Accurate Background Check Review

Accurate is a comprehensive employee background check solution. It provides criminal background checks, drug and health screenings, monitoring services, and more to help employers make the best hiring decisions for their businesses.

Accurate is compliant with local, national, and international regulations, making it a secure choice for your business. It allows you to customize your screening services and uses smart technology to get you the background check results that hiring managers need during the prescreening and hiring process and beyond.

Accurate Background Checks Compared

Accurate ranks among the best on our top list, and it’s the most cost-effective service for small businesses to run background checks. Register for an account and get started with Accurate today.

• Intelius—Best for unlimited background checks
• GoodHire—Best for flexible pricing and intermittent use
• B&B Reporting—Best for next-day background check results
• Accurate—Most affordable background checks for small businesses
• Verifirst—Best background check service for property management companies

Find out how Accurate stacks up to other services in the industry when you read our review of the best background check companies.

About Accurate Background Checks

Accurate Background provides employee screening services for employers in the healthcare, insurance, retail, staffing, transportation, and gig industries. It performs a wide range of these services, and its thorough searches include checking court records, driving history, drug screening, and more.

• Accurate Employee Background Checks Review
• Accurate Credit Checks Review
• Accurate Monitoring Services Review
• Accurate Verifications Review

Accurate’s goal is to help you make the best possible hiring decisions using important employee information. It helps you determine whether an employee is a good fit for your business.

For example, if a person has stolen money from a company before, you’ll want to know this before hiring them for a retail position that frequently handles cash. If your employees operate heavy machinery, you might conduct a drug screening to ensure everyone’s safety on the job.

Accurate conducts in-depth background checks before you make your hiring decision, and you can use it at any time to verify employee claims and help reduce risk in your workplace.

Accurate Background Checks Health and Stability

Accurate has been around for 25 years and has been named among the 5000 fastest-growing companies seven times in a row. Founded by CEO Dave Dickerson, Accurate has acquired multiple companies, including Career Builder Employment Screening, LLC, Vero Screening Ltd., and CBES, the last of which put Accurate in a position to lead in the background check field.

Accurate has been involved in a few lawsuits, typically from individuals against the company suing for erroneous information. However, most clients seem satisfied with Accurate’s services, citing quick responses, accurate data, and helpful customer support. The company serves over 16,000 customers and retains 98.5% of them, according to its website. They have more than 1,700 employees.

The information the company collects is not guaranteed accurate, though they do have a high rate of finding correct reports. The biggest complaint most clients had was that sometimes, it takes the company longer to respond or collect search data.

Accurate Background Checks Pricing

You can find some of Accurate’s pricing on its website, where it lists three plans for small businesses. When it comes to large organizations, you can’t see your options as easily. Instead, large business clients have to contact Accurate to get custom pricing and services to meet their needs.

If you choose one of its designated plans, you can make an account on the website. Accurate will then review the information you provide, including your company name, size, industry, and other details, as well as user information. Once they approve you, they’ll contact you. (Regardless of your business size, Accurate must still approve you before you work with them.)

Accurate Pricing Structure

Accurate offers three pricing tiers, which are priced per report. The Basic plan starts at $30.99, and it includes county and national criminal search, the national sex offender registry, and SSN trace and address history. The Standard plan doubles the price to $62.05 per report, while the Premium package comes in at $77.57 per report for more advanced background check services.

You can also make an account with Accurate and tell them your unique needs. Plus, you have to pay a $25 setup fee to verify your business and account. Accurate offers add-ons for more advanced features, like education verification and federal criminal search services. These cost anywhere from $5 to $10.30.

Large organization services work differently in that Accurate tailors its pricing to your background check needs, offering more advanced reporting and flexibility. It works well for enterprise businesses that want to set their own criteria with automated adjudication and approval, multilingual support, recruiter and candidate completion features, and more.

Accurate Pricing Comparison

Accurate is more expensive than some other background check services, but it compares fairly equally to popular options from our top picks. The cost can add up quickly if you need a lot of reports, but for small businesses that need more basic or infrequent services, you probably won’t run into this issue.

Accurate is on par with similar companies, like GoodHire, which has rates starting at $29.99 per report for its small business plans. However, GoodHire also offers more with its basic plans than Accurate, including some report components that Accurate makes you pay extra to add.

Even GoodHire’s most expensive package costs only slightly more than Accurate’s Premium plan at $79.99. Both Accurate and GoodHire offer add-ons, and Accurate’s are cheaper than GoodHire’s $14.99 options.

Accurate is significantly more expensive than Intelius, which starts its basic background checks at less than $10. With Accurate, you’re also paying for quality and reputation, as it’s had fewer legal issues than Intelius. From our research, you’re more likely to receive accurate information with Accurate.

Accurate Trials and Guarantees

Accurate doesn’t offer any trials or guarantees—not even to get your money back. However, the company offers high-quality service and is ISO-certified and FCRA-compliant, which helps you avoid legal trouble while screening applicants and employees.

Accurate seems to have more extra charges than deals for customers, including its setup fee. At the same time, it doesn’t require any monthly minimums for background checks, so even if you just need one, Accurate will do it. Its quality may make the extra charges worth it for you, but this won’t be the case for everyone.

Accurate Employee Background Checks Review

Accurate has many strong points that make it an excellent choice for helping you make optimal hiring decisions for your team. It has comprehensive offerings, and we go over several of its benefits below, as well as areas that might make you reconsider using the service.

If the point below makes you think another background check service might fit your business better, you have plenty of other options. Compare them with our reviews of the best background check companies.

What Makes Accurate Employee Background Checks Great

Accurate specializes in employee background checks. Here’s where you can expect it to excel when you work with the company.

• Industry-specific background checks: Accurate can conduct employee background checks for most industries, but it has its specialty niches. They include gig and marketplace workers, healthcare, insurance, retail, staffing, and transportation. The company provides flexible services to verify employee claims, search criminal records, perform drug and health screenings, conduct social media searches, and more. With its niche expertise, you get more specific information based on your industry, and Accurate understands the kind of data you need in your background checks and how to find it.
• Easy to get started: To get started with Accurate’s small business plans, all you have to do is go to the website and choose your plan. Click the button to begin making your account, and put in your business and user information to send to the company. They’ll approve you and send an email to let you know they’ve reviewed your information. For large organizations, their experts will help you develop a custom plan based on your needs when you contact them.
• Many options for employee background checks: Accurate’s services include criminal background checks, business intelligence, driver history, verification services, social media searches, sanctions, monitoring services, and even global searches. It makes for thorough reports that offer everything you need to make your hiring decisions, and you can use add-on options to dig deeper if needed.
• Affordable for small businesses: If you’re only running a few background checks here and there, Accurate is especially affordable. The company does the hard work for you and sends you the Basic report for only $30.99, which includes criminal search records, the sex offender registry, SSN trace, and address history. Premium is more expensive but not out of reach for small businesses at $77.57, and it includes much more information, as well as education and employment verification and more advanced background check options.
• ISO-certified and FCRA-compliant: Accurate’s compliance with ISO and FCRA helps reduce the risk of you receiving misinformation and protects your business legally. It lowers your risk of a lawsuit if someone accuses you of false information. It also shows that Accurate is a reputable company that sticks to your local, state, and national regulations for obtaining and reporting information.
• Flexible and customizable: Accurate offers customized screening and background check services with flexible terms. You pay by the report, and you can contact the company to discuss your options at any time. Even small businesses can talk to them about custom options and services, and its add-ons fill in the gaps where its regular plans fall short.

Where Accurate Employee Background Checks Fall Short

While Accurate has many helpful services, it won’t work for everyone. Here’s where it may not live up to your expectations, so consider these criteria before you buy your plan.

• Long wait times: Accurate claims to be fast on their website, but it doesn’t say how long you can expect it to take to receive your report. Many client reviews note that Accurate takes much longer than expected to get back to them about their background checks—sometimes several months.
• Basic features are add-ons: A lot of employee background checks include education and employment verification in basic plans automatically, but not Accurate’s. The company makes you pay extra for them, as well as other features, like motor vehicle reports, federal criminal searches, and professional license verification. If you need just one of these things, it’s not a huge deal, but if you need several, it jacks up the cost when you could get them included with another company, like GoodHire.
• Less thorough basic plan: Other companies, like GoodHire, have more comprehensive plans for similar prices, whereas Accurate makes you pay for add-ons or upgrade to Premium. When you’re hiring someone, you want to make sure all the necessary information comes with the report, and Accurate’s Basic plan is more bare-bones than you can find elsewhere.
• Costs add up fast: The cost of Accurate may not be worth it to small businesses with high turnover rates or that need a lot of background checks. Many small businesses watch their budgets, so paying $30 or more repeatedly can eat into their funds. With add-ons, you could easily end up paying double the cost of the basic report. Plus, consider the $25 initial setup fee, which most other background check services don’t have.
• Not meant for personal use: Accurate is intended for employers to use for employee background checks. Other services, like Intelius, let you run your own personal searches. Accurate does the searching for you, which can deter some users who only want a quick look for something simple or who prefer more control over their search. However, it’s a great service for its intended purpose.
• No free trial or guarantees: Where many companies offer a free trial, money-back guarantee, or quality guarantee, Accurate doesn’t. Most clients seem happy with their services, but the fact that you can’t test anything before you sign up might deter some users.

Accurate Employee Background Checks Compared

Accurate ranks fourth among our best background check services for its straightforward approach, compliance, and affordability for small businesses.

• Intelius—Best for unlimited background checks
• GoodHire—Best for flexible pricing and intermittent use
• B&B Reporting—Best for next-day background check results
• Accurate—Most affordable background checks for small businesses
• Verifirst—Best background check service for property management companies

Accurate Credit Checks Review

Accurate uses compliant software to search employee credit history, and it checks all major credit bureaus across the country. It makes reports thorough but simple, so you can read and scan them quickly for the information you need. With its data, it includes credit reports, record keeping, check writing, and more for a full-scope report.

Accurate Monitoring Services Review

Accurate’s criminal monitoring services help create a safer environment for your employees and business. It monitors employees in real time, and you can choose which criteria you use for the service, including location and offense severity. Accurate verifies its sources and data, so you can take action as needed and minimize risk to your company.

Accurate Verifications Review

When an employee makes claims about their education or previous work experience, Accurate verifies those claims to ensure they have the experience you’re looking for. It uses email-first verification for faster results and has a multilingual verification option to broaden its search.

Accurate can verify employment, education, professional licenses, references, and more. It’s also integrated with several resources, including the National Student Clearinghouse Number and The Work Number. Accurate Confirm also finds and compiles employee data with automated mobile capabilities.

Final Verdict

Accurate is a widely used employee background check service that provides thorough reports when you need them. It uses compliant methods and technology to find information and help you make the best hiring choices.

Accurate verifies employee claims with clear plans and pricing, and it works well for many small businesses. However, the company can help businesses of any size, and you can contact them to set up packages unique to your needs.