In a Nutshell
Background Search
TruthFinder provides a convenient means of discovering more about the background of anyone in the United States, including not only their personal and contact info, but also whether they may have been arrested, convicted of a sex offence or have any other felonies or misdemeanors on their record. Such information can be invaluable for giving you peace of mind about, for example, a new friend, neighbor or parent of one of your children's friends. You may also use this service to check the background of a potential date, social media friend, former classmate or even family member.
People Search
It is very much the task of checking individual people that TruthFinder is geared towards - and it's all very easy to do from the homepage, where you can simply enter a first name, last name and perhaps a state, before hitting the 'Search' button. When you do this, you will be led to a page detailing the progress of your search, as the site sifts through county, state and federal data sources to uncover information about the arrest records, personal info, location data and more relating to anyone with that, or a similar name who matches your search query. You can then select the appropriate individual and order a report on them.
Criminal Background Search
One of the key reasons for TruthFinder's existence is in order to put your mind at rest if you worried about someone with whom you may have come into contact, or need to come into contact - a friend, date, former classmate or vacation buddy, perhaps - possibly having a criminal record. When you perform a search for that person via TruthFinder, the site prowls such public records as arrest records, traffic offences, felonies, misdemeanors and sexual offences, in a manner that is 100% confidential - the person in question will never know that you have searched for them.
Case Study:
With TruthFinder seeming to be quite secretive in terms of who actually runs the company, we thought that the sole contact mentioned on the Better Business Bureau (BBB) profile for the site - a Ms. Josey Gerardo - would be the perfect subject for our case study. We consequently entered her name into the search box, clicked the 'Search' button and were led to the initial page showing the site's progress in sifting through county, state and federal data sources.
Once that was done, we were forwarded to a page listing all of the potential candidates for the name we searched for. There were many of them, although few of them exactly matched the name 'Josey Gerardo' - and of those, we couldn't be sure exactly who was the Josey Gerardo of TruthFinder. Whether she is even still on the system is an open question, given that the site also gives people the option to remove their details from its database.
Regardless, we clicked on one of the possible candidates and were led through another loading page as the site apparently searched through its records again. Social media data related to this person was also gathered. We were then presented with an 'Immediate Action Required' page requiring that we ticked a checkbox, although for some unknown reason, we couldn't get past this stage - the 'I Agree' button simply not giving any response.
Key Features:
TruthFinder certainly doesn't offer a wealth of search options - you are able to search by first name and last name and enter a state to narrow down the list of candidates that results, but that's about it. Due to our difficulties in completing the search process, we were not able to check whether the site offered a report preview prior to purchase. However, the site does claim to make its records available on a 24/7 basis to users across the United States, even those using a smartphone or tablet device.
Fees:
$15.71/3-Months
$13.71/6-Months
The fees charged by TruthFinder tend to be higher than most rivals, with the single report cost of $50 being especially hefty. Nor is there any free trial option, the site reasoning that the amount of human and technical work involved in putting together its database necessitates charging. However, a fee isn't normally required for users to find a person's name, age, city and state of residence, and the site does also have its own blog dispensing free tips and advice.
Methodology:
As aforementioned, TruthFinder maintains a database of public records that encompass county, state and federal data sources, covering personal info, contact info, criminal records and more, which the site quickly scans through whenever someone performs a search. They are presented with a list of exact or loose-matching names to choose from, to ensure that they find the records of the right person.
Reliability:
The site appears to have an automated system for running searches - they certainly don't seem to be run by any individual, with the site being secretive in any case about the people who run it. As detailed below, the site also uses 128-bit encryption to keep the vital info of its users safe.
Safety & Security:
Security would appear to be strong at TruthFinder, with the site claiming that it uses 128-bit encryption to lock down such sensitive information as the user's email address, password, credit card number and PayPal payments. The site itself does not store credit card information, this being the responsibility of its merchant partners.
Customer Support:
It's easy enough to get in touch with TruthFinder if you have any problems or queries - the dedicated Contact page lists a toll-free telephone number along with an email address, with customer service being accessible on a 24/7 basis. We tried out these support options for ourselves, and found that the site team was responsive, friendly and helpful. The site also has an informative Frequently Asked Questions page, along with a blog that tells the latest news about the site and other useful and/or interesting information.
Bottom Line:
TruthFinder seemed to be suffering technical issues at the time of our visit, the search feature isn't the most sophisticated and the prices here are high. But on the plus side, the site seems to take security very seriously and also offers a good level of customer service. If you are willing to pay extra, you could probably choose a much worse background check site than TruthFinder.
