TruthFinder Review

Detailed Reviews

TruthFinder recently came into existence, and in a very short span, they have managed to get the attention of many users. The company claims to have 9.5 million search sessions every month which makes them America’s one of the most widely used background check services.

Pros

• Asks For gender before performing a search: The gender selection option can be treated as a filter. That means after you enter the details, you can also select the gender by which results will become more specific.
• Provides sorting options: You can rearrange the provided results according to the age, verification status, and name. These options will surely help to reach the required profile in an easier and faster way.
• Reverse phone lookup: TruthFinder provides two reverse search options out of which one is phone number lookup. You just need to add the phone number, and you will get the name of the person calling you.
• Dark Web Scan: This is an exclusive feature which not many background check services offer. TruthFinder not only delivers you the information through public records. It also scans various websites of the dark web which will even help you to avoid identity theft.

Cons

• Searching a person takes a lot of time: After you enter the information, it comparatively takes more time than the other websites to show a list of results. It nearly took two minutes before the list was generated.
• Unnecessarily long report generation process: After you choose a profile from the whole list, the application will generate a report containing complete information about the person. However, there are multiple steps you need to follow which can be converted into a single step. You need to wait for minutes before the final report can be viewed.
• Found no information using address lookup feature: Address search allows a user to find a person by entering his address. In TruthFinder, you need to first select the state, then the city, and the area. We conducted the same process, but in the end, for most of the cases, it showed that there is no information added.

Restricted search purpose

We all have some people in our life with whom we have lost contact. It is possible that you or they would have changed the home, changed the number, and somehow the information did not reach you.

You can use TruthFinder for searching for those people. However, you must know their name and the city where they have lived. Even if you do not have one out of these two details, TruthFinder won’t be of much help.

The website will generate the results for the information you have entered but filtering the required one would be a tough task.

Knowing the name and city where he is/was living, you can conduct a search for various other purposes also. Such as if you are about to meet a stranger, you can get access to his report and look if he has any criminal records. This would save you from running into misfortune.

Moving into a new neighborhood will surround you from unknown people. Just use the address lookup option, where you need to enter the address, and you will get the data of Mr. and Mrs. living next door. Such information can be used for making a connection. However, the efficiency of address lookup option is questionable here.

You can even look for an online seller to find out whether it is a scam or there is really a person owning such a business.

At last, you can use it to search for yourself. The dark web scanning will let you know in case your identity is safe or it has been sold over the internet. This will alert you to take necessary actions against the fraud.

But there can be several other instances when you would like to conduct the background check.

Whenever you are going to have a professional bond with someone, knowing about their history and other details may help you to take the correct decision.

For taking those decisions, you can’t use the application legally. It is due to the Fair Credit Reporting Act which is effective since the year 1970. It works to safeguard consumer information by regulating its collection, circulation, and how it is used.

For instance, when an employer wishes to use such information for screening employees, he requires written permission. Thus, using TruthFinder for this purpose is strictly prohibited.

Similarly, you can’t use the application for screening domestic workers, tenants, or any other professional service. This limitation is implemented on all the applications whichever contains the data of the United States citizens.

Providing details for the search

When you visit the website homepage, the first thing you will notice is the search tool. It is placed on multiple pages at multiple positions.

We entered the data first name and last name of the person. In addition, you can also provide the city or state where he had lived or living currently.

After you click on the Search button, it will ask you for the gender of the person whose information you have entered. You can skip this option but selecting it may remove some of the unwanted results.

Selecting a gender or skipping it will initiate the search process which may take a few minutes to show the final results.

They must work to reduce the time-consumed here as its competitor PeopleFinders displays results with a blink.

The encryption also plays a major role in lowering down the search speed. Whatever search you conduct remains encrypted with 128-bit encryption along with a verified TSL certificate.

In the above-added image, you can check the list of records in which they conduct the search. They ask certain questions related to the person when the search goes on. However, even if you answer them or choose not to answer any, it will not make any difference in the end.

After this, the result window appears which we are going to discuss next.

Search results and their filtering

How many people having the same name would be living in a city? The answer could be “numerous” to “very few” depending upon the name and the city.

For instance, we conducted the search by selecting New York City where millions of people are living. If the name of the person whom you are searching doesn’t have a unique name, it would be tough to find him.

There are six columns in the results table out of which four provides the search-related data. The fifth column delivers the status of the result, i.e., the search is verified or not. It is not possible for us to know about their verification process as it is performed by the company.

We would recommend buying a report only when you are sure that the result matches with the person you are looking for. In case, the details found are wrong, you will not receive any refund.

The first four columns will aid you to learn about the person for getting surety about the identity.

The leftmost column contains the name of the person. Adjacent to that column, you will find his age. Knowing the person’s age will make it trouble-free to find him.

However, when you are not sure about the age, you can look forward to the other two columns which give data about the various locations where the person has lived and his possible relatives. All these details are available regarding a person. Still, it is not possible to go through the details of each and every individual.

The list of results could be huge, and you will manually need to go through the complete list to recognize him. Here, you can take the help of sorting options provided on the top-right corner.

In case the person has a middle name, you can arrange the searches according to the name. After that, all you need to do is to scroll down to the initial alphabet of his middle name.

You can even sort them according to the age. When you have some idea about a person’s age group, you can use this sorting option.

The third option could be used to arrange the verified or not verified data first. But it will not take part in making the search simpler.

The application should include both, sorting as well as filtering options. For instance, when they add age filter and name sorting option, you can take the combined benefit.

As of now, you will need to spend a lot of time to find the required profile. Finally, after you get it, you need to click on Open Report option that will generate the complete report of the person.

The report generation procedure

The Open Report option will take you the webpage where the report preparation will take place. You need to go through four steps present here before accessing the complete report.

It is a time-consuming and unnecessary procedure which the company may have included to show themselves credible. When you go through the process, they will ask a few questions regarding the person such as:

“Do you suspect that the person xyz has a criminal record?”

Even if you answer yes or no to this, the response of the TruthFinder remains the same which is shown in the picture below.

The website asks such questions multiple times, and without answering them, you will not be able to move forward. So, all the time when the report generation is going on, you need to keep your eyes on the screen.

We would have appreciated the questions and procedure if it had improved the result. We have already selected the person whose report we want to view, so now these questions don’t matter.

After you move to the next section, you will need to select the relatives. The site always shows some relatives for which there could be a criminal report irrespective of the person whom you are searching. In case you wish to include information about those relatives, you need to mark them.

Next, it shows the person is on the government watch list. We tried it for multiple people and for every individual the website showed the same information. We cannot be sure whether it is a mere coincidence, or this window appears for every procedure.

Going ahead, a required window appears where we need to agree that this information will not be used to make decisions regarding consumer credit, employment screening, etc. The company required to add this in the process to avoid any illegal use of data.

Before the final report generation, you need to provide your first name, last name, and email address. It is not necessary to provide the real name and email address here. Even if the email address is not existing, then also the application will agree to it.

After clicking continue a few more times, it will finally “start” generating the report. It is the fourth and final step.  It may take a few minutes before you can download the report. In the end, you will also get a report score for every individual.

Clicking on “YES, I UNDERSTAND” will take you to next window. Here, you need to select the payment method and make the payment by selecting one of their plans. Without the purchase, you will not be able to view the generated report.

As we have conducted the report generation, the question remains the same for every individual which may make the results look farfetched. But the report quality score generated was different for different individuals. The accuracy of the result can only be identified by viewing the report.

They need to shorten the process as most of the questions are unnecessarily included. A faster report generation would surely be expected by all its users.

Reverse phone search

We found the link to the reverse phone search from the footer of the homepage. The search box will appear where you need to enter the ten-digit number. The reader must note that the country code is not required for this search as one can only find the caller if it is a United States number.

As we have already seen that the application always involves unnecessary process, here also you will not get the name of the owner in a straightforward way.

First, the application will conduct its search process which will at least take a few minutes. After that, you need to enter your name and email address. Still, we are not done here.

You need to select what you wish to view: the owner’s name or full report. Selecting any of the options will direct you the payment page after which you will be able to view all the details of the caller.

The application makes the search tiresome. Instead of this, if they have shown the results after one single step, the report would be delivered with ease.

Address lookup

Address lookup link is also included on the footer. To find the information about residents of a particular address, you first need to select the state from where the address belongs.

After selecting the address, the website will ask to choose the city followed by area selection. The areas are further divided. You can also filter the addresses using the zip code.

Finally, the application will show the list of people living there. It also shows a satellite view of the required location. In the table, you can view the name, age, exact address, and relatives of every particular person

Although the location was provided in all the search results, the list of people living there was not available in most of the cases.

When the list was made available, we tried to go further to get the report of a selected person. However, it showed the error that required information is unavailable. We were only able to discover full report for a very few people.

Thus, TruthFinder’s address search is not much helpful. It would be better if you search the person using his name and the city.

Before adding a search feature, they need to add complete data regarding the option. Otherwise, website visitors like us would be disappointed.

Dark web scanning

It is true that many times identity theft takes place when your data is sold on the dark web. You can use TruthFinder to check the presence of your data on the dark web. For initiating a search, you need to enter the email associated with the details.

In case you have multiple email accounts, and you have used all on different websites, you need to enter them one by one.

After you enter the email, it will take an unnecessarily long time to generate the report. On the top, it appears that there are three different steps you need to follow which can be easily combined to one single step.

In the end, it will ask you to purchase the plan for accessing the report. The users who are concerned about their privacy can go ahead. With no additional charges, you also get the option to conduct as many searches as you want.

There are many dedicated applications as well such as IDProtect and Lifelock which you can use to evade identity theft.

The opt-out process

The people who are concerned about their privacy must go through this section. Till now, we were reviewing how you can get the information of your friends, family members, neighbor, etc. What if your own information is present in the website’s database.

That could be harmful as people using the internet may misuse your data in several ways. To avoid that it is suggested to opt-out from allowing the company to show your details to others.

It is necessary for a website to keep an opt-out option on its website. However, sometimes it tough to find the procedure and even after knowing the procedure, it could be exasperating to go through it.

Looking at TruthFinder’s report generation process, we have already assumed that the opt-out process would be an arduous game to finish. Surprisingly, we were wrong.

For opting out, they provide three different ways. You can choose to fill their opt-out form, call them regarding opt-out, or send the details through the mail with the request.

In the opt-out form, you need to enter the name and city. It will show you the results according to the search. It is the same as how you search for others. Instead of the “Full Report” option, it will show “Remove The Report” option which will open the next window where you need to enter a valid email.

A confirmation email will be sent to the entered email. After confirmation, your data will be deleted from the website’s database in the next 48 hours. After that, no one would be able to find your details as a result.

Instead of this method, you can also call them to express unwillingness for allowing them to show your details on their website. For opting out, they will ask some of the details, and the job is done. The number is provided on the website.

You can send them a mail in case the above two methods seem unsuitable to you. The letter containing the opt-out request should also hold your details such as full name, address, email address, and date of birth.

They claim that as soon as they receive the request, they will find the details in their server and delete it. This process may take some time, but it will be done before 48 hours after receiving the letter.

Here, opting out is hassle-free.  In the case of PeopleFinders, only one way for opting out is provided. PeopleFinders may not remove your data even after the request as per their privacy policy.

You are even allowed to remove data for more than one record in case of TruthFinder.  Even after opting out, you can still choose to use their service.

Conclusion

TruthFinder is an astonishing tool when it comes to search for the people with whom you have lost the connections. You can also get the information regarding your neighborhood with it using the address lookup option. However, we are not sure that they would be having the required information or not.

Most of the times, the application showed error while using reverse address lookup option. It states that the required information is unavailable. You can only view the satellite view of that address in such cases.

There is one more reverse search option which is phone number lookup. You simply need to add the number, and complete details regarding the person will be made available.

The application also offers dark web monitoring saving you from the identity theft. It will also provide you with the information about your details which were leaked in previous data breaches (if any).

The tool also has a “Family Tree” search option which is designed to find out details about the relation between a person and his various relatives. However, the function was not working. The same case was with the “Phone Book Lookup.”

The website has another big issue which is its time-consuming procedure taking place before showing the results. After you enter the information, you need to wait long for results. Again, when you find the required person’s profile, you need to hold on for a while.

In this process, the application asks us a few questions, and without answering them, you can’t go forward. However, these questions don’t play any role in alteration of the final report. Thus, they should be removed for better user experience.

Besides that, you can try the website yourself, and find out old friends using it. But remember, before you access even a single report, a small fee is required to be paid.