BCS is committed to providing superior industry leading support to its customers.

Below are answers to frequently asked questions.

 

BCS FAQ

Questions:

 

1. Tell me what does it cost to sign up with BCS?

2. Can I know whether there are charges in addition to the services listed?  

3. How much are Surcharges?

4. How do I sign up with BCS?

5. How long does it take to get our company set up?

6. Who is eligible to use the BCS services?

7. What is the turnaround time for reports?

8. How does the billing/invoicing work?

9. How do I initiate searches?

10. Are there forms I need to have signed?

11. Is there anything I need to provide to the applicant?

12. Does BCS provide training?

13. Can I run reports and check the status of my account online?

14. When is the BCS system available for use?

15. Can I manage, add, remove, and edit users by myself?

16. What is BCS allowed to report?

17. Why can't I see the address history on the Social Security Trace and Address History Report?

 

Answers:

 

1. BCS render you service, and you pay for the services you use. Although there are no registration fees or monthly minimums, in certain circumstances an onsite inspection fee of approximately $120.00 may be required to meet FCRA guidelines for those who desire access to Credit Bureau Reports. Call our sales department to discuss in more detail.

 

2.Yes, depending on the situations where the price indicated may incur additional charges. Call or go into our listed price in the system and check before you order.

 

a) If an applicant has a positive result on a database Search.

 

When you order an instant database criminal search, the information from that search comes from a database that is updated at different intervals. For this reason, any hit found must be verified as required by the FCRA laws by an actual county court search. Any hit will automatically include an actual court search to verify that the hit belongs to the subject of your search. The court searches will be billed at a per county search rate. This means that if there is a hit on your applicant, the search could cost more that the package rate. You would be charged the package rate for the initial search and each additional county search required at the ala carte rate included in your schedule of fees.

 

b) Surcharges, sometimes called "court fees", or "jurisdictional fees".

 

In some States there are fees to perform motor vehicle record checks and some courthouses charge a fee to conduct county felony and misdemeanor criminal searches. These fees are implied to cover their own internal expenses and are outside of BCS’s control. BCS does not mark up any of these fees; they are passed directly to you. Roughly 33% of all counties have surcharges and the counties within each state vary (i.e. some will charge, some will not) however, almost every state imposes some sort of fee for a motor vehicle record check.

 

3. BCS will charge fees range from as little as $1 - $75 (in the state of New York for example). If there is a surcharge, the average cost is about $5 per order. All charges are listed in our system for you to check before you order.

 

4. Select the "Sign In” button on the top of every page on our site and complete online registration, or speak to one of our highly trained customer representatives by calling 1-888-350-2117.

 

5. Usually the same business day. Special trial offers may provide access sooner.

 

6. In accordance with Federal and State law, bona fide businesses who will use the information strictly for pre-employment & employment background screening, and property managers/owners who wish to screen potential tenants. Individuals are eligible to conduct public records searches.

 

7. Turnaround times vary depending on the jurisdiction being searched. Certain electronic reports are available within a matter of minutes, and international investigations may take up to 15 days for results.

 

8. At the beginning of every month, you will receive a statement outlining activity for the previous month. BCS will bill your credit card automatically prior to sending your statement. For high volume customers who qualify, invoicing is available. BCS accepts MasterCard, Visa, Discover, and American Express.

 

9. Once set up on our system, you log in via the web, enter your applicant's information, and initiate your searches. Completed reports are available via the web, e-mail, or fax.

 

At BCS, we can assimilate directly with your applicant tracking system or internal method, allowing your users to automatically conduct background checks seamlessly from within your application.

 

10. Yes. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires authorization from an applicant to run a background check. For Motor Vehicle Records and Workers Compensation Activity searches, some states and jurisdictions may require a specific form.

 

11. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires that you notify the applicant that you have initiated a background check and if you deny employment as a result of background check, a letter informing the applicant of that fact. The applicant will need to be informed of their rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) also. This information is included with your completed investigation reports and other authorization forms that are made available from BCS free of charge.

 

12. Yes.

 

13. BCS is available 6 days a week, Monday through Saturday.

However, availability of records are dependent on access to the courts and subject to their hours of operation.

 

14. Yes. Each customer is setup with an "Administrator" who can manage a variety of functions, including user management, invoice and payment management, and much more.

 

15. As required by the FCRA, all positive results that are released to our clients conform to the following standards:

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1. Each and every positive result (records with a "hit") enters into a quality review process and is reviewed by a live, trained researcher.

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2. Criminal records must match the subject of the search with at least two identifiers: name, date-of-birth, and/or social security number.

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3. Arrest records are reported up to seven years old. If the subject of the search is applying for a position that pays greater than $75k per year, then arrest records may be reported that are older (this must be disclosed by the client).

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4. Criminal records with positive results that originate from stored date (often referred to as "database records" or "Instant criminal records") are verified at the source for accuracy before being released to the client in accordance with section 613 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. This may incur additional fees added to the report.

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5. Financial records are reported up to seven years old.

 

16. The address history portion of this report is available only by viewing the report online. The validation component can be viewed on the final report that is e-mailed or downloaded by you.

 

The information in The SSN Trace and Address History Service is intended for research purposes only and is not meant to be utilized as the basis for a hiring decision in and of itself. The SSN Trace and Address History Service is not an actual part of the FCRA process. Instead, the SSN Trace and Address History Service is a research tool designed to assist in locating relevant jurisdictions to conduct criminal research and is conducted as a precursor to an FCRA background check process.

 

Since the presence (or absence) of an address itself provides no foundation to deny (or extend) employment or make any FCRA decision; therefore an address itself is not the foundation for a dispute process. If the FCRA investigation uncovers information that is to be used in taking adverse (such as finding and verifying a criminal record in a particular jurisdiction), then it is the criminal record (not the address) that is foundation for the FCRA decision, and it is the criminal record (not the address) that is subject to consumer dispute.

 

The SSN Trace and Address History service is not considered a 'consumer report,' as that term is defined in the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. § 1681, et seq.) ('FCRA'). FCRA and Non-FCRA reports should be separated because consumers have certain rights with respect to consumer reports (including a dispute process) that do not apply to such non-FCRA reports.

Contact us at 888-350-2117 if any additional information is needed.