FAQ
: What is included in the Criminal Report?
A: Verify Tenant’s Criminal Report includes felonies, misdemeanors, traffic violations, and incarcerations. The information in a Criminal Report comes from State records, Court records, and Departments of Correction records as they are reported to the National database. Search results are a match of first name, last name, and date of birth. Counties and States report to the National database in different frequencies and some very few ones don’t report at all, so any gaps in reporting may be complemented with a county criminal search.
Q: Why does the Criminal Report I received show information on multiple people?
A: The criminal searches that make up our Criminal Report come from the National database for criminal records and use first name, last name, and date of birth. Information will sometimes appear on the Criminal Report that is for a person other than your applying tenant if the names are the same. We also expand our searches to include aliases, such as a maiden name, a middle name not listed on the application, or a previously used name.
Q: The criminal report shows a name variation that is not similar to the applicabt’s name. Why is that?
A: It is possible that at some point, an applicant’s identifier (name, DOB, SS#) was used in connection with a prior application for credit, job or any public record inquiry for someone else. This may have been done intentionally (i.e. identity theft), or unintentionally (i.e. a typo on a SS# provided)
Q: I don’t see a credit report available as part of your products on your website.
A: The FCRA regulates how consumer reports are obtained and sold and restrict the distribution of credit reports. If you are a property manager or a homeowner or condominium association, you can obtain credit reports from us as well as other background screening products. You simply need to sign up with our company (free of charge) and complete a process known by the credit bureaus as credentialing, which is basically a simple process to verify that your company has permissible purpose to obtain a consumers credit report.
If you are an individual landlord, we are unable to sell you credit reports. You may purchase eviction records, criminal records and other products form us and ask that the potential tenant bring you a recent copy of their credit report, which may be obtained by them, free of charge by visiting www.annualcreditreport.com or calling 1.877.322.8228.
Q: Sometimes credit reports do not show credit scores. Why does this happen?
A: This happens for one or more of the following reasons:
Q: A criminal report I ordered says “records found”; does this mean the applicant has a criminal past?
A: Criminal records are a match of a person’s name and DOB. If you find that an applicant has a record on the database, it is possible that they have committed a crime that has been registered by a county, however, it may also be what is called a “false positive”, in which case, someone sharing the applicant’s name and DOB may have committed a crime and because of the similarity in identifiers, such crime may also appear in the subjects record.
Q. How do I know for sure that it is or is not the applicant who has committed the recorded crime?
A: The only way of knowing for certain is by using a fingerprint comparison. You may also look at the physical description provided by the county when available and compare it to the applicant’s. Sometimes, the county will make a photo of the offender available, which you can compare to the applicant in order to verify if it is or isn’t them who are listed as the offender.
Q: A report I ordered has a criminal record, but the applicant claims that is not him. How is this possible?
A: The search for criminal records is based on matching factors, for example, a match of name and DOB. What this means is that our system will search in various databases for a certain name (including aliases) born on a certain date as provided by an Applicant. Aliases are selected because the applicant’s SS# may have been used in connection with a prior application for credit, job or any public record inquiry.
It is possible that someone different from the applicant, but with the same name and DOB (or using such information falsely), committed an offense, thus affecting your applicant’s record. Information generated as a result of identity theft, including evidence of criminal activity, may be inaccurately associated with the consumer who is the subject of this report.
In order to confirm whether the Applicant is the Offender listed, you should verify the physical description listed and if available, look at the picture provided.
Q: What should I do if a false record appears on my report?
A: We copy information as it is reported from the national database. The national database compiles information from the reporting counties. If you have evidence that the report was generated in error, you can either contact the reporting county or send Verify Tenant the evidence so corrections can be made.
Q: What if I decide to reject an applicant?
A: You should first review the Fair Housing Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act. In order to comply with these laws, you will need to advise the applicant of your decision in writing. You may print the fill-in-the-blanks Adverse Action Letter available on the Resources section of our website. The applicant may, within 60 days of the date of the screening report, request a copy of the report, and may choose to dispute it.
Q: Is there a membership fee?
A: No, there is no membership fee associated with this service.
Q: What are the payment methods?
A: Visa. Mastercard, Amex, Paypal, Check
A: Verify Tenant’s Criminal Report includes felonies, misdemeanors, traffic violations, and incarcerations. The information in a Criminal Report comes from State records, Court records, and Departments of Correction records as they are reported to the National database. Search results are a match of first name, last name, and date of birth. Counties and States report to the National database in different frequencies and some very few ones don’t report at all, so any gaps in reporting may be complemented with a county criminal search.
Q: Why does the Criminal Report I received show information on multiple people?
A: The criminal searches that make up our Criminal Report come from the National database for criminal records and use first name, last name, and date of birth. Information will sometimes appear on the Criminal Report that is for a person other than your applying tenant if the names are the same. We also expand our searches to include aliases, such as a maiden name, a middle name not listed on the application, or a previously used name.
Q: The criminal report shows a name variation that is not similar to the applicabt’s name. Why is that?
A: It is possible that at some point, an applicant’s identifier (name, DOB, SS#) was used in connection with a prior application for credit, job or any public record inquiry for someone else. This may have been done intentionally (i.e. identity theft), or unintentionally (i.e. a typo on a SS# provided)
Q: I don’t see a credit report available as part of your products on your website.
A: The FCRA regulates how consumer reports are obtained and sold and restrict the distribution of credit reports. If you are a property manager or a homeowner or condominium association, you can obtain credit reports from us as well as other background screening products. You simply need to sign up with our company (free of charge) and complete a process known by the credit bureaus as credentialing, which is basically a simple process to verify that your company has permissible purpose to obtain a consumers credit report.
If you are an individual landlord, we are unable to sell you credit reports. You may purchase eviction records, criminal records and other products form us and ask that the potential tenant bring you a recent copy of their credit report, which may be obtained by them, free of charge by visiting www.annualcreditreport.com or calling 1.877.322.8228.
Q: Sometimes credit reports do not show credit scores. Why does this happen?
A: This happens for one or more of the following reasons:
- The consumer has not had any activity on open accounts in the past 6 months.
- The consumer has insufficient credit history to calculate a score - new credit or not enough established credit.
- The parameters of the file are too large. The file contains more than 100 tradelines and inquiries combined.
- Incomplete data was entered to access a report (Example: generation code or middle initial required by credit bureau to provide file and score).
- A deceased code was reported to the credit bureaus.
- The consumer reported being a victim of fraud.
- The consumer has an additional unmerged credit file with any of the three credit bureaus.
- Incomplete residence history was entered to access a credit report (2-year minimum required).
Q: A criminal report I ordered says “records found”; does this mean the applicant has a criminal past?
A: Criminal records are a match of a person’s name and DOB. If you find that an applicant has a record on the database, it is possible that they have committed a crime that has been registered by a county, however, it may also be what is called a “false positive”, in which case, someone sharing the applicant’s name and DOB may have committed a crime and because of the similarity in identifiers, such crime may also appear in the subjects record.
Q. How do I know for sure that it is or is not the applicant who has committed the recorded crime?
A: The only way of knowing for certain is by using a fingerprint comparison. You may also look at the physical description provided by the county when available and compare it to the applicant’s. Sometimes, the county will make a photo of the offender available, which you can compare to the applicant in order to verify if it is or isn’t them who are listed as the offender.
Q: A report I ordered has a criminal record, but the applicant claims that is not him. How is this possible?
A: The search for criminal records is based on matching factors, for example, a match of name and DOB. What this means is that our system will search in various databases for a certain name (including aliases) born on a certain date as provided by an Applicant. Aliases are selected because the applicant’s SS# may have been used in connection with a prior application for credit, job or any public record inquiry.
It is possible that someone different from the applicant, but with the same name and DOB (or using such information falsely), committed an offense, thus affecting your applicant’s record. Information generated as a result of identity theft, including evidence of criminal activity, may be inaccurately associated with the consumer who is the subject of this report.
In order to confirm whether the Applicant is the Offender listed, you should verify the physical description listed and if available, look at the picture provided.
Q: What should I do if a false record appears on my report?
A: We copy information as it is reported from the national database. The national database compiles information from the reporting counties. If you have evidence that the report was generated in error, you can either contact the reporting county or send Verify Tenant the evidence so corrections can be made.
Q: What if I decide to reject an applicant?
A: You should first review the Fair Housing Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act. In order to comply with these laws, you will need to advise the applicant of your decision in writing. You may print the fill-in-the-blanks Adverse Action Letter available on the Resources section of our website. The applicant may, within 60 days of the date of the screening report, request a copy of the report, and may choose to dispute it.
Q: Is there a membership fee?
A: No, there is no membership fee associated with this service.
Q: What are the payment methods?
A: Visa. Mastercard, Amex, Paypal, Check
