By: Kelly | Last updated February 25, 2019 
There are plenty of scenarios in which background checks can be useful. Starting with professional reasons and ending with personal ones.
What kind of information can background checks offer?
There are many types of background check services out there. Some of the most popular ones are those used for employment purposes. Employees perform background checks on their candidates, with their consent, to find out their employment history, education and more.
Another popular type of background check is personal background check and there are a plethora of online services that act like public records search services. This is also the case of TruthFinder.
These services offer you reports that can include a lot of useful information on people, such as:
- Contact details
- Address and address history
- Date of birth
- Possible relatives
- Relationship, marriages and divorces
- Sex offender info
- Citizenship
- Driving records
- Military records
- Court records
- Criminal and arrest records
- Social media profiles and more
TruthFinder features – What can you use the service for?
TruthFinder defines itself as a ‘public records search service that compiles public records’. The company was founded in 2015 and it has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau. TruthFinder clearly states it is not an FCRA compliant service and it can’t be used for screening employees or screening tenants.
However, you can use it to:
- Find out who is calling you with unknown numbers
- Reconnect with childhood friends, former classmates
- Find out information on online sellers so that you can be reassured you do your online shopping from trustworthy websites/sources
- Find out information on celebrities
- Find out information on your neighbors
- Find out information on the parents of your children’s friends
- Search for registered sex offenders in your neighborhood
- Find out information on people you’re dating (if they have a criminal record, if they are involved in another relationship, etc.)
Pricing
TruthFinder currently has 2 plans you can choose from: a 1-month plan and a 3-month plan.
The 1-month plan is priced at $27.78/month and the 3-month plan costs less than $26.
Both plans include unlimited standard reports. With the 1 month plan subscription plan you basically pay less than 99 cents per report.
There is also the option to pay an extra $2 to look up as many phone reports as you want, with TruthFinder’s Phone Number Lookup Plan.
As we’ve already mentioned it, the 2 subscription plans include unlimited standard reports. TruthFinder’s standard reports include info such as: contact details, date of birth, address, social media profiles, potential relatives, known aliases, criminal records.
If you want to get more detailed information, you have to opt for their Premium Report Upgrade, which is an extra $17.47. You will then have access to more complex data such as:
- Assets
- Census data
- Weapon permits
- Business affiliations
- Bankruptcies
- Professional licenses
- Drug tests
- Driving tests and more
The one thing you’re not going to get with TruthFinder is the possibility to pay for a single report, which is a shame, because you may only need to use such a service once, and it would make no sense to subscribe to a plan that you’re not going to benefit from more than once.
How does TruthFinder work?
TruthFinder requires you to create an account, the traditional way or using your Facebook account. You have to provide an e-mail and choose a password that you are going to use to log in (if you don’t go the Facebook route).
TruthFinder also has a mobile app so you can also use the service straight from your smartphone.
After you are logged in, you can start performing searches based on several criteria: name, address, phone number or e-mail.
The TruthFinder interface is really straightforward and easy to use. Once you choose a type of search, you wait for your report to be generated and just click on ‘open report’ to view it once it is completed.
TruthFinder gathers its information from a variety of sources, such as federal, state, county records, court records, sex offender convictions, parking tickets, social media profiles, and others. It also browses the deep web, even the dark web, which is not even accessible to any user, as you have to have a special program in order to be accessed (such as Tor). The deep web contains way more information than what you can usually get from the ‘surface’.
One reason why TruthFinder is useful for browsing the deep web is that it can help you in case you suspect you might have fallen victim to identity theft. The dark web is full of ‘dark’, illegal activities. Your personal information can be sold using the dark web and TruthFinder can help you see if any personal info on you turns up and is publicly available on the internet, even though you know it shouldn’t be.
In terms of accuracy, TruthFinder’s reports are usually accurate and up to date. This is a reliable service and also a secure one. TruthFinder uses 128-bit encryption and SSL certificates so you don’t have to worry about any info you input on their website leaking and ending up in the wrong hands.
