If you need a background check but don’t want to spend a fortune, you might wonder if there are any reliable sites that offer this service for free.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore the 5 best sites for conducting free background checks, including Truthfinder, Instant Checkmate, Infotracer, Peoplefinders, and BeenVerified.
We’ll cover the types of information you can expect to find, the ease of use, and the unique features that make each site stand out. Additionally, we’ll answer some frequently asked questions about background checks to help you understand the process and the legitimacy of these free services.
Key Takeaways:
- Free background check sites can provide a wealth of information, including criminal records, social media profiles, and contact details, but the depth of the report may be limited compared to paid services.
- When using a free background check site, it’s important to verify the accuracy of the information and to use the data responsibly and ethically.
- While it’s possible to request the removal of certain criminal records from databases like the NCID, the process can be complex and may only apply in specific circumstances.
5 Sites to Get Free Background Check
Truthfinder
(Best for all-around free background check)
Truthfinder provides extensive free background check based on only the bare bones of information. Simply give them a name and address, and they will run criminal records, credit checks, consumer reports, and more for you in minutes.
Truthfinder has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau, with over 9.5 million sessions run every month. The company claims a secure connection that uses 128-bit encryption and a verified approved SSL certificate for every search.
Top Benefit: Truthfinder wins with its ability to offer free searches on 15 years of history and its searches including dark web internet search results.
Instant Checkmate
(Best for online & social media searches)
Instant Checkmate can search through criminal arrest records and other sources to create a comprehensive, color-coded report that will report everything about the person in question.
Instant Checkmate also has an A + rating from the BBB and offers secure searches. Using their first and last name search feature on the Instant Checkmate homepage, users can find basic information in one standard report.
The site also offers a Premium Report, which will supply supplemental data including crime, court information, and more for $19.99
Top Benefit: Instant Checkmate offers information such as social media handles, addresses, and other primary data with a first and last name, and users can find even more information with a fee.
Infotracer
(Best advanced reports)
Infotracer uses a same-day service that presents marriage and divorce records, motor vehicle records, and other information that builds a comprehensive picture of anyone’s background.
You can even find professional certifications, political contributions, and more across the company’s 5 billion records.
Infotracer builds their free background checks from online public records. This means that the background check is prepared lightning-fast but may be limited in its scope. However, the company recently announced that they now use Facial Recognition Search methods to boost their accuracy.
Top Benefit: InfoTracer’s Facial Recognition Search feature and weekly updates ensure that the report is as accurate as possible.
Pepeoplefinders
(Best for reverse-phone lookups)
Peoplefinders offers free reverse-lookup reports on individuals with a click, making the service perfect for those in need of fast names and locations.
For $9.95 a month, users can subscribe to unlimited background checks with complete reports. Thousands of different records make up the company’s up-to-date information about people, and they claim to offer billions of records of over 250 million adults in the U.S.
The NAPBS (National Associate of Professional Background Screening) accredits Peoplefinders, which means that the information you receive through your free background check is trustworthy. They are also big on protecting privacy, so they will not mishandle any data that you request or submit.
Peoplefinders focuses on providing reverse lookups. You may not get as much background information as you would from other sites on this list.
Top Benefit: Peoplefinders allows you to perform reverse phone lookups on various individuals quickly and is best if you need basic information with a click.
Beenverified
(Best for background newbies)
BeenVerified has an easy-to-use platform that walks users through the first step of pulling background checks. If you need free background checks but aren’t familiar with the process, BeenVerified offers walkthroughs alongside its report-pulling system.
BeenVerified will only give the most basic information on individuals through their free background checks such as reverse phone information and emails.
The process is easy and boasts nearly 16 million visits Per Month across almost 50,000 active users. BeenVerified was among the Top 500 Most Visited Sites in the US (SimilarWeb, August 2020).
Top Benefit: BeenVerified is best for those who want an app-like experience and aren’t familiar with background check processes.
Free Background Checks FAQ
What is a background check?
So, what is a background check? In short, a background check is one of the most effective ways to gain insight into someone’s history and behavior.
For individuals, a full background check will often include a treasure trove of information, including criminal and traffic records, credit history, education and employment history, and even social media profiles.
You have probably had a background check pulled when you have applied and interviewed for employment. They can also be used by landlords as part of their screening process when renting property (especially for housing with children) or adoption agencies who want more information before approving adoptive parents.
Sometimes, a background check can be great for learning about individuals before moving in with them or meeting them for a blind date. With a background check in hand, you can know the correct details about a person rather than rely on their word alone.
Information included in a background check
You can find a lot of information included in a background check. Depending on the level of background check you pull and the price you are willing to pay, you may be able to find quite a bit of information on someone through a search. Background checks break down into two levels of information:
Public Records Information
- Name, Address, Phone Number
- Education
- Military Service & Discharges
- Marriages
- Divorces
- Bankruptcies
- Financial Data & Overseas Accounts
- Real Estate Holdings
- Professional Licenses
Criminal Record Information
- Tickets
- Arrests
- Felony Convictions
- Misdemeanor Convictions (Including DUI)
- Dates of Release for Felonies and Misdemeanors from Jail or Prison
- Probation & Community Service Served
- Juvenile Offenses & Dispositions, including Youthful Offender Status
Where does background check information come from?
Here are a few places where free background check sites will pull the information you request:
- Public Records Services: These sites include state DMVs and court systems, hospitals, and property records. This data is collected and recorded for use in taxation and location record keeping, and with the proper process, you can access them easily.
- Government Agencies: Federal and state agencies such as the FBI and US Department of Justice keep vast amounts of data on individuals that track much of their personal, financial, and criminal records.
- Third-Party Websites: Any website – including those free background check sites above – that specialize in background checks will often build a database of information or access data on individuals that they use to create their background reports.
- Social Media: The world of social media is ripe for harvesting personal information and data. If you have created an account for a social networking platform and included your personal information, you can bet that those bits and bytes are being collected and stored by background check services.
Is It possible to do a free background check?
It is possible to complete a free background check, but you should be aware that you often get what you pay for! With a free background check, you will be able to access most of the basic information that you can find online.
Most sites simply require you to insert the name, social security number, or other identifying information about the searched person. Once you submit that information, you may have to verify that the individual is a match – and not someone with a similar name.
In most cases, agencies and sites run reports and send them to you within 24 hours. The larger the report, the longer it may take to produce. Once you get your report, you can search it for any information you needed – fast and straightforward!
Are free background checks legit?
Many online sites claim to offer free background checks, but the definition of “free” may be up for debate. While the sites listed in this article can provide various helpful background information for free, they may have a catch or two.
Any information you pull from a free background check is likely to be data that you can find through free online searches. However, finding that information may require quite a bit of time and strategy. So using a free background check service may be the faster way to find information on a person or organization.
Most often, individuals use free background check services to find criminal information or contact information on people. With the ability to pull much of the publicly available information fast, free background checks are legit if you have the right expectations for what you will receive.
Think of a free background check as a first step in finding more information about someone. For more money, you can hire an investigative service to run much deeper searches on individuals.
Can I delete my background check information?
One question many people have is, “Can I delete my background check information?” It may seem like an easy task, but it’s not that simple.
Most background information is there to stay unless you take steps to work your way through all possible records to clean up the data. Most information is harmless, except for criminal records.
Deleting your record on the NCID can potentially remove criminal history information that may be keeping you from employment or housing.
The National Criminal Offender Database (NCID), also known as the Interstate Identification Index (III), is a database of criminal justice information and contains over 70 million records on convicted felons dating back to 1997.
There are two ways you can request the deletion of the NCID/III record:
1. There is an error on your files, such as no arrest, or the arrest data in the database is inaccurate.
2. If a conviction was reversed or set aside by court order due to:
- Factual innocence after completion of the sentence
- The sentence was imposed under unfair laws based solely on race or national origin
- The felony conviction was overturned due to post-conviction DNA testing
- The conviction was for a misdemeanor that would be legal today
