Sunday, December 21, 2008

Running Criminal Background Checks Explained

By Glen Pearson

You may have wondered about what's happened in someone's past. One way to find out is by doing a background check. You'll get all the information you need about their history.

While in years past a detective agency or private investigator was required to put together all the information, it's not that way anymore. Thanks to the Internet, we now have the ability to learn about anyone's background without leaving our desks.

There are many common reasons to run a background check on someone. What if you're thinking about hiring someone, but you want to be sure their job history is accurate? What if a friend or relative has a new date, but you're not so sure about him or her. Background checks will help.

Lots of people even do a background check on their own histories. This shows them what other people will see, and it helps them make sure it's all accurate. If you find any errors, you can easily get the right contact information and correct the problem.

Companies have created enormous online databases of information on people's backgrounds and of their public documents. These can be searched, and are able to provide information to everyday users.

Background checks can turn up a lot of information about a given person, and may include their criminal record, address history, credit report, marriage history, and other useful data. It's easy to find out a person's full history with this kind of search.

You're probably not surprised by the fact that it costs a few dollars to run a background check. However, this is relatively inexpensive. Don't want to spend the money right away? There's one trick you can use to see if you can get free information.

If you'd like to find out what you can learn about someone on your own, open up Google's search engine and type the person's name in quotation marks, then the place where they live. Now, see what you can find.

Unfortunately, many people share a name with someone else, so unless their name really is unique, you may not find anything reliable. It can be hard to get good, in depth information this way. However, sometimes you get lucky, and the process is free.

Of course, if this method doesn't work out, you can always look for a background check company that'll give you a money back guarantee. If you don't get what you want, you'll get your money back and won't pay a cent in the long run.

The other great idea is looking for companies that only charge you once. You'll pay a flat fee for full membership privileges and the ability to do as many searches as you like, rather than paying each time.

Online background checks allow you to feel like a PI without leaving home. They're an easy way to find out everything on anyone at all. - 15437

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