Hi! Thanks for a very interesting question.
Before providing a rating, please ask for clarification if you will
need further assistance in the answers I have provided below.
I will answer the first part of your question about how the public
record business works.
In the case of ?public records?, since they are in a sense ?public?,
they are available for everyone to see but as you know not everyone
knows how nor has the patience and resources to dig up such records so
they hire ?information professionals? or researchers who specialize in
public records. This is the reason why such firms as LexisNexis have
the ability to sell this information.
Public records are useful in conducting company background checks to
verify the legitimacy of a firm, make potential employee background
check, find a missing person, etc.
One of the most noted experts of public records research is Lynn
Peterson, president of PFC Information Services, Inc. She has been
quoted as regards to public records in the Wall Street Journal, The
information Broker?s Handbook and at Kiplinger?s. She was also
featured in the books, ?Super Searchers: Go to the Source? and ?Super
Searchers: Make it own their Own?.
Lynn Peterson mentions that although a lot of ?public records? are
available online, whether for free or for a fee, you will still have
to learn to roll up your sleeves and get dirty. In the book ?Super
Searchers: Make it own their Own?, she mentions that if you are
starting out and learning about the ropes in this field is to start
visiting the courthouse! You can get abstract information online
according to her but it would help to be familiar and comfortable
looking at the documents themselves. According to her you should know
what is a ?tax lien? or a UCC filing is and what it looks like.
In the book she also mentions that during the start of her career she
had a friend who was a private investigator who introduced her to
courthouses and taught her how and where to find what kind of
document. If you can find someone like this person, it would be
helpful as well.
Before conducting a research, she goes through the following steps:
a. She makes a reference interview. The reference interview enables
you to know what the client truly wants and the amount of detail the
client requires.
b. They also talk about the research budget. She tells the client what
is feasible and what is not feasible with this budget. She charges for
any online and leg work cost. She also asks the client what is the
?not-to-exceed? budget cost.
c. In order to market her services she does speaking engagements and
write for research publications.
The particular source for that information isn?t online but in a book.
Here is the source.
Source:
Suzanne Sabroski, ?The Craft of Public Records? in Super Searchers:
Make it own their Own Top Independent Information Professionals Share
Their Secrets for Starting and Running a Research Business (Super
Searchers Series) , ed. Reva Basch, 123 (Cyber Age Books, 2002)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0910965595/qid=1102560454/sr=8-2/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i2_xgl14/103-4714775-6309450?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
--------------------------
Our next discussion is how a public records researcher like Lynn
Peterson, does the research. What is the process she goes through to
find the information her clients seek?
Since she is already an expert at this and has networks to the leg
work for her to go to the courthouse, she now starts the work by
looking at online sources.
According to her from the book ?Super Searchers: Go to the Source?,
she goes through the following steps:
a. ?Usually I start with online searching. Even though only twenty
percent of public records are available online, it?s useful to rule
out certain kinds of records, and find out where we need to search
manually. Maybe we want to know if somebody in New York City has any
lawsuits filed against them, so we start there.?
b. ?The information that you can get online, with court records for
example, is very cursory if available at all. In most jurisdictions,
when you find a lawsuit, what you?re going to get with the online
search is the date it was filed, the case number, the plaintiff, the
defendant, maybe the attorneys of record, and maybe some notation like
?contracts? so you know what kind of case it is, versus, say,
?divorce.??
c. ?So then we have to send someone out to get copies of documents
from the case file. That?s where the real information is. It?s not
always easy. Case files are often in storage, and it can be a lengthy
and involved process, because you?ve got to go and make an appointment
to have them brought out from storage, and then come back to review
the records.?
d. ?If I can find notarized documents in the case file itself, I call
the notary who notarized the documents and ask for a copy of the
notary log.?
e. ?The notary log contains information like date of birth, driver?s
license number, and address. So that?s a way to discern whether or not
the plaintiff or defendant is the person on whom you?re conducting
your research.?
She mentions that her favorite online vendors (sources) are the following:
LexisNexis
http://www.lexisnexis.com/
ChoicePoint
http://www.choicepointinc.com/
PACER
http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/
Superior
http://www.superiorinfo.com/TagX/Home/
I highly recommend that you read link to the article below to get a
more detailed perspective about this business.
?Lynn Peterson: Public Records ?To the Ends of the Earth?, Part 1? By Risa Sacks
http://www.llrx.com/features/peterson.htm
She also mentions as a tip that she carries different kinds of Errors
and Omissions insurance.
?I carry a million dollars worth of Errors and Omissions insurance.
Also, with all the changes that have gone on in terms of laws
pertaining to the retrieval of personal information, most notably
FCRA, the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, which was revised in
September of ?97, I don?t think I would sleep at night if I did not
carry liability insurance.?
?Lynn Peterson: Public Records ?To the Ends of the Earth?, Part 2? By Risa Sacks
http://www.llrx.com/features/peterson2.htm
Here are other articles you can read to help you in setting-up your
?public records? research business.
?Be Your Own Detective Databases - Searching Public Records Online?
http://www.howtoinvestigate.com/public_records/databases.htm
?The Independent Information Professional?
http://www.aiip.org/Resources/IIPWhitePaper.html
?Starting an Information Broker Business?
http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol57/infobroker.htm
?How to use public records databases?
http://www.inet-investigation.com/public-records-databases/how-to-use-public-records-databases.htm
?Navigating the Maze of Criminal Records Retrieval ? Updated? By Lynn Peterson
http://www.llrx.com/features/criminal2.htm
-----------------------------
In your second question, you were asking if there are companies that
will sell you data on a per record basis. Yes there are companies that
do these like in a retail shop. There are also companies that do it by
wholesale or subscription or both. If you choose a subscription
service you can save more money by buying access to particular
databases for specific periods of time like a month. The services
mentioned here provide online searching and data retrieval.
What I will do here is to provide you with links to the pricing
information (if available) of record retrieval of the online resources
mentioned in the first part of the answer and also additional sources
aside from those mentioned by Ms. Peterson. The pricing page usually
gives us the information if the company provides info on a per data
retrieval bases or you have to subscribed to get the data.
Here the sites that you can go to.
LexisNexis AlaCarte
http://www.lexisnexis.com/alacarteinfo/pricing.asp
ChoicePoint Public Records (Subscription only) (No Pricing Information)
http://www.choicepointinc.com/industry/retail/public_cbi_1.html
Sample Report: http://www.choicepointinc.com/sample_rpts/AutoTrackXP.pdf
PACER
http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/announcements/general/fee_notice.html
Superior (Also from ChoicePoint)
http://www.soplus.com/application/publicrxwf
KnowX
http://www.knowx.com/statmnts/priceinfo.jsp?userid=guest&password=welcome
Guidestar (Subscription only)
https://commerce.guidestar.org/GuideStar/default.aspx?source=ecommbrowse
Intellius ($7.95)
http://find.intelius.com/search-faq.php#8
Sample Report: http://find.intelius.com/search-faq.php#8
Dun & Bradstreet
http://www.dnb.com/us/
Dialog (No Pricing Info)
http://www.dialog.com/products/dialog1/
Factiva
http://www.factiva.com/factiva/payg/pricing.asp?node=menuElem1576
Westlaw
http://west.thomson.com/store/product.asp?product%5Fid=Westlaw+subscription+options&cookie%5Ftest=1
Ancestry.com
http://landing.ancestry.com/multisubs/subscribe.aspx?html=abmremove&SourceId=&TargetId=
Military USA
http://www.militaryusa.com/
Vital Check
http://www.vitalchek.com/?clicked=1
----------------------------
FREE Resources: During the course of your research, the internet is
still a good source. These free websites will be valuable to you as
well with no additional cost.
Search Systems
http://www.searchsystems.net/
California Records
http://www.ss.ca.gov/
NJ Business Gateway
http://www.state.nj.us/njbgs/
VitalRec.com
http://vitalrec.com/
Search terms used:
Starting setting-up ?public records? ?information professional? research business
I hope these links would help you in your research. Before rating this
answer, please ask for a clarification if you have a question or if
you would need further information.
Regards,
Easterangel-ga
Google Answers Researcher |
Clarification of Answer by
easterangel-ga
on
09 Dec 2004 17:47 PST
Hi landrover72-ga and thanks for coming back so quickly. I really appreciate it.
I really apologize for not posting a spot on answer to your query. The
reason for this is that as I see it and based on the wording of your
question, that you were asking from the perspective of a researcher
consultant just like our example Lynn Peterson. It seems that actually
you are looking from the perspective of setting-up a firm like
LexisNexis. That's ok it happens to the best of us that at times what
we express is not exactly what we had in mind.
I also however appeal to your understanding that as Google Answers
Researchers, we based our answers on the original premise of the
question since this is what we have on our hands at that point in
time. Sometimes we do ask for clarification to make somethings clear
but in this case I thought that the requirements were properly laid
out. Again sorry about that.
Since there isn't a great deal of info I found at the moment about the
workings of the "commercial database" industry, I decided to email
LexisNexis on how they do it. But since they are a large company and
may feel threatened by my email, I cannot guarantee that there will be
a reply coming from them that can provide what we want. This is the
reason maybe we will not have a detailed answer to the second part of
your question since this is a supplier chain question closely guarded
by company insiders.
Anyway here are some of the things I found. Yes they do not
necessarily just send people to get records for them. it is a lot more
sophisticated than that.If you look at at this company history from
LexisNexis, you could extract the information that large commercial
databases like them do the following:
- have computerized network connections with governemnt and other
private agencies that collects this data.
- that companies like LexisNexis have either direct network
connections or have these data physically collected (in paper form)
outright and edits and presents them in an easy to understand manner
through the use of computer databases.
- that in order to have access to these data, LexisNexis has a
contract with the different governemnt and private agencies.
Knowing this, it is highly unlikely that you can access this
information like LexisNexis in retail form. The retail distributors
are the the likes of LexisNexis while public and private sources are
the wholesalers or data suppliers.
"The LexisNexis Timeline"
http://www.lexisnexis.com/anniversary/30th_timeline_fulltxt.pdf
Another source of information we can gather is through our next link
as it shows this time with ChoicePoint as an example, on how these
commercial database vendors get their information.
"The companies include ChoicePoint Inc., which gathers and sells
information for purposes ranging from employment background checks to
insurance fraud investigations, and Experian, which claims to have
information gathered from "hundreds of public and proprietary sources"
on 215 million consumers."
"The companies collect data from a wide range of commercial and
government sources, such as credit card records, motor vehicle and
property records, license records, marriage and divorce data,
bankruptcy and other court databases, product warranty registrations,
loan applications and other sources."
"Commercial database use flagged"
http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2002/0114/web-epic-01-16-02.asp
Our next link provides an overview on some of the sources used by
commercial database vendors. You might find this link very useful in
setting-up your business.
a. Credit Bureaus - ex. Experian, Equifax and Trans Union
b. Easy Access Credit Providers
c. Social Security Numbers accessed to linked databases.
"Guarding Your Privacy"
https://www.ag.state.mn.us/consumer/PDF/Brochures/GuardingPrivacy2004.pdf
Here is the business website of Experian (A credit bureau mentioned by
the link above). You can get data from this company as well but only
for credit reports and not lawsuits however it is a start and can be
very valuable to your service as well.
Experian
http://www.experian.com/business_services/index.html
Finally our next link gives us an idea about the cost and profit of
commercial database vendors who acquire this information. It seems
that they have a 300% to 400% markup for the data they provide to
consumers.
"Consider the Commercial Database Retailer as the department store of
the information market. The industry is dominated by a handful of
dedicated retailers like The Dialog Corporation, Lexis-Nexis, and
InfoMart. Other retailers focus on certain types of databases."
"Retailers select the databases they carry, and enjoy mark-ups in the
region of 300% to 400% from which they provide customer service,
support and promotion. So very much service and promotion is provided
that these retail giants hold a pivotal role in the distribution of
commercial databases."
"Commercial Databases"
http://spireproject.com/database.htm
I hope this would be of help. I will post the information I will get
from LexisNexis (if they will reply) if it contributes to the
information you seek.
Thank you for understanding.
Easterangel
|
Clarification of Answer by
easterangel-ga
on
10 Dec 2004 16:25 PST
Hi again landrover72-ga!
Yes it's ok to ask this kind of clarification since it is indeed a
part of your question.
Before we go any further let us see the types of services that makes
these data available. These are the so called wholesalers in the
public records business and they already format the data for easier
access.
Let go back to Lynn Peterson, in her paper "The truth about Big
Brother Databases", she mentions the following fact.
"Who makes this data available electronically? Who may access it? Major
commercial public records vendors include ChoicePoint Asset Company,
LexisNexis, West Group, Seisint, Inc. (Accurint), and Dun & Bradstreet. Other
smaller companies cover certain regions (e.g., Superior Information Services,
LLC), or types of data (e.g., GovernmentRecords.Com), and sometimes supply
data to the major vendors."
"In addition to commercial vendors, government agencies provide online access to
public records. The Health Resources & Services Administration of the Department
of Health and Human Services, for example, publishes information about people
who default on a Health Education Assistance Loan."
"The Truth About Big Brother Databases"
http://www.pfcinformation.com/articles/bigbrother.pdf
So in a sense the ones we mentioned like LexisNexis are indeed the
wholesalers in this industry.
Now if you really want to get to a more closer source than LexisNexis,
you're best bet will be PACER. We also mentioned PACER before but we
failed to emphasize that this is a government database. I think PACER
is the the one that you are looking for since they offer their data in
a retail manner in electronic form. They charge 7 to 8 cents per page
of data.
PACER Service Center
http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/
Another good source for you will be GovernmentReecords.com. This
website even supplies records to the major commercial database
vendors. It was also mentioned in the article above.
Government Records
http://www.governmentrecords.com/home.asp?referer=&gid=&home=
In terms of private commercial databases, ChoicePoints National
Criminal File will also be a good resource
ChoicePoint: National Criminal File
http://www.choicepoint.com/business/pre_employ/pre_employ_4_1.html
Please be informed however that no government or commercial database
are really complete because even some states still have old ways of
recording methods.
"Arcane and fragmented record keeping systems can make
criminal searches seem like navigating through a maze and shoe leather
is still required to research criminal records in most locations."
"Navigating the Maze of Criminal Records Retrieval"
http://www.pfcinformation.com/articles/navigatingretrieval.pdf
I hope again that this would be of help.
Thanks!
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