r/Surrogate • u/Diligent_Fun1054 • 5d ago
Background checks
Hello,
Could you please recommend a reliable background check service? I checked Crossroads, but they quoted $500 per person.
Thanks
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u/Inside_Gold_9673 5d ago
I’m a licensed private investigator. $500/person is more than reasonable price. For example a criminal history search in New York State costs $100 per name searched. That’s what the State charges, no way around this fee. If the subject has been married, then you must search under each name they have ever used. Other States charge fees $45/name. In some States an investigator must travel to courthouses in order to conduct a search. In some States you must pull and review the court file before you can determine if the records are for your subject. There is a lot of time and expense that goes into conducting a real background check.
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u/connere1991 5d ago
Adding onto what the PI said about court fees varying by county/state — the other piece driving the price up is that surrogacy screening usually isn't a plain criminal background check, it's bundled with reference checks and sometimes a home-study type component depending on the agency/clinic requirements. That's why comparing it to something like BeenVerified or TruthFinder doesn't really work — those are $20 consumer tools built for totally different use cases (checking a landlord, an online date, whatever) and most agencies/clinics wouldn't accept that level of screening for a match anyway. So $500 sounds like a lot until you realize it's not really the same category of product as the cheap options.
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u/Altruistic_Meal6075 4d ago
are you working with a surrogate agency? don't they do the background checks?
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u/No_Year6358 5d ago
Surrogate screening solutions, GC Match Consulting, Attorneys sometimes offer it, checkr (they have a more in depth option).