How to Order a Background Check by Kit Fremin OK, so you want to order a background check on someone (or yourself), but you've never done it before and you don't know what is involved.  Don't worry, we will make this as painless as possible.  Below is a step-by-step guide and after you've read this you will be ready to place an order. The first determination is what do you need? Most people want a criminal history check on someone, somewhere.  Chances are, you know where this person lives now, but you may not know where else this person may have lived.  Don't worry, chances are we can find that out for you so that we can do a thorough check. In the USA most criminal checks are still done county by county, checking the Superior or District court in each. Several states have good statewide systems and we use those records whenever possible. Secondly, do you have sufficient information on the person, such as their Full Name, Date of Birth and Social Security Number?  If you are ordering a background check on a person for employment purposes we strongly suggest that you have a signed consent form with that information and allowing you to use the info once you get it.  To download a form click on the Forms Page in the Navigation Bar on your left. If you do not have the person's knowledge and permission, that's OK. Remember, its what you do with the information where the law is concerned.  Assuming that you don't want to do something illegal, and you just want to check on someone for personal reasons and you don't have exact info. It may be OK. You may have a name and you know the city where the person lives or maybe even the street, but not the number.  That may be enough, especially if the person you are checking does not have a common name. When searching criminal records the person's full name is always the first criteria used, followed by the date of birth, to eliminate duplicate info.  SS# is only used by us to get the full name, address and often the date of birth.  We also use it to determine where to search.  This is very important. A criminal will never tell you to look where he/she has a criminal record. The first thing we do when we start any background check is to get a list of all of the person's previous addresses, thereby telling us where to look for records. Thirdly, send this info to us by e-mail.  We will look over the info, make sure there are no additional questions then send you a PayPal link in an e-mail for you to post payment before we begin. Costs: a Criminal History Report anywhere in the US (in up to three jurisdictions) except New York is only $49.  New York is $75.  International Criminal History checks are $99 in most countries and $140 in Great Britain and $200 in Russia. When you send us the info we will send you a PayPal link with the fees embedded where you can post payment and complete the order. If you want to verify a person's current or previous jobs, education or professional license we will need specific info.  Remember our job is verification. You have to tell us what to verify.  A lot of otherwise intelligent people think that there are giant government databases with all of that info kept about people.  That is an urban legend.  They don't exist. There are giant databases with current and previous addresses and we use those. Turnaround time: is anywhere from a couple hours to 2-3 days. (More for international criminal checks). Remember that we are doing real criminal searches often by hand.  Yes, in at least half of the USA's 3100 counties, records must be searched in person at the court clerk's office.  That's why those instant nationwide searches that you see advertized are junk.  They only collect data where it is online and free, which is less than half of the country.  The results can be sent by phone, e-mail or written report.  If anything comes up that you should know about, we will let you know right away.  For example; if you are checking someone in England and California and we find something in California while waiting for the English report, we will let you know. When you are ready to begin click here to send us an e-mail. © 1994-2008 Background Check International