Background Screening - FAQ

Background Checks - General Questions

• How do I order background check reports through AAA Credit Screening Services?

  
  
  

  First time customers will need to sign up by completing our online Client Service Agreement. The form will provide us with information on who you are and the type of reports that you need. Setup is quick and easy. Once the form is completed, an AAA Credit Screening Services representative will contact you to walk you through the rest of the process.
  
  

• What information do my applicants need to provide to run a credit report?

  
  
  

  AAA Credit Screening needs the following information from the applicant to run a credit report for an existing customer:
  
  

  • Applicant Name

  • Social Security Number

  • Current Address - U.S. or Canadian

  • Signed Authorization for the release of the credit report

  
  

• Can I run a background check on myself?

  
  
  

  Because of credit reporting agency rules, AAA Credit Screening Services cannot run your background checks for personal use.
  
  

• Can I run a background check on my boyfriend, neighbor, etc?

  
  
  

  Unfortunately, NO. The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires that our customers have a permissible purpose such as being an Employer or Landlord before reports can be run. They also require that the job or tenant applicant provides authorization for those reports to be run on them.
  
  

• How Far Back do Credit Reports go?
  
  

  Because of Fair Credit Reporting Act guidelines, AAA Credit Screening Services will provide the past seven (7) years after the date of last activity on an account. This means that a credit card your applicant has had since 1990 will still show up on their credit report in 2019 if they have made purchases or payments on that account within the past seven (7) years, but an account that was paid in full in May 2007 may not appear after June 2014.
  
  

• What type of criminal records will show up on the criminal record report?

  
  
  

  AAA Credit Screening Services criminal record reports will show convictions within seven (7) years from the original date of criminal activity. AAA Credit Screening Services WILL NOT report the following criminal records:
  
  

  • Convictions older than seven (7) years from the original date of criminal activity

  • Deferred adjudication, adjudication withheld, or similar diversionary-program dispositions

  • Pending or open cases

  • Dismissed cases

  • Cases that cannot be cross-referenced to prove the applicant's identity to at least two (2) identifiers.

  
  

  Note: While AAA Credit Screening Services offers multiple types of criminal reports, the U.S. court system is made up of thousands of jurisdictions, many of whom do not report/are not required to report all criminal activity. It is possible, and/or likely, that some criminal activity may not be discovered.
  
  

• What is the difference between a Nationwide Criminal Records and a Federal Criminal Records?

  
  
  

  The difference between the Federal and National Criminal Record reports is where the search is conducted.
  
  National Criminal Records include misdemeanors or felonies committed all over the country. Various databases are searched to obtain National Criminal Records including records from county courts, police records, state criminal records, and more.
  
  Federal Criminal Records include crimes that were prosecuted in federal court, such as fraud, drug trafficking, money laundering and tax evasion. The databases searched for our Federal Criminal Reports are within the Federal Court System.

  
  
  

• Does AAACSS offer batch ordering?
  
  

  Yes! Clients that would like to order a high volume of employment, tenant, or creditor-related consumer reports on a daily, weekly, monthly or even annual basis, can use our batch ordering system already available through our online ordering system. To learn more about the batch ordering process, click on BATCH ORDERING

Existing Client and Online Ordering

• How do I save/print my report?

  
  
  

  When viewing your report through your online account, you can print the report or save as a PDF by clicking the “Print Report” button, seen here:
  
  

  
  
  

• The status of my report still says “pending,” but I know some searches should already be complete. What is going on?
  
  

  You can view completed searches within the report at any time by logging in to your online account and clicking on the “Reports” tab, then clicking checkbox next to the name of the applicant whose report you wish to view, then clicking the “View Report” button. Once all reports are completed, the "pending" status should disappear.
  
  

• Will I be notified that my reports are ready to download?
  
  

  Yes, you will receive an email notification with a link to the completed report. You can also view pending reports at any time by logging in to your online account & then clicking on the “Reports” tab, selecting the checkbox next to the name of the applicant whose report you wish to view, then clicking the “View Report” button.

Employment Background Checks

• What is an Employer Certification form?
  
  

  An employer certification form is a document that is required to be submitted with all employment background check related requests. It must be signed and dated by all our clients. You can click on Employer Certification to read more about what and why employer certification are needed.
  
  

• Will my employee credit check report include a credit score?
  
  

  Employment credit reports are different from other consumer credit reports & do not include a credit score.
  
  

• Can I run background checks on volunteers? Is it considered an employment background check?

  
  
  

  Yes. All reports on volunteers are considered employment background checks; they will require the same authorization and certification forms as employment background checks.
  
  

• Why does it take up to 3 days to complete employment verifications?
  
  

  Employment verifications are done manually via phone, fax, or email & requires a response from the current/previous employer. AAACSS will attempt to make contact to obtain information for at least 3 business days.
  
  

• Are there any additional fees associated with the Employment Background Check Packages?
  
  

  Some of the reports included in the Employment Screening Packages, such as the county criminal reports, employment verifications, and education verifications, are subject to additional fees due to the associated institution’s use of third-party-verification services. If there are any additional charges, an AAA Credit Screening representative will reach out to you immediately, requesting approval or denial to proceed. Your account will not be charged without your consent.
  
  For more information, click on Employment Background Check

Tenant Screening Services

• What is included in my tenant credit report?

  
  
  

  • Applicant's Credit Score

  • Credit Summary: Quick overview of accounts shown on the credit report

  • Financial Summary: Quick overview of debt shown on the credit report

  • Credit History: Detailed account information the credit bureau has on file for the applicant’s credit

  • Public Records: Bankruptcy records, Judgments against the person, or tax liens (if applicable)

  • Prior Credit Inquiries: Member inquiry history

  
  

  Click on TENANT CREDIT REPORT for a sample of a report.

  
  
  

• Is there a database that stores all the tenant’s previous rental history? How are Landlord Verifications performed?
  
  

  Unfortunately, there is no database that holds tenant information. To perform Landlord Verification, AAA Credit Screening needs a contact name & phone number for the applicant’s previous and or current landlords. AAA Credit Screening representatives will then contact the names provided, verify their legitimacy, and proceed with the verification from there.
  
  

• Are commercial tenants reports available through AAA Credit Screening?
  
  

  Yes! AAA Credit Screening Services can commercial tenant credit checks on businesses and on principal(s) of the company. For more information click on Commercial Tenant Credit Report.
  
  

• Can credit reports be run on individuals who do not have a U.S. Address?

  
  
  

  All credit reports require a United States address (current or previous) to be run with the exception of Canadian credit reports. Canadian credit reports are run through Equifax, and utilize a Canadian address. There is no price difference between a Canadian Credit Report and a U.S. Address, however, Equifax has additional restrictions placed on the report requestor, including a site visit, wherein a representative of Equifax inspects the property where you will be storing the report information. If you are interested in obtaining credit reports from Equifax, but have not had a site visit performed on your property, call our offices at 281-282-0447 for more information.
  
  For more information, click on TENANT SCREENING SERVICES

Business Credit Reports

• What is the difference between business credit reports & tenant credit or employment credit reports?

  
  
  

  Legally, the difference between a business credit report and a tenant or employment report is that business credit reports are not considered “consumer reports,” and do not report information on individuals. Therefore, they are not governed by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
  
  Business reports will report some information on the business owner (primarily only their status as the owner, and any other additional principal(s) or key person(s) within the company). A business report’s focus is reporting information about the company. In the case of business credit reports, this includes information about that company’s commercial tradelines.
  
  

• Do business reports require the authorization of the company to run?
  
  

  No. Since business reports are not consumer reports business reports can be ordered and completed without a consumer’s authorization. .
  
  

• What information do I need to provide when ordering a business report?

  
  
  

  The following information is REQUIRED when ordering a business report:

  • Business Name

  • Business Address (Street address, City, State, Zip Code)

  
  

  The following information would be VERY HELPFUL when ordering a business report:

  • Business Telephone Number

  • DBA (Doing Business As - if applicable)

  • P.O. Box (if applicable)

  
  

• What is the difference between a Business Summary, a Commercial Intelliscore, and a Business Profile?

  
  
  

  The difference lies primarily in the level of detail given in the report.
  The business summary provides a credit report and legal snapshot of the business, with no dollar figures.
  
  The Commercial Intelliscore provides the same credit report and legal snapshots, plus dollar amounts of the total tradelines developed and days beyond terms (DBT) that the company has gone past the payment due dates on their invoice agreements.
  
  The Business Profile provides all of this information, plus detailed tradeline and debt information, and detailed legal filing information.
  
  A unique feature of the Commercial Intelliscore is the Intelliscore Plus, a rating number similar to a credit score, ranking the company against other businesses within the same industry, based on its tradeline information. This report is the best for clients that want a quick yes or no “at-a-glance.”
  
  

• I had a List of Similars emailed to me, what is it and what do I have to do with it?

  
  
  

  When a business cannot be located within Experian’s database with an exact match to the information provided to us, or there are too many businesses with similar names and addresses to the company, we will send you a list of businesses with similar names and/or addresses. Upon receipt of this list, please pick the businesses that you want a report on or notify AAA Credit Screening Services if none of the businesses are a match to the company you need a report on. This can be done via email reply, fax, or phone call.
  
  If none of the businesses on the List of Similars match the company you are looking for and there are no other DBAs that you wish for AAA Credit Screening to search for the company under, the price of your report will be lowered to a lesser search charge.

  
  
  

• Why didn’t the company I ordered a screening on show up in the database? Does this mean that it is not a real business?

  
  
  

  Occasionally, businesses will not appear in Experian’s extensive database. It could be caused by a few reasons:

  
  
  

  • 1st - The address you provided may not be the same address that Experian has on file for that business. Try to reach out to your applicant and ask if they have alternative addresses that the business has had in the past seven years.

    
    
    

  • 2nd - The business may be recorded in the database under another name, such as a DBA. Please make sure that you have provided all DBAs to AAA Credit Screening Services so all names can be searched.

    
    
    

  • 3rd - The business may be new and does not yet have a credit record on Experian’s files. While the scope of businesses that are captured in our business credit reports is very wide, some businesses that were established in the past year may not have an established credit history reported to any credit bureau. In this case, a business license search can be run as an alternative report to help establish legitimacy, along with an individual tenant credit report (for commercial tenant credit checks) on the principal(s) of the company.

  
  

  For more information, click on Business Credit Reports.

NEW Customer Signup

AAA Credit Screening Services charges NO Signup Fee, No Monthly Fees & No Annual fees! You only pay for the reports you want to order. Signup is 3 easy steps and once you're signed up, you can start ordering reports online. Click on the button below to complete our online Customer Service Agreement: