Public Records Lookup Tips and Techniques

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Let’s say you’re a legal professional needing to perform legal research for your case. In the past, you may have had to request records from the court or government, and then spend hours combing through those records to find information relevant to your client. Or if you work in collections or repossession, you may have had to conduct extensive in-person interviews in order to track down the person you’re looking to collect on. 

Today, research looks a whole lot different. Due to the vast amount of new technology available, people can access huge amounts of data with the click of a button. But the greater availability of information can lead to information overload, and knowing what to search in order to find the information you actually need is a new challenge in itself. So can you navigate this new technology to collect relevant information in a timely and efficient manner? Here’s 3 public records lookup tips and techniques for quickly getting the information you need from a public and private records database.

Perform a public records people lookup to skip trace and build a profile on anyone

A people search in Tracers can turn up a wide variety of information about almost any adult in the US. Whether all you have is a name, address, phone number, or SSN, you can enter the basic information into Tracers and get a comprehensive profile on that person – including deceased records, marriage records, email addresses, relatives, associates, address history, and more. Tracers people search also includes utility listings data, which provides information about 35 million consumers not found in traditional credit header data, and cross-checks information with multiple data points to ensure the data is accurate and up-to-date.

This search is useful in a variety of different scenarios. For example, legal professionals can use information about relatives and associates to locate and identify people for depositions or trials.   Collections agencies can also use the address history and information about relatives to skip trace people and ensure right-party contact. No matter what you need, a people search in Tracers can help. And with an API solution and batch processing options, you can integrate our searches with your own software and gather data in a way that works for you and your organization.

  • With a People Search, you can get basic information as well as alternative data like utility listings, which provides information on 35 million more consumers.
  • Attorneys, debt collectors, and investigators can use a public records people lookup to skip trace and get into contact with particularly hard-to-find individuals.
  • Choose a software with customizable options, like API integration and batch processing, to streamline your data collection and search in the best way for you.

Run a Company public records search with a Business Credit Report

A business credit report provides you with a wealth of information about a business and the people involved in it in order to help determine the business’s credit worthiness or investigate a person’s relationship to the company. This report provides information about a business’s parent companies, as well as gives insight on a business’s purchase behavior, payment history, and business events. It can also show you basic business demographics, like financial information, how many employees they have, who their executives are, as well as corporate filings, bankruptcy records, tax liens, and more.

So how can you use a business credit report in your own work? Legal professionals can use information about payment history and credit filings to pierce the corporate veil or determine how much to ask for in a business settlement. Investigators can also use data like bankruptcy records and tax liens to perform fraud investigations, and corporations can conduct better due diligence by seeing the credit history and filings of companies they are working with. 

  • A Business Credit Report can provide you with comprehensive information about a business’s credit risk, future health, and past payment history.
  • Learning about a business’s credit history, executives, and debts may be helpful for piercing the corporate veil in litigation or determining other sources of recovery.
  • Corporations and investigators can also use this information to help with a variety of investigations, like fraud and due due diligence investigations.

How to look up public records with criminal activity

Whether you work in law, collections, investigations, financial services or law enforcement, if you need information on incarcerated people, Tracers real-time incarceration records and Crim Watch tool can help. Tracers real-time incarceration records give you up-to-date information on people who are incarcerated right now by providing you with 160 million booking records pulled from over 2,800 sources. But you can also go one step further than just getting information on people who are currently incarcerated. With our Crim Watch tool, you can get text or email alerts the moment anyone you’re monitoring is arrested.

Accessing real-time data about people who are incarcerated is hugely beneficial for a variety of different industries. For example, corporations and financial services need to be sure that the people involved in their business aren’t engaging in any criminal activity in order to keep their company safe. Tracers Crim Watch helps you manage customer and vendor risk assessment and perform ongoing monitoring by notifying you the moment someone involved in your company is arrested – allowing you to take the necessary action to prevent further harm to your company.

If you work in collections or repossession, Tracers real-time incarceration records allows you to avoid wasting time trying to contact or collect on someone who is in prison, and it can also help lawyers locate witnesses who may potentially be in jail. 

  • A public records lookup tool that includes real-time incarceration reports will provide you with current information on anyone who is incarcerated and can also immediately notify you when someone you’re monitoring gets arrested. 
  • With real-time incarceration records, you can be sure you become immediately aware if anyone who interacts with your organization is arrested so you can keep your business safe throughout every business relationship. 
  • For debt collectors, real-time incarceration records will help you weed out uncollectible records and avoid wasting time trying to collect on an individual who is in jail.  

While data collection can be tedious and overwhelming for anyone, having the right tools under your belt and knowing how to use them can make it a significantly easier and more efficient process. Interested in seeing how the tools in a public and private records database can help you get better results quickly? Get started with Tracers today.