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Instant Checkmate Reviews

Instant Checkmate Reviews

Overall
4/5
(4)
Features
(3.5)
Price
(4)
Customer Service
Pros
  • Wide variety of information
  • Reverse phone lookup
  • Financial data included
  • No cancellation fees
  • Downloadable reports
Cons
  • No iOS app
  • No individual reports
  • Expensive

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A name can be important. It’s how we recognize people, how a business stands out from the crowd, and in the world of background check services, it’s used to find a person. But what if the person’s name is what you are trying to discover? With Instant Checkmate, people can also be tracked by their phone number, email, or address. The California-based company’s ability to instantly check criminal records, social media pages, and financial statuses, and convert this information into professional reports, is commendable. Prices start at $28.09 per month* for person reports and $5.99 per month for phone reports.

20% off instant Checkmate
Subscribe to Instant Checkmate's quarterly plan and get 20% off this background check service, which equates to $28.09 per month.
Save $7/mo on Instant Checkmate

Features

Instant Checkmate’s most popular feature is the people search function. After filling in the first and last name fields, the search engine lists several people that match your search. This list is likely to be smaller if the city and state are also provided. While the people search is the most popular, the reverse phone lookup may be the most valuable. It gives information on the person attached to the phone number, such as social media data, online activity, and photos. Alternatively, when a name or phone number is inaccurate, email or address searches can also retrieve important details.

Another trick up Instant Checkmate’s sleeve is its directory, which lists names of U.S. residents in alphabetic order. Looking for a particular person in this directory is time-consuming, but it can be an alternative to the regular search. Moreover, the report monitoring center is a tool that actively monitors the data of any person or location report, notifying the user of any changes at the moment they happen.

Reports

Report types
Criminal records
Sex offenses
Bankruptcies
Court judgements
Marriages & divorces
Birth records
Genealogy records
Social media profiles
Tax liens
Assets
Report clarification

The background check service offers a comprehensive dive into a person’s history. Whether that’s a long-lost friend, a new neighbor, or coworker, it’s possible to reveal their contact information and criminal records. The platform gathers data from numerous public records, including criminal and arrest records, court dockets, registered sex offenders’ files, and many more. The information can be accessed in two ways – person reports and phone reports – depending on which membership is chosen.

After searching for someone’s name, the results show the subject’s personal background, along with criminal activities, if there are any. Reports provided by Instant Checkmate can detail the subject’s full name, aliases, phone number, address history, and family members. Even though this information can be discovered for free with similar search engines, looking up someone’s criminal and sex offense records is tricky without a professional service. In this sense, the site properly details each crime, listing the case number, the description of the offense, and even explaining the sentence given. Reports might also reveal the subject’s properties owned, business associates, or whether there are lingering tax liens. The user can even search for their own name and actively request a piece of information to be removed, giving them the power to manage their online reputation.

In cases when the user has someone’s phone number but doesn’t know their name, the phone report provides information about its owner, such as name, photos, address, and social media profiles. This is a valuable way of finding out whether an unrecognized number belongs to a salesperson or a loved one who’s been trying to reconnect. It can also be helpful for parents to check if their kids are connected to social media profiles that they’re unaware of.

Searches

Search options
Address lookup
Phone number lookup
Email lookup
City, state
Age, birth date

In cases when the user has someone’s phone number but doesn’t know their name, the phone report provides information about its owner, such as name, photos, address, and social media profiles. This is a valuable way of finding out whether an unrecognized number belongs to a salesperson or a loved one who’s been trying to reconnect. It can also be helpful for parents to check if their kids are connected to social media profiles that they’re unaware of.

Ease of use

Platform support
Web app
Mobile optimized
macOS
Linux
Android
Windows
iOS

In some ways, Instant Checkmate’s ease of use is impressive, flaunting a well-organized report format that’s easy to navigate. The search box is at the top of the page and has person, phone, email, and address search tabs that can be easily accessed. Complete reports are displayed in just a few seconds and are divided into several categories that are laid out in different tabs on the sidebar. All these resources are well presented and accessible when visiting Instant Checkmate’s website using a mobile device. Additionally, even though the site barely mentions it, there’s a convenient mobile app that is also easy to use. It’s touchscreen-friendly, as it separates the reports into multiple pages that users can swipe between. Unfortunately, the app is only available for Android users.

Data reliability

When looking for information on a person, Instant Checkmate usually presents a comprehensive list of reports that match the keywords provided. The data gathered by Instant Checkmate is public, and it comes from federal, state, and county public record databases and other data sources, such as social media profiles. Instant Checkmate accesses data that’s spread across these multiple sources and displays it in a simple and organized directory, making for a precise and fast search. Moreover, it uses at least two separate data sources that are cross-checked for maximum data accuracy and conforms to standard practices within the industry. In other words, the quality of the data provided depends on the quality of the source it is pulled from. It’s important to mention Instant Checkmate doesn’t qualify as a professional employee screening tool, nor is it recommended for any other screening for work or insurance eligibility.

Security and privacy

Instant Checkmate places a significant emphasis on data security. It has a secure SSL connection and searches are guarded by 256-bit encryption, which is strong enough to withstand most hacking attempts. The website is protected with Norton Symantec. As for user privacy, the company admits that it collects user information in order to tell users apart from frauds, but it also mentions that it shares some of their data with advertisers and third-party companies. It’s important to note that the site has a DMCA policy, so customers can request to have their information removed from the database by submitting an opt-out request online or by mail.

Pricing

Pricing
Subscription available
Complete background check report
Nationwide criminal reports

Instant Checkmate is a paid background check service. The Person Reports membership costs $35.12 per month and offers unlimited person and location reports, plus the report monitoring service. There’s a discount of 20%* for those who subscribe to the quarterly plan, which costs $28.09 per month ($84.28 in total). The phone report only costs $5.99 per month, but there are no quarterly payment options, and it doesn’t provide the person or location reports.

Phone Reports
$5.99
Unlimited Phone Reports
Person Reports
$28.09
Unlimited person reports
Unlimited location reports
Report monitoring
Person Reports
$35.12
Unlimited person reports
Unlimited location reports
Report monitoring

Instant Checkmate is a paid background check service. The Person Reports membership costs $35.12 per month and offers unlimited person and location reports, plus the report monitoring service. There’s a discount of 20%* for those who subscribe to the quarterly plan, which costs $28.09 per month ($84.28 in total). The phone report only costs $5.99 per month, but there are no quarterly payment options, and it doesn’t provide the person or location reports.

Payment options
Visa
Mastercard
American Express
Discover
PayPal
Wire transfer
Check
Cryptocurrency

Customer service

Customer support
24/7
Live chat
Email
Phone
Community
FAQs
Video tutorials
Remote desktop
Blog
Facebook
Instagram
X
YouTube

Instant Checkmate is proud to share that it has earned a stellar A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau. Regarding customer support, the staff is available via phone or email from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. (PST) on weekdays. The company also provides an extensive FAQ section, along with a blog page with several helpful articles. Additionally, Instant Checkmate has profiles both on Facebook and Twitter, but the it only posts occasionally and doesn’t provide support from these channels.

Bottom line

Overall, Instant Checkmate is a reliable background check service, but, like anything, it has its advantages and disadvantages. Launching a thorough search, organizing, and displaying the data takes only a few seconds. Being able to search for information using someone’s phone number, email, or address is also a plus. The mobile app can be described as both positive and negative since it’s easy and convenient to use, but it’s only available for Android. Also, although there’s the possibility of having the reports in PDF, having to pay $3.99 for each download is disappointing. In fact, the pricing is the company’s Achilles heel, as it charges $28.09 per month* for a Person Report membership.

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