How to do a background check

August 8, 2024 3:19 PM

Is it possible for me to do a real background check on someone, of the same type that a potential employer or other "official" person might run?

Googling "background check" brings up what looks to be some sketchy results, but I don't know how to even tell which ones will actually give me legit and thorough results and which are just scams.

A person in my life seems to run into problems any time a background check is required for anything, and I'd like to be able to see for myself what is coming up that's causing the issue. With the intent of looking into expungement or other remedies to clean the record up.

posted by Serene Empress Dork to Law & Government (10 answers total)

Whereabouts are you? This isn’t possible in the UK, I’m guessing in the US it may vary by state.
posted by penguin pie at 3:21 PM on August 8 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I'm in the US. The person also lives in the US, and has lived in several states over the years.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 3:23 PM on August 8

I once had to get a background check done on myself by the local police department, for something I was applying to. You might consider contacting your local police department and asking about this (I don't know if you can do it for someone else, or if the person in question would).
posted by bluedaisy at 3:24 PM on August 8 [2 favorites]

There's no uniform "background check" - it's just paying someone to search a name through different databases. The specifics of what they look at will change site-by-site and they'll charge different rates to look more or less comprehensively.

You can pay to do it as an individual. Checkr and TransUnion SmartMove are two services that come up often, though I can't vouch for them personally. Any service you look at will be targeted to employers and landlords who have to run checks fairly routinely, as that's the dominant use case, so you may have to buy a minimum bundle or similar.

Good luck!
posted by matrixclown at 3:41 PM on August 8 [6 favorites]

Have they tried asking any of the companies that performed one for a copy of the results?
posted by Art_Pot at 3:48 PM on August 8 [1 favorite]

When a government agency runs a background check, they're primarily checking government databases that are not available to companies or individuals.

When a company runs a background check, they are paying a company to search commercial databases for them. They have contracts in place and pay bulk prices. The gold standard is probably Mintz. Especially now that social media screening is the norm, these reports can easily be 400+ pages.

As an individual, all you have access to are the random companies that pop up on a Google search. Some are better than others. None are really good or comprehensive.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 4:45 PM on August 8 [1 favorite]

Best answer: If the person was denied a job due to a background check, the law requires that they tell you the name and contact information regarding the background reporting company and the person has 60 days to request a free copy of the report. Here is the relevant federal rules but your state may provide additional protection.

Also, the more professional organization have rules about who is considered to have a legitimate needs to run a background report plus they must have the consent of individual. So the individual may have more success getting access to their own record than you would as a random third party.
posted by metahawk at 4:57 PM on August 8 [11 favorites]

Best answer: If the person was denied a job due to a background check, the law requires that they tell you the name and contact information regarding the background reporting company and the person has 60 days to request a free copy of the report. Here is the relevant federal rules but your state may provide additional protection.

Came to say this. I am in HR, our background screening process is my responsibility, and your friend has every right to know what results are causing them issues.

Also confirming that there's not a one true background check. In the US our screenings look 7 years back for felony and misdemeanor charges across 3 counties, check the global sanctions list, sex offender registry, make sure you're not using a dead guy's SSN, and confirm your stated education credentials.

We discuss any derogatory results among HR before declining a candidate, and there's room for discussion on just about everything except violent crime, being a sex pest, and blatantly lying multiple times about your education. I don't know if this is typical among hiring teams or not.

One thing we don't do, but that commonly a lot of employers do, is employment history checks. We don't disclose anything when we get called by screeners (we only confirm title and employment dates) and so we know we're not going to get any worthwhile data from anyone we call. That would be a waste of money and time for us. But I suppose in theory if your friend has a very negative history at an employer who is carrying a deep hatred for them there's nothing stopping them from shitting up an employment verification.

Aside from the one guy with a grudge wildcard, your friend should (hopefully) know if they've done any crimes or not.
posted by phunniemee at 5:40 PM on August 8 [5 favorites]

One reason for the person to check on the background check, if they are denied employment because of it, is because there is always the possibility of inaccurate information on it. The whole problem might be there is another Fred Smith with the same birthday who is a felon or whatever. Or some other very easily correctable problem.

So whenever denied employment due to a background check, definitely make sure to get a copy of the check and then discuss and correct any problems that might be present. Unless you've seen a copy of the background check you have literally no idea what might be on it - accurate or inaccurate.
posted by flug at 9:01 PM on August 8 [1 favorite]

A work client did a background check on me last year, and part of my education history was red-flagged because a) I didn’t have a transcript for my Master’s degree (getting one would have cost €€ and my employer was like “nah”); b) the institution has since changed its name; and c) no one there answered the phone (I think most of it is down to this one; the background checking firm must have only tried calling once!). It’s really as simple as that, but they dress it up all official-like.
posted by macdara at 4:53 AM on August 9 [3 favorites]