The short answer is no—there is no way to conduct a truly comprehensive, reliable background check for free. Professional background screening services require payment to access their detailed databases and verification processes.
However, you can find some basic information yourself through free public records searches and social media lookups if you invest substantial time and effort. Let‘s dig into what full background checks involve, options for free searches, limitations to be aware of, and when it’s worth paying for professional screening.
Contents
What Does a Thorough Background Check Include?
Before we look at free alternatives, it‘s important to understand what a paid professional background check delivers. According to the background screening industry trade group NAPBS, comprehensive screening provides credible data from multiple sources, including:
- Identity verification – Confirming legal name, date of birth, social security number, current and past addresses.
- Criminal history – Records of any criminal convictions, sex offender status, pending cases. Covers all jurisdictions.
- Driving records – Checks motor vehicle records for issues like DUIs, traffic citations, license validity.
- Employment history – Details of previous employers, positions held, employment dates, reason for leaving.
- Education history – Degrees obtained, schools attended, academic achievements, disciplinary issues.
- Drug testing – Results of any pre-employment drug screening.
- Civil court records – Lawsuits, bankruptcies, tax liens, judgments, financial issues.
- Licensing – Details on licenses for roles like medical professionals, pilots, lawyers. Confirms standing.
- Credit reports – Information on bankruptcy filings, foreclosures, outstanding debts.
- References – Interviews with provided references on past work or rental history.
- Social media – Review of public social media for any red flags around attitude, lifestyle, values.
According to surveys by Statista, 90% of organizations conduct criminal background checks, 80% confirm employment history, over 70% check education credentials, and 52% review credit reports.
As you can see, comprehensive background checks dig deeply into both public records and private sources to uncover details around a person‘s past and current status across many aspects of life.
Free Background Check Options
While you won‘t get access to the licensed data and investigative resources professional services offer, you can find some basic information yourself through free public records and online searches if you‘re willing to invest significant personal time and effort.
Search Engines
Your starting point for a free background check is a detailed search using Google or another search engine. Try searching the person‘s full name in quotation marks along with keywords related to locations they‘ve lived or worked, schools attended, etc.
This may uncover newspaper mentions, court cases, job sites, social media profiles, and other web pages with useful information. Expand your search to just their name in quotes without keywords to cast a wider net.
According to surveys by Statista, 98% of adults use search engines regularly, performing over 3.5 billion searches per day. With some persistence, search engines can provide insight into a person‘s history and reputation—but the information will not be compiled or officially verified.
Public Records Sites
Many government sites provide free public access to records that may be part of a paid background check report, such as:
- Criminal records – County court websites often provide case records and upcoming dockets. The Federal PACER system offers wider search for a small fee.
- Sex offender registries – Each state provides a sex offender registry residents can search.
- Property records – County assessor sites detail property ownership and real estate transactions.
- Marriages and divorces – Check county recorder sites for marriages and county clerk for divorces.
- Business registrations – The state Secretary of State site allows you to search business startups.
- Campaign donations – The FEC website lists individuals‘ political contributions.
- Licenses – Professional license lookup on state websites.
Spending time digging through official public record sites anywhere the person has lived takes patience but can yield verified results.
According to the Society for Human Resource Management, over 80% of organizations search criminal records, but only 56% search all counties lived in. Thorough public records searches on your own help avoid missed information.
Facebook and LinkedIn
Checking out someone‘s public Facebook and LinkedIn profiles can give insight into their character and history:
- Does their timeline show consistent employment and education history?
- Do groups joined and causes supported align with other facts you know about them?
- Do friends and photos suggest consistency between statements and lifestyle?
- Are opinions and attitudes expressed concerning at all?
While social media should not be considered foolproof evidence, comparing it with other facts you uncover may help identify any issues or inconsistencies.
According to 2021 surveys by Statista, over 70% of U.S. adults use Facebook and nearly 30% use LinkedIn, so these sites provide useful personal context in most cases.
Truthfinder and BeenVerified
Truthfinder and BeenVerified are two sites that provide limited background checks before requiring paid subscriptions for full access.
Both will let you run a free search by name that gives a snapshot view of age range, current and past addresses, and family members associated with that individual. However, criminal checks, employment history, education, net worth estimates, and more require signing up for paid membership.
These sites can supplement your own manual searches by compiling online data and public records in one place. But understand their full reports come with monthly subscription fees.
According to comparative reviews, TruthFinder provides slightly more detail up front before requiring payment. But experts recommend being wary of any ‘free‘ offers from background check companies designed to get you paying for monthly access.
Professional Service Trials
For a brief glimpse at professional background screening, you can try sample reports from Checkr and GoodHire. Both offer businesses high-quality candidate checks.
By entering your email on their sign-up pages as if you were an employer, you can get Checkr and GoodHire to generate a sample report on you. This provides an example of what their paid checks deliver.
However, this only works once and strictly for your own background report. There are no free searches allowed for other individuals. These trials give you a preview of professional services but must be paid for actual use.
The Risks of Free Background Checks
While free public records searches deliver some useful information, experts warn they should not be relied upon as a basis for final hiring or relationship decisions. Here are important downsides to note if using free options:
No verification – You won’t have access to official government databases like FBI records to verify info accuracy. Records found may apply to different individuals with similar names.
Incomplete data – Criminal record searches may lack detailed case information. Employment history only includes publicly available information.
No customer support – If you need help interpreting records found, free searches leave you on your own without expert assistance.
Time investment – Digging through records yourself takes substantial time versus professional screening. Public sites often have cluttered interfaces and incomplete digitization.
No accuracy guarantee – Sites may report outdated data, include records that apply to different people, or leave out jurisdictions. Nothing is verified.
Possible legal issues – If you fail to follow requirements like getting consent, you may face allegations of privacy violations or defamation.
When using free background checks, treat any information as tentative rather than proven fact. Experts strongly recommend against making final choices based solely on free checks due to limitations around accuracy and completeness.
Professional vs. Free Background Checks
There are significant advantages to paying for access to professional background screening services versus trying to cobble findings together yourself from free sources.
Here is an overview of key differences between paid and free background check services:
| Professional Checks | Free Checks |
|---|---|
| Pulls credit reports | No credit data available |
| Verifies SSN belonging to applicant | No SSN verification |
| Accesses national criminal records | Local criminal records only |
| Covers all jurisdictions | Limited location coverage |
| Includes all past employers | Just publicly listed employers |
| Confirms educational degrees | Can‘t confirm education |
| Structured, easy-to-read reports | Just raw data found |
| Guarantees accuracy with corrections | No accuracy guarantees |
| Provides customer service assistance | You‘re on your own |
| Fast turnaround, usually 24-48 hours | Can take weeks of effort |
| Complies with all legal requirements | Individual responsible for legal compliance |
Given the importance of accuracy, compliance, and depth of information, experts strongly emphasize relying on paid professional background screening services whenever the purpose truly warrants comprehensive background checks.
Tips for Manual Free Background Checks
If you do wish to conduct the most thorough check possible yourself using free options, experts recommend:
- Get signed consent – Have the person sign a consent form allowing you to perform the background check to avoid legal issues.
- Verify full legal name – Confirm the full legal name including middle name/initial to avoid false positives.
- Search comprehensively – Look up public records in all locations the person lived, worked, studied or held licenses.
- Dig into specifics – Search available court cases, deeds, incorporation records and other documents—not just name searches.
- Confirm details – Try contacting past employers and schools to confirm employment and education details.
- Check social media – Review Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other public social media for any red flags.
- Document thoroughly – Keep detailed notes on each search completed and what was found in case questions arise later.
Conducting comprehensive manual checks takes significant time and effort. Paid professional services aggregate and verify records far more efficiently. But you can gather quite a bit through public information if you’re patient and thorough.
Are Any Background Checks 100% Free?
The bottom line is no background check providers offer completely free access to comprehensive screening services without payment, subscription or ongoing fees. As the saying goes, nothing in life is free.
While “free” trial offers or “freemium” models exist, these inevitably require payment for full detailed reports. Truly free background checks only come through time-consuming public records searches and social media lookups—leaving potential gaps versus paid professional services.
According to background screening industry analysts, individual background check prices from leading providers typically range from $25-$60 depending on factors like:
- Level of detail needed (identity, employment, education, criminal history, etc.)
- Number of years back the report should cover
- Whether drug screening is included
- How rapidly you need the results returned
- Any court or county searches required
For high-volume corporate screening, per-report prices can be negotiated down to around $20-$30 with monthly contracts. However, “you get what you pay for” absolutely still applies even at lower prices.
Bottom line, while you won‘t find detailed reports available for literally no cost, paying for professional background screening offers high value in accuracy and reliability when qualified information on someone‘s history is needed.
Should You Pay for Background Checks?
Paying for professional background screening brings significantly more confidence in your decisions versus relying only on free public records and social media searches.
According to HR experts, background checks are a wise investment when:
- Making hiring choices, especially for positions of trust like childcare.
- Entering into business partnerships where ethics matter.
- Going into a landlord-tenant or roommate relationship.
- Dating someone seriously where assessing character provides peace of mind.
- Any situation where unverified online data doesn‘t meet your standard.
While tempting to get something for free, paid checks deliver higher accuracy, compliance, and depth of information. The key is determining if those advantages are worthwhile for your specific needs.
Many providers offer fast and affordable single checks for one-off personal situations. And corporate packages negotiate substantially lower per-report pricing.
In short—for informal checks or casual research, free searches can provide useful insight. But for any situation where complete and guaranteed information is critical, paid professional checks quickly pay for themselves in confidence and risk reduction.
The Bottom Line
While you can find some background information through free public records and social media searches, there are no truly comprehensive "free" background checks available. Vital details around identity, qualifications, criminal history and more require accessing licensed data services only professional screening providers can offer.
If a complete picture of someone‘s background is essential for an important hiring, relationship or business decision, paying reasonable fees for professional screening is money well spent compared to uncertainty from free options. For informal personal research, public records and social searches provide a starting point within limitations.
The bottom line: understanding the trade-offs between "free" and paid checks allows choosing the right tool for your particular needs, priorities and budget. With some diligent digging, free sources can uncover useful insights—but may miss key details only paid services reliably provide.
