College Being

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Do your boyfriends keep turning out to be criminals? Tired of finding out too late that your girlfriend is a compulsive liar and a kleptomaniac? In this day and age, you can never be too careful about you who date. Appearances can’t be trusted, and information new acquaintances give you could easily be false. How are we to know the whole truth about anyone we meet — and especially on a college campus, where people will say or do anything for personal gain or fulfillment.
Luckily for us, we have background checks. Of course, the information you have access to won’t be as comprehensive as if you went the legitimate government route (for which you’d need consent of the person you want searched), but there are several private companies that offer access to certain records, such as criminal records or marriage licenses, at the right price.

Ok, it might be a little paranoid, but what really is the harm in investigating your new beau? A criminal record obviously isn’t the kind of thing your sweetheart is going to wear on her sleeve, so why not do a little digging, just as insurance for your safety and your belongings?

The truth is that it’s hard to know who people are, and as time goes on, it seems like desires get darker, fetishes get stranger, and criminal behavior spreads to even the most unexpected corners of society. Wouldn’t you rather know if the guy who asked you out has a history of theft convictions or has a demonstrated tendency toward violence? What if he was married and you were just a new fling?

For most background checks, you’ll need your subject’s Social Security number, in addition to other basic personal information, such as first and last name (providing a middle name is a great help to the agencies that run checks), address, phone number, DOB. Any previous names your subject may have used will be beneficial as well.

A comprehensive background check will cost around $100 and will typically return results in about 24 hours. Now, if you only just started dating, it’s unlikely you will know your S/O’s SSN, or whether they have used any aliases or married names in the past. There probably wouldn’t be much point in running a background check on them if they trust you enough to give you their SSN.

There are less comprehensive background checkers, though, that only require a full name and state and city of residence. After inputting this information, you can refine your search to be certain you have identified the right person, and then you have the option of purchasing reports with different levels of completeness, generally ranging in price from about $15 to around $75. These reports will provide you with the kind of information you would want to know about your darling:

• Marriage & Divorce records
• Bankruptcies
• Civil Judgments
• Lawsuits

As good as it is to know who your acquaintances are, however, be prepared to find some things that might unravel the relationship. You can’t un­-discover something, so know that you’ll have to deal with whatever you find in the darkness. Good luck, and be safe!

Jane Smith is a freelance writer and blogger. She writes about free background checks for Backgroundcheck.org. Questions and comments can be sent to: janesmth161 @ gmail.com