Twelve questions to ask before you send a vendor a file.
Most investigative firms sound identical on a website. These are the questions that actually separate them — the ones where a weak vendor has to either dodge or admit something. Ask them of us, and ask them of whoever you're using now.
How to use this
Every question below includes what a good answer sounds like, the red flag to listen for, and our own answer. We published ours because we would rather be evaluated on these terms than on adjectives — and because a vendor unwilling to answer them in writing is telling you something.
Compliance and exposure
These four matter most, because the downside lands on you and your bar license, not on the vendor.
1. Will you document a permissible purpose before you start?
Why it matters. Federal and state law restrict access to financial, motor vehicle, and personal data based on the purpose of the search. A documented purpose is what makes the resulting report defensible.
Red flag. "We don't need to know what it's for." A vendor who never asks why is exposing you as well as themselves.
Ours: Yes, on every engagement, recorded in the file. We decline work that doesn't have one. Our standards.
2. Do you pretext financial institutions?
Why it matters. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act makes it unlawful to obtain a customer's information from a financial institution through false or fraudulent statements — and equally unlawful to ask someone else to do it for you. Retaining a vendor who pretexts can make the exposure yours.
Red flag. Any variation of "don't worry about how we get it," or a bank search priced far below everyone else with no explanation of sourcing.
Ours: No, and we don't subcontract to anyone who does. If a question can only be answered that way, we tell you the answer is judicial process.
3. Are your reports consumer reports under the FCRA?
Why it matters. If you use an investigative report to make an employment, credit, insurance, or housing decision, you've created FCRA exposure. The vendor should tell you this before you ask.
Red flag. A vendor who offers to run a "background check for hiring" without being a consumer reporting agency.
Ours: No — our reports are investigative work product and are not consumer reports. If you need an FCRA-compliant background check, we refer you rather than take the work.
4. Are you licensed, and where?
Why it matters. Investigative licensing is state-by-state. A firm licensed in one state cannot simply conduct licensed field activity in another.
Red flag. Vagueness about the license number, or "we work nationwide" with no explanation of how out-of-state work is handled.
Ours: Licensed Washington private investigative agency under Chapter 18.165 RCW, license 22031080. Records searches nationwide; out-of-state field work through licensed local association, disclosed in writing.
The quality of the work
5. What are your data sources, specifically?
Why it matters. Many "investigative firms" are a single database subscription and a person to run it. You can buy that yourself. What you're paying for is what happens when the database returns nothing.
Red flag. "Proprietary databases" with no further detail, or an inability to name what happens after a search comes back empty.
Ours: Three layers — licensed commercial databases, our own Pacific Northwest source material built since 1980, and privately sourced OSINT. How that works.
6. What does "verified" mean when you say it?
Why it matters. A single database hit is a lead, not a fact. Aggregated data carries stale addresses, merged identities, and same-name collisions. Acting on it means serving the wrong person or garnishing the wrong account.
Red flag. A vendor who calls database output "verified." Records are not verification — nothing is truly verified until someone lays eyes on it in person, and a firm that blurs that line will blur others.
Ours: We say what we mean. Findings are cross-referenced across independent sources and given a confidence rating, with every material fact tied to where it came from. Where certainty actually matters, we put a person on it and confirm physically.
7. What exactly is in scope — and what isn't?
Why it matters. Scope gaps surface at the worst time. "Asset search" means different things at different firms, and the differences are usually the expensive parts.
Red flag. A scope description that is all inclusions and no exclusions.
Ours: A standard asset search runs on licensed and electronically available records. Live county-level retrieval and public records requests to state agencies are not included and must be specified. Stated plainly here.
8. What do I get if you find nothing?
Why it matters. A documented negative is a real deliverable. It supports a diligence showing for alternative service, and it tells a creditor to stop spending on an uncollectible file.
Red flag. "We'll let you know" — meaning an email saying no results, with no record of what was searched.
Ours: A full report documenting what was searched, in which jurisdictions, and through which sources — plus a reduced no-hit rate on financial searches.
Price and accountability
9. What does it cost — before I authorize it?
Why it matters. Hourly investigative billing expands. Flat-rate work against a defined scope doesn't.
Red flag. No published rates, a retainer before any scope is defined, or hourly billing on a routine records search.
Ours: The entire price list is published. Flat rates, no retainer on published-rate searches, no hourly billing on any of them.
10. Why is your price what it is?
Why it matters. Unusually cheap searches are cheap for a reason — recycled aggregator data, no verification, or unlawful sourcing. Unusually expensive ones are often a markup on a product the vendor resells.
Red flag. An inability to explain the cost structure at all.
Ours: Rates are set by what the underlying data costs to license and maintain, plus investigator time. We own our local sources rather than reselling someone else's. Recurring volume moves down a sliding scale.
11. Will your investigator sign a declaration or testify?
Why it matters. A finding you can't get into evidence has limited value. If the investigation might end up contested, the person who did the work has to be able to attest to it.
Red flag. Hesitation, or a report with no identified author.
Ours: Yes. Reports are structured so findings and sources can be attested to, and a declaration of the investigator is available on request.
12. What won't you take?
Why it matters. This is the single most revealing question on the list. A firm that will take anything has no standards protecting you either.
Red flag. "We can handle whatever you need."
Ours: We decline requests without a permissible purpose, anything requiring pretexting, searches that look intended to facilitate stalking or harassment, locates on a person protected by an order against the requester, and FCRA-regulated uses. The full list.
Put us through your own version of this list.
Introduce your firm and ask whatever you want before a single file changes hands.