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PeopleSmart Review: People Search and Background Checks |
| Sign up for PeopleSmart | |
Rating: |
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| Fun, attractive user interface; good for basic info, less accurate for background checks | |
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Introduction:
PeopleSmart, a relative newcomer to the people search scene, offers access to the same information as public records offices and social networking profiles. It recently introduced InboxID, a plugin on your email program that allows you to get information on people who email you. You'll find that basic contact information is represented rather well. It also offers a deeper probe of a person's background, but it loses accuracy the further you go. In addition, its pricing scheme is odd and confusing. Pricing and Features: If you intend to do a lot of searching with PeopleSmart, we suggest getting the one-year membership, which starts as a seven-day free trial and costs $39.95 for a year of people searches, basic phone lookups, and public records access. If you decline membership, a contact information report costs $1.95 and a background report $39.95. Once you're a member of PeopleSmart, the system gets complicated. When you start your free trial, you get 50 "credits," which you'll need to use to view most reports. Don't cancel your membership, and you'll be rewarded with 10 credits for every month of your membership. You can also purchase additional credits in bulk for your account at any time. PeopleSmart describes it as "using tokens in a really weird arcade," and we agree. Your contact report, which costs $1.95, or 10 credits, returns the full name, birth date, address, phone number, and prior residences. A background report costs $39.95, or 150 credits, and includes that information plus relatives, neighbors, a criminal check, bankruptcies, judgments, liens, businesses, properties, and work information. Or, it's supposed to. Our Test: We tested with two individuals, one with an unusual name and one with a relatively common name. The contact report information was fairly accurate—addresses, phone numbers, +c. But the depth and accuracy of the background report information varied wildly: Although it did come up with an accurate property ownership record, it presented at least one bogus professional listing and failed to show accurate court records, probably in an attempt to get you to use its public records search, which costs $19.95 and sends a "court record specialist" to retrieve what you want. PeopleSmart does have an attractive, simple user interface: Directions are clear, despite the confusing credit system, and even come with nice explanatory illustrations. When it brings up contact info, it makes it easy for you to connect via social media, and you can even send an email through PeopleSmart to connect with your target. The service also has a sense of humor. Additional Features: As with most other people search services, PeopleSmart offers a great many other searches within its strange pricing scheme, including lookups by email, reverse phone number (25 credits), address, professional listing (10 credits), and public records. Conclusion: Despite a fun and engaging interface, PeopleSmart is not cheap, simple, in-depth, or accurate. Although no people search service is perfect, we wouldn't recommend this one as a primary resource, especially for criminal searches. It could be useful as a second opinion for very basic contact information, but we'd recommend choosing Intelius or Net Detective instead if you're looking for in-depth, accurate information. Sign up for PeopleSmart | Compare to other people search services |
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| Report Price: | Contact: $1.95 Background: $39.95 |
| Information Included: | Contact: Full name, birth date, address, phone number, prior residences Background: Relatives, neighbors, criminal check, bankruptcies, judgments, liens, businesses, properties, work |
| Best For: | Address history, property details |
| Depth Grade: | B |
| Accuracy Grade: | C |
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