Seven Reasons Why You Should Always Run a Social Security Number (SSN) Trace Report With A Criminal Search!
- A social security report will return all current and reported addresses associated with a specific individual based on his or her SSN. If there are any alias names these are also reported.
- The SSN report is pulled from several sources and follows a standard format in which sources include; applications for utilities companies (telephone/electric), credit checks for loans and/or credit cards and qualification for rental agreements.
- It’s important to verify information provided by an applicant concerning their identity and where they’ve lived. This is the foundation of a solid background investigation.
- Tracing the SSN history over 7 years or longer makes it more difficult for a candidate to hide their identity and possible criminal history. This gives you the opportunity to cross check name and previous residence history that’s provided in the job application for possible inconsistencies.
- Different names may show up on an SSN report which means the applicant may have gotten married or just changed their name entirely. Other reasons may be due to data entry errors when entering SSN or if a person co-signed for a loan on behalf of the applicant. Since the SSN report is based on the SSN only, it will report all recorded occurrences with a specific SSN.
- A SSN report may show “NO RECORDS FOUND” which could mean the applicant has very little or no credit history or the individual may be a recent immigrant to the country.
The SSN Trace when run with criminal searches increases the accuracy of criminal searches because it can provide additional identifiers which may help link the applicant to the criminal information.