Background check guide

Private Investigator Background Check Questions

When a private investigator can help, what one may legally obtain, and how to check a license before you hire.

Guide

Who needs a private investigator?

A private investigator can do what an online search cannot: visit courthouses that keep records only on paper, interview people and follow up in the field.

An investigator has no special access to protected records. Federal law makes it a crime to get someone's bank records (15 U.S.C. 6821) or phone records (18 U.S.C. 1039) by pretending to be them.

Most states license private investigators. Look the license up before you hire; in California, the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services licenses investigators and posts a license check.