Background checks: business helping business: Ingens provides employers with a gamut of information.

• Author: Sergeant, Deborah Jeanne
• Position: Company overview

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Ingens provides a one-stop shop for all manner of public records for a variety of purposes. For employers, Ingens can help verify applicants' backgrounds for human resources, for example.

Considering the cost of turnover, and, for some industries, possible liability associated with sloppy hiring practices, background checking has become a necessity.

Many of these 20 different kinds of records have been available in hard copy for decades; however, the convenience of Internet-based searching gives Ingens users a leg up. Instead of waiting days or even weeks to receive paper records in the mail, Ingens delivers much more quickly.

Ingens also spares Web-savvy searchers from having to access multiple sites to gain the information they need. Tapping local, state and federal records, the online resource offers a massive database of records including those from the Department of Motor Vehicles, courts and property deed files.

EASY ACCESS

A company's human resources department isn't the only user of the database. Private investigators and law enforcement personnel also use Ingens to locate people. Real estate agents and developers can obtain information about deeds, properties, buildings and maps.

Although easy access to all of these records provides convenience to businesses seeking this information, many people feel uncomfortable knowing it's available. Rick Carl, a representative of Ingens, says no one needs to worry.

"We use it as a business-to-business portal," he said. "We don't let individuals use it, only businesses. People think that we're giving out their personal information. We get a lot of backlash on that."

While it may seem to some like Ingens offers up private info, that's not so. They sell access to public information only.

"We don't ever give out credit (information), Social Security numbers or that kind of information," Carl said.

The company doesn't even offer phone numbers or e-mail addresses.

"That's incredibly expensive and requires a lot of maintenance and it dives into something that's incredibly invasive," Carl said.

Department of Motor Vehicle records, considered the most sensitive records Ingens offers, may only be accessed through filling out a state-mandated form subject to approval.

Ingens tracks every users' search and records it in case an incident of misuse creates a security issue.

SIMPLY SEARCHING

Users may conduct searches based upon many different criteria. Different sorts of records may...