Let’s get real. Wouldn’t we rather know about the unfortunate issues in our background? Especially before someone else finds them. Today, anyone can run a background check on anyone else.
Therefore, it’s only smart to not only be running background checks on the people we are close to in our lives to keep ourselves and our families safe, but to also be running a background check on ourselves periodically.
By running a 100% free background check on ourselves, we can find out all the information we need to know before someone else comes across any skeletons that may be lurking in our metaphorical closets.
Check out the top three reasons we might want to run a personal background check on ourselves:
Lets us know what future employers or landlords will find
Whether it’s a controversial Facebook post, a poor financial situation, or a poor eviction record, it’s best to know what a future employer or landlord will see when they run their background check on us. And, a future employer is quite likely to do so. In fact, according to HR.com, employers almost universally run background checks on potential employees. Assuming we’re up for a job that has anything to do with finance, a poor credit score or the like aren’t exactly going to give us that edge we’d like in such a competitive job market.
Overall, it’s best to know for sure that we have a clean record. It can only be beneficial for our future. For example, if we’re planning on attending an RN-BSN program and then becoming a nurse, then we are going to need a clean record. According to the Certified Nursing Assistant Licensing, “To work in any area of nursing, [we] will need to have a clean record” this background check will include a criminal background check as well as mental and drug screenings.
Ensuring a clean and reputable background is not only good for our careers, but it’s also ideal for housing. Background checks will include eviction records and our credit history, which can be detrimental to our trying to get a new apartment if these records are inaccurate. Especially considering most landlords will run a background check as part of the application process.
Protect against identity theft before you’re in debt
According to USA.gov, the majority of identity theft is done for financial reasons. For example, in most cases when someone steals our identity, they, “apply for credit, file taxes, or get medical services.” All these expenses can quickly add up. Especially if we aren’t aware of them because we haven’t run a background check on ourselves.
We all low-key dread identity theft. Not only because someone could be committing crimes under our names, but also because they could have stolen our financial information and be plunging us into debt that’s hard to escape from. By running a thorough background check on ourselves, however, we can catch people using our names. Hopefully, before they start stealing our good credit too.
Let us know about issues we may not have known about
While it may seem like we would know if we had a criminal record or an outstanding bill that ruined our credit score, this might not be the case. For example, according to the John F. Marchiano Law Corp., it’s completely possible to have a warrant out for our arrest and not even know it. The reality is that this issue can be as simple as a forgotten unpaid traffic ticket that got out of hand. And, it only takes one forgotten bill turned into collections to mess up our credit score. It could be best to routinely run a background check on ourselves to check for accuracy and get things changed if inaccurate as well (let’s not pretend this never happens).