Consumer Records Databases
Every time you change your address, subscribe to a magazine, or apply for a credit card, you leave an electronic trail. So do the people you are looking for when you are reporting the news. Database vendors offer access to some of these databases which can be very useful in tracking down people or providing key pieces of biographical information. The access to records of different types can also help you verify, from a couple of different sources, information you have found.
In the past couple of years, information that had previously been available to the searchers has been removed. For example, information from credit headers used to tell where the person worked. This is no longer available, except to those with permissible (under the Fair Credit Reporting Act ) use of credit information (reporters are not a category of "fair users"!)
But there are still useful compilations of data from consumer based records such as:
- Post Office Change of Address: This had previously been widely
available, now it is accessible on only a few services (WDIA's National
Credit Information Network, for one). This has the change of address
forms people fill out to have their mail forwarded to a new address.
- People
Finders: With just a person's name and the state he or she lives
in, you can get a record giving address and telephone number. These
databases are usually compiled from standard directories (such as telephone
books) and other sources such as product response cards and magazine subscription
cards.
- Address
Search: Nationwide criss-cross directories allow you to search
on an address and get information on who lives there, telephone number,
age (sometimes), and other residents. These usually have a feature allowing
you to see the names of neighbors with their telephone numbers and addresses.
A recent example of the usefulness of neighbor access. When a plane
crashed in North Carolina, an Associated Press reporter had the address
of the church near the crash site. He looked up the address, got neighbors
listings and started calling. The second number reached a woman who
had had a burned survivor of the crash stumble onto her front porch just
minutes earlier
- Phone
Search: A compilation of listed telephone numbers. There
are a number of phone search products and services. Be careful to
determine which is the most current, most frequently updated and which might
include unlisted numbers.
- Credit
Headers: A database of information extracted from credit reports.
It does not include specific financial information but can provide you with
current and previous addresses, social security number, month and year of
birth, spouse's name.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
People Search
Background Checks
- Free Background Check Tutorial
- Background Check Software
- Criminal Records Check
- Why 95% of Free Background Checks Fail