What you'll need before you start
Before you open an account, have the following ready. Gathering them up front turns a two-day credentialing process into a same-day one.
- A valid business entity. Information Direct provides consumer reports under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). To credential an account we need to confirm you're a registered business with a permissible purpose under 15 U.S.C. ยง1681b. Sole proprietors are fine, but you will need a DBA or EIN.
- A physical business address. No PO boxes. We verify the address against public records during credentialing - residential addresses are allowed for home-based businesses but are reviewed individually.
- The name and title of an authorized signer. This person signs the service agreement and is the primary compliance contact for your account.
- Your intended permissible purpose. Employment, tenancy, credit transaction, volunteer screening, licensing, or another FCRA-qualified reason. This is the single most important field in credentialing - it determines what products you can order.
Step 1: Open an account
Visit informationdirect.us/signup and fill in the business fields. The form takes about five minutes. You'll receive an email with a link to complete the compliance questionnaire - this is a short set of questions that confirms you understand the FCRA's disclosure, authorization, and adverse action obligations. It's required by federal law; it's also genuinely useful. If anything on the questionnaire surprises you, email moses@informationdirect.us and we'll walk through it with you.
Step 2: Credentialing
After you submit the questionnaire, we verify your business. This typically completes within 24 hours during business days. The two questions we answer in this step are:
- Are you a legitimate business? We check state registrations, address databases, and in some cases the Secretary of State filings for your incorporation.
- Do you have a permissible purpose for each product you've requested? Employment screening, for example, is almost always approved. Credit reports for non-employment purposes require additional review.
If we need additional information - business license, articles of incorporation, a brief description of your business - we'll email the primary contact. If everything checks out, you'll receive credentialing approval and a welcome email with your portal login.
Step 3: Review your service agreement
Every client signs a master services agreement before their first order. It covers FCRA obligations, confidentiality, pricing, and the adverse action process. You can review the standard agreement here: Service agreement (PDF). If you need custom terms - common for enterprise accounts or government contractors - let us know before signup and we'll work with your legal team.
Step 4: Log in to the portal
Your welcome email contains your portal login at clients.informationdirect.us. The first time you log in, the portal walks you through a two-minute tour: where to order, where to track, where to pull reports, and how to set up users.
A few settings to configure on day one:
- Add users. Add anyone on your team who needs to order or review reports. Role-based permissions mean you can give recruiters "order + view" rights and keep "delete" and "billing" restricted to admins.
- Upload your disclosure and authorization forms. If you use custom FCRA disclosures (for example, California-specific ICRAA forms), upload them so the portal attaches them to each applicant invite. If you use our standard form, you can skip this - it's set by default.
- Configure adverse action preferences. Choose whether to receive pre-adverse action notices yourself for manual review, or have the portal send them automatically when a report contains potentially adverse information.
Step 5: Submit your first background check
From the portal dashboard, click "New order." Choose the package (Basic, Plus, Premium, or a custom package for a specific role), enter the applicant's name, date of birth, SSN, and email, and submit. The applicant receives an email asking them to complete disclosure and authorization. As soon as they sign, the search begins.
For most employment packages:
- SSN trace and address history complete in minutes.
- National criminal database and sex offender registry complete within an hour.
- County criminal records - the most important and hardest part of a check - complete within 24 to 48 hours because they require a paralegal to pull records directly from the courthouse.
- Employment and education verifications typically complete in 1 to 3 business days, depending on how responsive the school or employer is.
Live status shows on the dashboard. If a component is delayed - for example, a courthouse is closed or a former employer is unresponsive - the portal tells you why and what it's doing to unblock it.
Step 6: Review the completed report
When the report is complete, you receive an email. Open the report in the portal. Every finding has a source, a date, and a jurisdiction so you can verify what's there. If the report is clear - no disqualifying findings - you can proceed with the hire. If there's an adverse finding, the portal walks you through the FCRA's two-step adverse action process. See the Adverse action guide for the full process.
What to do next
Once you're comfortable with single orders, here's where to go next:
- Running a check - package selection, custom searches, common gotchas.
- Reading reports - how to interpret findings, jurisdictions, and severity codes.
- Bulk orders - CSV upload for running dozens or hundreds of checks at once.
- ATS integration - connect Workday, Greenhouse, BambooHR, or another applicant tracking system.
- API reference - programmatic ordering and webhook-driven workflows.
If you hit a wall, email support@informationdirect.us or call (800) 707-2450. A real person answers between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. Pacific, and we return after-hours emails within one business day.