Frequently Asked Questions About Our Tenant Screening & Background Checks
Common questions landlords ask about our fast, accurate, FCRA-compliant tenant screening and nationwide background checks
What is the difference between a Tenant Screening Report and a standard Background Check?
Our Tenant Screening Report includes everything in our comprehensive nationwide Private Eye Background Check (criminal records, evictions, judgments, liens, bankruptcies, foreclosures, address history, property ownership, etc.) plus a full credit header, recent inquiries, collections, and open tradelines. You must provide a valid SSN because we pull an actual credit bureau file — something most “instant” screening sites skip. This gives landlords the complete financial + history picture needed to avoid risky tenants.
Why do landlords say Private Eye Reports are the most thorough available?
Most online background check services rely on outdated or incomplete databases. We combine multiple premium data sources (including direct court records from all 50 states) and have every report manually reviewed by experienced investigators. Landlords repeatedly tell us they finally see evictions, judgments, and aliases that every other service missed.
What information do I need to order?
- Background Check only → Full name + last known city/state or any address from the past 10 years (SSN & DOB help with common names)
- Full Tenant Screening Report → Full name + valid Social Security Number (required by the credit bureaus)
What if you can’t find the person?
This is extremely rare (less than 1 % of all searches). When it does occur, it almost always means one of the following:
- The individual has not yet established sufficient credit or residential history in the United States (most common with recent immigrants or those without formal documentation).
- One or more of the identifiers provided (name, SSN, or date of birth) is incorrect, incomplete, or belongs to a different person.
- Very uncommon — the person intentionally lives completely off-the-grid with no traceable financial or address history.
Rest assured, if this happens we contact you immediately and work with you at no additional charge (additional identifiers, known aliases, manual locating, etc.) until we deliver the correct report.
How do I know I’m getting the right person?
Every report includes multiple identifiers: partial SSN, month/year of birth, full address history, known relatives/associates, and aliases. If there’s ever any doubt, we re-run the search at no charge until you’re 100% confident.
How current is your data?
Court records are updated daily–weekly depending on the jurisdiction. Credit header data is real-time from the major bureaus. We’re obsessed with freshness — it’s why property managers who used to use the “big name” screening companies switched to us and never went back.
Are your reports FCRA-compliant?
Yes. We are FCRA-certified and follow all federal and state regulations. Reports used for tenancy decisions include the required adverse action notices and disclosure forms when needed.
