Tag: employment background checks

Free Background Checks

If you search the internet, there are many companies that offer what seems to be “free background checks” for you to get information on just about anyone, a boyfriend, your sister’s best friend, tenants, employees and more! It all looks great, who doesn’t want something for free?

You have to ask yourself what you get, though, because we all know the age-old saying: “there’s no such thing as a free lunch!” and that hold true for background checks as well.  These websites make you go through the motions, have you put in  information, shows you a bar as it is “searching” for your information, and even asks you questions about the person while doing it to make sure their search is more “accurate”.free-background-check.png

THEN – your report is ready and they ask for a credit card. Great, you’ve just spent 20 minutes waiting, so many of you just pay the fee to see the report.

The types of companies that will keep you on a line so long and then ask for money have some other concerns that employers and landlords may want to consider:

  • Is the information that you will receive accurate?
  • Am I allowed to have and use this information for employment or tenant screening purposes?

Those are just 2 of the basic questions of concern.  Accuracy of the reports are doubtful, because these companies use aggregate information from various sources without confirming the identity of the person in question and there is often problems with inaccurate information or mistaken identity, for instance a father with the same name as a son and the one’s criminal record may appear when the other has no criminal record.

This can cause a lot of problems for someone seeking employment or to rent property.

Legitimate background check companies use a variety of identifiers to make sure that the identity of the the person in question is verified.  Background check companies require the applicant to provide consent for the background check to be run along with an address history (that can be confirmed), a social security number, employment history, etc.

It is important to use background check companies that are FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act) compliant to help ensure that only reports that are allowed to be used will be pulled for employment and tenant screening purposes.  This helps protect the employer and landlord from discrimination possible law suits based outdated or incorrect information.

Unfortunately FCRA compliant background check companies cannot run a check on your boyfriend or your sister’s best friend.  Reports can only be used for legitimate business purposes.

SO, there are no “free background checks” that can provide you with guaranteed accurate information.  Background check companies have to pay for the reports that they run and they therefor have to charge customers for those reports.

Workplace Drug Abuse

Maintaining a drug-free work environment is essential to ensure a safe environment for all employees.  It is not only illegal drug use that is of concern, but also the abuse of prescription medications. drug2.png

Employees injured in work-related incidents are often prescribed narcotic pain killers as a part of their treatment. This is true in 65%-85% of injury cases according to The Workers Compensation Research Institute.  This can lead to the opioid abuse that we hear about so often on the news these days and can affect an employee’s performance causing even more accidents on the job.

Because of this problem, it has become necessary for employers to not only test for illegal substances, but also prescription drug use.  For more information click on Employee Drug Screening.

Employment Driving Records

Driving record reports can provide employers with an insight into a job applicant’s character and sense of responsibility. It is essential for employers that plan on having employees use company vehicles, it can help prevent accidents and increased insurance costs.

It is also important to run driving record checks on employees that will be using their own vehicles to conduct business outside of the office on behalf of the company.

Unsafe drivers that cause accident in company vehicles or their own while working can open a business up to litigation from injured parties.

Running employee driving records as part of the pre employment screening process can help ensure that employers extend job offers to the best possible candidates.

When Ordering A Background Check, How Far Back Will It Go?

If you are requesting a criminal record report for a prospective employee, you may wonder how far back the report that you will receive can go.  If you are using a consumer reporting agency such as AAA Credit Screening Services, then the answer is 7 years.  To comply with the laws of most states or counties, we provide background checks going back 7 years.
background screening
Consumer reporting agencies are governed by the

Fair Credit Reporting Act and the laws of the states and counties as to how far back they can report.  The limit is usually between 7 and 10 years, which should give you a good understanding of the applicant’s recent criminal history while complying with the guidelines for consumer protection.

AAA Credit Screening Services & napbs

background checks
AAA Credit Screening Services is a member of napbs

AAA Credit Screening Services is a member of napbs – The National Association of Professional Background Screeners providing customers with the best background checks possible with fast customer service and accurate, reliable information.  For more information visit our website at BestCheck.com

AAA Credit Screening Featured Business News Daily

Best Background Check
Best Background Check Companies 2017

AAA Credit Screening Services is happy to announce that it has been listed on Business News Daily’s Best Background Check Services 2017. AAA Credit Screening Services has provided background checks and credit reports since 1996 and strive to provide fast, reliable reports to all our business and property management customers. We provide background checks for employment screening as well as tenant screening services and have recently added contractor background checks to our vast list of services available to customers nationwide.