Personal Background Check – Available Records You Can Access

May 31, 2021 0 Comments

A personal background check is necessary in several cases, such as hiring a babysitter for your children; or if you have doubts about your future son-in-law. To do this, you need to know which records you can access.

Federal Public Records

In connection with the “Freedom of Information Act”, federal records can now be accessed directly from federal databases. Agencies run and funded by the federal government compile various types of public records. Examples of these records are postal service records, census records, SEC file records, political contribution, military records, and bankruptcy records.

Postal service records. In the US, the USPS (or the United States Postal Service) is responsible for maintaining address records and can easily request such information from the agency.

Census records. Such documents can tell you about the population of an area, income levels, age ranges, ethnic details, etc.

SEC file records. The SEC or the Securities and Exchange Commission maintains the filing of records by companies and businesses. These documents can tell you if a business is in good financial condition or not.

Political contribution records. FEC or Federal Election Commission is where you can access the records about the political contributions of an individual or even a corporation. This detail is necessary when you want to know who supports a candidate’s campaign. On the agency’s website, you can find the described regulations and rules relevant to the filing of elections, requirements for expenditures, etc.

Military records. Personnel records can include active duty reports, morning files, and files from guerrilla, army, military medics, and veterans affairs.

Bankruptcy records. The court system maintains this documentation on federal bankruptcy. You can access them through PACER or the Public Access to Electronic Court Records website. The records on this site are updated regularly and you can get the file you need almost immediately. Search for the name of a corresponding person or district. Final settlements and judgments in bankruptcy and district cases can be obtained here.

State public records

Each state still has its own privacy and accessibility rules for locally kept documents. Below are some of the documentation that is maintained at the state level.

Vital personal records. Some examples are records of birth, marriage, death, divorce. These will provide family details, full names, addresses and also occupation details. The place of the corresponding offices where a person was born is where birth certificates can be obtained. Likewise, the marriage, divorce and death certificates will also be kept by the clerks of the county offices where these events occurred.

Property records. These are sought when you want to acquire land or real estate. The local recorder saves this documentation. You will know who the current owner of a property is; fiscal bonds, existing mortgages on the property; history of the previous owners of a land and more of these records.

Other public records

You can also publicly search the driving history of a person in the regional department that oversees motor vehicles. Immigration information is also publicly searchable. Immigration records can be of various types, such as passenger lists (showing names, occupations, place or origin, age, ship name / type, destination in the United States, port of arrival, etc.) and public naturalization. (when a foreigner has become a country or state).

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