Ordering Background Checks and Using Screening Credits

Order criminal, eviction, and rental-history reports directly on any subject — no application required — and understand exactly how Screening Credits are priced, drawn down, and tracked.

Go to Background Checks →

Reports available today

• Criminal background check — nationwide search across 2,800+ jurisdictions and 2.4 billion records, covering felonies, misdemeanors, and the sex offender registry. Felonies and DUI/DWI are always included; misdemeanors and traffic violations are configurable.
• Eviction history — prior eviction filings and court judgments.
• Rental history (SSN trace) — previous addresses and address-history verification.

Each of the three reports above uses 1 screening credit ($5). Rental history is free whenever it's ordered together with criminal or eviction; ordered by itself, it also costs 1 credit.

Pick & Choose vs. the bundled package

On Free and Starter plans, every direct check runs the full bundle — criminal, eviction, and rental history together (2 credits total, since rental history rides free with the other two). Growth and Portfolio plans can Pick & Choose individual reports and toggle the misdemeanor/traffic-violation search options per order.

Ordering a direct check

Click Run background check to open the order drawer. You'll enter the subject's first/middle/last name, date of birth, full SSN, and current address (autocomplete-assisted) — all four fields plus a valid address are required before you can submit. If criminal is selected, you can also set:

• Include misdemeanors — on by default; felonies are always included regardless of this toggle
• Include traffic violations — off by default; DUI/DWI are always reported regardless

Before submitting, you must check the FCRA attestation box, certifying you have a permissible purpose under the FCRA and have obtained any required disclosure and consent from the subject. The drawer shows the total credit cost up front and blocks submission if your balance is too low. Once ordered, you're taken to a processing screen while the reports run.

Bulk ordering via CSV

The Bulk CSV button on the Background Checks page lets you upload a spreadsheet (columns: applicant email and report types — criminal, eviction, and/or rental_history; credit reports are not accepted since they aren't live) to queue many screening orders at once as a background job. You'll see a toast when it finishes, including how many rows succeeded, and can download a CSV of any failed rows to fix and re-upload.

Screening Credits pricing

Screening Credits are priced on a universal $5/report basis with volume discounts when you buy in bulk:

• Pay As You Go — 1 credit, $5.00 ($5.00/credit)
• Starter Pack — 10 credits, $45.00 ($4.50/credit, 10% off)
• Value Pack — 100 credits, $400.00 ($4.00/credit, 20% off)
• Portfolio Pack — 500 credits, $1,750.00 ($3.50/credit, 30% off)

Your subscription tier also grants a monthly screening-credit allotment that renews on your billing cycle and does not roll over: Free gets 0, Starter 2, Growth 5, and Portfolio 10 per month. Credits you purchase separately never expire and persist in your balance alongside the monthly allotment — orders draw from your combined balance.

Order status lifecycle

Every check and screening order moves through the same states: Pending → Processing (usually completes in 1–3 minutes) → Complete or Failed. On the Background Checks list, each report type within a check gets its own status badge — Processing, Clear, Records Found, Pending Review (a match is held for compliance review before details are released), or Error — so you can see at a glance which report is holding up a result.

Viewing a completed check

Opening a check shows the full report detail, an FCRA compliance notice reminding you the information may only be used for tenant screening, and a PDF download for each completed report type. You can re-run a check from its detail page if you need updated results.

Setting your default screening scope

In Settings → Screening, set whether misdemeanors and traffic violations are included by default on new direct checks and application invites. Felonies and DUI/DWI are always reported regardless of this setting — it only controls the lower-severity categories.