Understanding Criminal Reports
While credit information relies on social security numbers as a virtually fool-proof identifier to distinguish one person from the next, criminal reports are not indexed by Social Security Number (SSN).
Criminal Reports are pulled by name, date of birth, and address. Because of this we strongly recommend entering the applicant's middle initial to get the most accurate results.
Similar Matches:
When you run a criminal check, the results will not only show exact matches but will also show close or similar matches which may sometimes include other individuals' criminal records. This is because the other individual's name, date of birth, or address may match or be similar to your applicant.
False Positives:
If your applicant does not have a criminal record, the report may show other individuals' criminal records on the report, but nothing will show for your applicant because your applicant does not have any criminal records to display.
You should only deny an applicant if there is a criminal record on the report that matches your applicant. Most criminal records will include a photo to help you match whether or not the record belongs to your applicant, or if it's on the report due to a similar match or false positive.
This is NOT a mistake, and there is nothing for us to correct. This is to be expected and it is how our criminal records work.
Some vendors might strip out close or similar matches and limit the information you receive to only exact matches. We do not strip out any information -- we provide you with all of the available information and let you make the determination for yourself if the near-match could possibly be your applicant. Most records will include a photo to help you make the determination and some (without photos) will require you to review them a bit more to realize whether or not the criminal record belongs to your applicant.
Close or similar matches are extremely helpful when typos are involved. For example, if the court mistakenly entered the name as John B Smith, instead of John A Smith and our system only provided exact matches, your applicant could have a criminal record that you would never see it. However, since our system also provides close or similar matches, it would show you the record with the typo.
If the report you receive back has criminal records on it, but none of them match your applicant, you will then know that your applicant does not have any criminal records listed in the database you've asked us to search.
We do not have any control over the information that is recorded into each database, we simply return the information to you that is available in the database depending on the report you order.
If your applicant does have a criminal record, then there should be records listed on the report that do match your applicant but we recommend learning more about Nationwide vs. State or County level reports here: Understanding Nationwide Reports
Important Note: The Public Records used in this system are made available as provided by the source. Rentec Direct, LLC, including its affiliates or vendors, does not warranty the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in the reports provided.