Free or Cheap Background Checks

Background checks have become standard operating procedure in many facets of life these days. The question is can you get free or cheap background checks and are they worth anything?

Historically, background checks were primarily done by the government for individuals that would be in positions to know or be exposed to state secrets. Then they were extended and became standard operating procedure for government security agencies such as the FBI and CIA. It was long before large corporations were using them to vet whether employees could be trusted with business trade secrets. Now, background checks are used for just about everything including determining whether a renter will be a good tenant!

Conducting a background check is fairly simple. You pick a company to do it for you. Trying to do it yourself is nearly impossible, and there are so many services available these days that the competition has created prices that aren't bad. Still, you can shop around for free only checks or go with the cheapest options out there. The question is whether you should.

They say you get what you pay for. Well, the same is true with background checks, but maybe not in the way you might think. Most services are going to make the effort to deliver a quality review. This really isn't the issue. The bigger question is the scope of the check. Specifically, the results are only so good as the databases accessed. Databases are simply collections of information. The more that are checked, the more accurate the background report. Consider an example. Let's assume I am applying to be the Chief Financial Officer of your company. I seem like the best candidate so you decide to run a check on me. You hire a cheap company that reviews my credit report and a federal clearing house for arrests. Nothing stands out and you decide to hire me. Two years later you find out I embezzled millions of dollars. Oh no!



In the subsequent investigation, you find out the California Department of Corporations had actually fined me tens of thousands of dollars for inappropriate securities sales and had obtained a court order barring me from being a corporate executive. Why didn't this show up? Well, the check you ordered only covered arrests and credit reports, not state databases. If you had paid more, you would've received a more thorough review and found the problems.

Can you get free or cheap background checks online? Yes, absolutely. Just keep in mind that you get what you pay for. They can't hurt, but they don't always reveal everything you really would want to know.

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