. 

Contrary to popular belief, no federal law restricts what employers can disclose about past employees. For instance, if the candidate you are screening was fired from a previous job, the employer can share that detail and explain the reasoning behind the decision.

However, just because there is no federal law on the subject doesn’t mean employers are always open to discussing anything and everything about their ex-employees. Most employers tread carefully here for fear of defamation lawsuits. 

As a result, employers don’t typically want to comment too much on things that might be deemed subjective – such as the character or work ethic of past employees. Especially if the employer doesn’t have anything nice to say about their ex-worker, they don’t want to put themselves in a situation where they could feasibly be taken to court for slandering that person. 

So, instead of asking questions that focus on an employer’s opinions about a past employee, most employment verification checks focus on objective and easily verifiable details. These details include verifiable employment dates, job titles, duties or responsibilities, and salary information.

In most cases, job seekers have a list of 2-3 professional references that they submit alongside their resume, cover letter, and job application. These references, theoretically, are people who are willing to speak favorably about the job seeker’s skills, abilities, work habits, and more. However, since job seekers ask references to speak on their behalf, reference checks can touch upon subjective topics that work history verifications usually cannot, including personality, character, and work ethic. 

Read on to find out how we can check your candidate's references.

How far back a criminal background check goes depends on the state. No federal law regulates the lookback period for criminal history checks. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) does have rules limiting the “adverse information” a credit bureau can report about a consumer. 

However, that part of the FCRA only applies to credit history checks. There is no corresponding rule for criminal history checks. 

Instead, most states decide on this matter on their own. Most commonly, criminal background checks are allowed to look back seven years.

This varies by state but will go back at least 3 years.

For many checks, it takes less than 3 minutes to place an order. You can get most criminal checks in about 2 minutes if you already have an account with us. Some checks take more than 2 minutes. Here's more on this.

There are several reasons why 0 records might be found. You entered incorrect information like a misspelled first or last name and/or the incorrect date of birth. You entered a hyphenated name, middle initial in the first name box, a suffix such as JR, SR II, III, IV at the end of the last name or a special character in the first or last name box. The search was conducted by name and date of birth; but available public records do not associate this name and/or date of birth with the record. The subject searched is a minor and we do not search juvenile records. You entered a hyphenated name. Our database does not provide results for hyphenated names, therefore, you must enter the last name with a space rather than a hyphen (-) or you may use the last part of the hyphenated name for the best results. Do not add any generations such as Jr. Sr. II or III. You entered two first names. We are referring to names like Bobbie Sue, Amy Lynn and Billie Joe - please do not use them. Use only the first part of the two-part name as any extension of the name will be reported. Example, if you are searching Amy Lynn - Just use Amy and if there is a match with Amy Lynn it will come back. You entered a nickname. Court records use the subject's full legal name, not nicknames. You entered a middle name as a first name. Court records use the subject's first name, not a middle name that the subject goes by.

MyClearStart currently supports the free eligibility test in the following states: Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah and Washington. For other states click here.

No one is notified that you have ordered a report on yourself.

The ins and outs of social security number driven name and address history The US OneTRACE check is the fastest, easiest and most cost effective way to retrieve the best possible address history for a subject, aside from asking the subject for the information and relying on their comprehensive listing of their past address history. Employers frequently desire to order county criminal record searches in all counties where the subject lived in the past seven years. If you want to make that selection based on an independent listing of addresses, the US OneTRACE is your best option. The US OneTRACE check is included as part of our US AliasSEARCH or US AliasVERIFY instant criminal database searches. Additional benefits of providing a social security number as part of an instant criminal database search: When you provide a full name including first, middle and last name, and the social security number (SSN), we report the state and the approximate date of issuance of the SSN for Social Security Numbers issued prior to the Social Security Administration's (SSA) randomization initiative started in June 25, 2011 and we run the SSN through the SSA Death Master Index and alert you if the SSN belong to a deceased person. This allows you to better identify and prevent identity fraud.

Court records are generally public records. Even if your case is dismissed, deferred or discharged, your offense is still publicly available. Which means your prospective employer, landlord or school may discover the court case.

Yes, please visit our disputes page for this answer.

Public records is information that has been filed or recorded by local, state, federal, or other government agencies, such as corporate and property records. Public records include vital records, immigration records, real estate records, driving records, criminal records, voter registration, etc. Most essential public records are maintained by the government and many are accessible to the public. Availability is determined by federal, state, and local regulations.

Criminal history searches are just one part of a thorough pre-employment background check process. In addition to looking at criminal records, most employers take time to verify the information their candidates provide on resumes and job applications. 

Lies, half-truths, or embellishments are unfortunately common in today’s job market. Because a criminal background check doesn’t reveal anything about a person’s past employment or education. It ultimately isn’t an effective tool to help employers flag lies about work history or college degrees. 

These details must instead be checked using verification checks. There are a few different types of verifications available from backgroundchecks.com, including employment history, education, professional licensing or certification, and reference checks.

Each state charges different fees. If you take the free eligibility test, all fees will be shown prior to you making any commitment.

Similar to employment history, education history is a resume detail that employers may want to verify about their candidates. Education verification can be crucial for pre-hiring due diligence, especially in academia or in jobs requiring specific degrees or credentials. You can check our product page for education history checks to learn more about how they work and why they are important in the background check process.

You can register a new account online now. Registration takes minutes. Then you can get your first instant report about 2 minutes later.

When most people think of a background check, they think of a simple criminal history check. In truth, though, most background checks entail much more than that. 

Defined simply, a background check is the tool employers use to vet their candidates as thoroughly as possible. This process involves looking at criminal records, but it can also entail education and employment history, civil records, professional references, etc. A good background check shows a wide variety of information. Note that background checks can take several days to process, so planning and knowing what information you want to check is essential for ensuring a timely service.

Why is each of these types of information important? In the case of a criminal history check, learning about a person’s background may be vital to keeping your company, your employees, and your customers safe. Employment and education verifications help ensure that applicants have the skills and experience necessary to perform the job at hand. Some background checks can even verify whether applicants are truthful about their identity – and whether they are wanted internationally. 

Call these processes what you will: background screenings, background checks or pre-employment screenings. Regardless of the name, these tools are always there to help protect your company from the risk of a bad hire. Those risks can include bad press, negligent hiring lawsuits, and other liabilities. Most employers believe detailed background checks are worth the cost of admission to minimize these risks.

One important thing to note here is the importance of identifying information for background checks. Most criminal records are filed by name, which can be a stumbling block given how many people share common names. Knowing other details about a candidate – such as their birthdate, Social Security Number, or where they live – is vital to help make sure records belong to your applicant. These extra pieces of identifying information can also help background check providers pull records associated with a candidate’s aliases or prior names, including maiden names.

Each jurisdiction is different so take the free eligibility test to find out.

A civil history background check is an entirely different matter than a criminal background check. Where criminal cases are brought to court by the state, civil cases are brought instead by the alleged victim. For instance, if someone sues their neighbor over a property damage claim, that case becomes part of the civil court history for both the plaintiff and the defendant. A civil background check would therefore turn up information about that case.

Note that there are two types of civil history background checks: county and federal. To understand what shows on these different civil history records, read our blog post on the matter.

Yes. During your automated ordering process, we suggest optional reports and checks you may want to consider. You can add them to your order before you complete it.

backgroundchecks.com has the #1 criminal conviction records database in the industry, based on a comparison of the number of sources of conviction data for online criminal conviction databases that make their source list publicly available. Our sources include hundreds of direct sources such as county courts, state administrative office of the courts, state department of corrections and many more. We also use third party data providers which allows us access to billions of records, thus improving the quality and volume of your results.

Since many courts and agencies do NOT proactively inform the public of expungements, a person may obtain a court order expunging or sealing a record but that order may never be received by the criminal record database companies, who are a source of criminal record information to many of the background screening companies in the US. Consumers that engage with the MyClearStart program and the attorneys from our partner can rest assured that, once the offense has been officially expunged or sealed, the lawyer also works to remove the records from proprietary criminal databases at the nation's largest criminal record database providers that have joined forces in the Expungement Clearinghouse. And for people that already have an expungement, our partner can now offer you an additional service that will expedite the removal or modification of your criminal record. The Expungement Clearinghouse expedites the updating of information provided to over 500 commercial background screening providers in the U.S. by securely sharing data about expunged criminal records with participating member companies. The clearinghouse provides a faster and more coordinated approach for consumers, their attorneys, courts and other sources to efficiently disseminate information about criminal records that have been cleared or updated by the courts to the commercial background screening industry. Having MyClearStart handle your case means that you will have the security and confidence in knowing that you have an experienced and licensed attorney working to make sure your record is cleared by the court to the fullest extent possible as fast as possible and removed from private criminal databases. We have partnered with The Law Firm of Higbee & Associates to offer you this service.

When you order reports, we must certify that you are a business with a permissible purpose to request such data. To check your credentials, we have to order verification information from sources that charge us a fee. Our registration fee pays for those charges.

A Consumer Reporting Agency (CRA) is any entity that gathers and shares information about individuals with other companies to determine employment eligibility or obtain housing, credit or insurance. According to the law, a CRA offers these services for money or in a cooperative nonprofit manner.

In short, a CRA is any provider that obtains consumer information and sells it to a third party for legitimate purposes, such as offering a job.

Consumer reporting agencies have many responsibilities under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Chief among these is a requirement for a CRA to determine that any customer ordering a report is doing so for a legally permissible purpose, per the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Disclosing consumer reports to parties without a legal purpose is illegal and carries severe penalties for violating the law. CRAs also have other responsibilities, such as investigating any disputed information. CRAs must furnish accurate information to the best of their knowledge.

As a regulated consumer reporting agency, backgroundchecks.com must confirm the legitimacy of your business and the purpose for ordering background checks. To do so, we require an authentication process, which usually occurs only once during account setup. Credentialing allows us to satisfy our obligations under the Fair Credit Reporting Act and applicable state laws. The process involves due diligence to determine that you have a legitimate, legally permissible purpose for ordering background checks. This process also helps protect you, your employees, and applicants from legal exposure.

During credentialing, we must verify the truth and accuracy of the information provided to us by a customer. In practice, that means confirming that the customer represents a legitimate business in good standing and is currently operational. We also verify that customers use reports for the legally permissible purpose you claim, such as for vetting job applicants.

From time to time, customers may need to participate in a re-credentialing process to verify that the account details have not changed since the initial credentialing. If you make changes to your account, re-credentialing may also be necessary.

Credentialing takes place during the account creation process at backgroundchecks.com. During the initial setup, there may be a one-time account creation fee. We always indicate this fee as part of your order total. We use these fees to help offset credentialing costs and provide a more cost-effective service to our customers.

During validation, we will need your name, contact information, and the organization’s name. You will also need to agree to our terms and conditions. We also require new clients to provide a blank copy of their FCRA-compliant authorization and disclosure forms. You will use these documents to obtain an applicant’s consent and notify them of your intent to request their consumer report. You may need to upload these documents to our website.

You can begin reviewing reports upon the completion of the credentialing process.