Free Background Check Authorization Forms and Templates

A Background Check Authorization Form is a formal document that grants consent to an individual or organization to look up confidential and sensitive information on a certain person.

Alternate Name: 

• Background Check. 

What Is a Background Check? 

A Background Check is a way of verifying a person's identity and investigating their origins and previous history. Whether you are planning to hire a new employee or rent out your residential property, you should perform a background check to confirm that a person is who they claim to be and verify the validity of activities from their past by seeing their criminal record, academic experience, and employment history.

This way, you will safeguard yourself, your business, and your property especially if the position in question is unsuitable for an individual with a criminal conviction or lack of college degree. Likewise, a landlord that trusts a tenant with the real estate should make an informed decision during the screening process learning about the financial standing of the person who will live in the place they own and obtaining an eviction report to find out about the tenant's rental history. 

Background Check Authorization Form Template Types 

• Employee Background Check Authorization Form. An important document obtained during the hiring process, this statement will give the employer permission to certify the claims a job candidate has made during the interview are legitimate. Additionally, it can prevent the human resources department from hiring a person who misrepresented their work history, skills, and personal traits;
• Tenant Background Check Form. To choose the best tenant for your property, you need to get their consent to learn more about them - from criminal records to rental history - with the help of this Background Check Authorization Form template. You can contact the individual's former employers and landlords or reach out to an agency that will do it on your behalf;
• Form 1-783, Identity History Summary Request Form (FBI Criminal Background Check Form). For a fee, you can request a Background Check for yourself whether you are planning to apply for a federal job or getting clearance for adoption since it is your right to review or update your own personal records. 

How Long Does a Background Check Take? 

No matter the circumstances, typically a background screening does not take longer than five business days. If you hired a private investigator to learn more about a person, they may spend more time looking for information from an individual's life but even in this case, you will not wait longer than one or two weeks.

How to Do a Background Check? 

There are different ways to do a Background Check depending on the purpose of the investigation - you can run a personal Background Check, perform a rental Background Check, or do a Background Check for employment. Follow these steps to check the background of a job applicant or a potential tenant:

1. Obtain the individual's permission for the check. The best way to do it is to offer them to sign an authorization form that will let you find out more about their past. 
2. Find a good background screener - you should be able to trust the agency that will access the person's criminal record and credit report, so make sure they have a business license and insurance, and can offer positive reviews.
3. Request a report on the individual and make a decision to hire or rent out your property based on the information you find in the document. If the Background Check revealed information that did not allow you to offer a position or lease agreement to the individual, inform them about it and give them a chance to explain the details in the report in case there was a mistake.

Here is how you can research background of a private citizen:

1. To perform a free Background Check and learn more about a person, you can simply use the Internet and search the individual's name alongside other details you know about them like their date and place of birth, and place of employment.
2. Go to government and court websites to discover whether the person was arrested or convicted - make sure you check all states the citizen has lived in.
3. Hire a company that performs Background Checks on a regular basis or a private investigator - within several days you will be able to receive the information you are looking for.

What Shows Up On a Background Check?

Usually, a Background Check will reveal the criminal history of the individual (convictions, pending criminal cases, incarcerations), verify the details of past employment and credit score, confirm the person's social security number and driver's license number. Note that arrests, civil lawsuits, and paid tax liens that happened more than seven years ago may not appear on the report - same with bankruptcies that took place more than ten years ago.

Haven't found the form you're looking for? Take a look at the related forms below:

• Consent Forms;
• Reference Check Forms;
• Property Rental Forms.