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Do's & Don'ts - Permitted and Prohibited Uses

NeighborWho's mission is to give people easy and affordable access to public record information. However, laws such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act regulate how you can use information you obtain from NeighborWho.

You are restricted from using NeighborWho for:

Tenant Screening:

Including, but not limited to, leasing a residential or commercial space. By law, you must use a Consumer Reporting Agency to conduct a background check on potential tenants.

Credit, Insurance or Mortgages:

You might be committing a crime if you use NeighborWho for assessing the risk of existing credit obligations of an individual or determining eligibility for issuing credit or insurance.

Business Transactions Initiated by an Individual Customer:

Reviewing a personal customer account to determine whether the person continues to meet the terms of the account

Employment Screening:

Employers can't use NeighborWho to conduct background checks of employees and applicants. NeighborWho may not be used to evaluate a person for employment, reassignment, promotion, or retention.

Hiring of Household Workers:

Including, but not limited to, nannies and domestic workers. You must follow the same procedure for running a background check that employers hiring an applicant must follow.

Check Educational Qualifications:

Including, but not limited to, a person's qualifications for an educational program or scholarship

Considering someone looking to be an adoptive parent or pet-owner:

You are not permitted to use our services to evaluate someone as a candidate to adopt a pet, service animal, human or any other item under consideration for entrusting in someone's care or custodianship.

Vetting someone in connection with a charity or non-profit:

Eligibility or fitness of someone to participate in, be considered for, admitted to, or to be a beneficiary or recipient (or otherwise entitle someone to gain from), any non-profit, grant or charitable program or activity

Using NeighborWho information in these ways violates both our Terms & Conditions and the law, and can lead to possible criminal penalties. We take this very seriously, and reserve the right to terminate user accounts and/or report violators to law enforcement as appropriate.

Below are a few examples of some of the ways you can and can't use public record information from NeighborWho. If you still are not sure whether your use of NeighborWho is OK, we encourage you to review our complete Terms & Conditions, which provide the final say on how you can use information from NeighborWho, or to Contact Us. If you wish to use information for a purpose that is not allowed by NeighborWho, please visit the website of a Consumer Reporting Agency.

Verify Online Sellers

Before you bid, make sure that person is who he says he is.

Confirm Someone's Current Address

Sending invitations and greeting cards has never been easier.

Go Ahead, Check Yourself Out

It is not silly, it is important. You should know what is in your public record.

Find Old Friends

NeighborWho loves when people use public records to reconnect with people.

Verify Potential Roommates

Before you commit to that lease, find out who you'll be living with.

DON'T

Mortgages, Credit Checks, Insurance

You might be committing a crime if you use NeighborWho to determine consumers' eligibility for these.

Stalk or Spy on People

Use NeighborWho responsibly and respect peoples' right to privacy.

Steal an Identity

Identity theft is a serious offense with serious consequences. Don't do it!

Contact People Against Their Wishes

If they don't want to be contacted, you should respect their wishes.

Employer Background Checks

Employers can't use NeighborWho to conduct background checks of employees and applicants. We take this very seriously and so should you.

Screen Tenants

You have to use a special company called a Consumer Reporting Agency to conduct a background check on potential tenants - it's the law!

Considering someone looking to be an adoptive parent or pet-owner

Evaluating someone as a candidate to adopt a pet, service animal, human or any other item under consideration for entrusting in someone's care or custodianship

Vetting someone in connection with a charity or non-profit

Some Other Common Use Cases

Want to reconnect with people from back in the old neighborhood? Most welcome.
Address book in need of an updating? Clean it up.
Curious about distant relatives and other family members? Research away.
Interested to see what is in your property record? Take a gander.
Sending invitations or greeting cards? Life just got easier.
Researching a story and need that big lead? I smell a Pulitzer.
Organizing a reunion back in the old neighborhood? My how you've grown.
New neighbors moved next door? Find some common ground.
Relying on good old Craigslist? It need not be such a mystery.
Looking to connect with someone on Facebook? Search our reports to find social profiles.

For Access to a Consumer Reporting Agency, Visit: