A non-FCRA background check API, and where its line is.
A non-FCRA background check API returns public records — here, 58 US sex offender registries and criminal records across more than a thousand county, state and federal jurisdictions — as a lookup, not as a consumer report. That makes it instant and self-serve, and it also limits what the results may be used for.
25 free calls · No card · $0.15 a call, $0.11 past 2,000 a month
curl https://api.offendersearch.app/v1/search \
-H "X-API-Key: $OFFENDERSEARCH_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"query": {
"firstName": "John",
"lastName": "Doe",
"dob": "1980-04-12"
}
}'What is a non-FCRA background check API?
The Fair Credit Reporting Act regulates consumer reports: information about a person supplied for use in deciding their eligibility for employment, housing, credit, insurance and similar purposes. A company that supplies such reports is a consumer reporting agency and carries duties around accuracy, consent and disputes.
A non-FCRA background check API supplies public records outside that purpose. It answers “what do public records say about this name?” for uses that are not an eligibility decision. The data can be the same; what differs is the purpose, the process around it, and what you are allowed to do with the answer.
Non-FCRA lookup vs FCRA consumer report
| Non-FCRA lookup (standard API) | FCRA workflow (Partner Access) | |
|---|---|---|
| Is it a consumer report? | No | Yes |
| Hiring or tenant decisions | Not permitted | What it is for |
| Who can use it | Anyone who signs up and accepts the terms | Background check companies and screening platforms under a written FCRA agreement |
| Consent and permissible purpose | Not collected by the API | Required on every order |
| Disputes | Record corrections through the published channel | A consumer dispute process on every report |
| Speed | Answers in the same request | Asynchronous |
| Pricing | $0.15 a call, $0.11 past 2,000 a month | Quoted per partner |
| Getting started | Self-serve, 25 free calls | Contact us |
Uses a non-FCRA background check API fits
Each of these is a lookup that does not decide a person’s eligibility for a job, a home or credit.
Trust and safety
A dating app, marketplace or community platform checking an account against registries as part of abuse prevention, with human review.
Personal safety
Looking up a date, a neighbour, a contractor or someone your child spends time with.
Research and journalism
Reporters, academics and analysts working with public records and needing a citation for each one.
Investigations and due diligence
Legal, compliance and investigative teams locating public records about a named person.
Fraud and identity signals
Using a public record as one input among several in a risk review that a person completes.
Building for a CRA
Screening companies prototyping on the standard API before moving regulated orders to an FCRA workflow.
Uses that need an FCRA workflow instead
- Deciding whether to hire, promote, reassign or retain an employee, contractor or volunteer where the law treats it as employment.
- Deciding whether to rent to an applicant or renew a lease.
- Deciding eligibility for credit, insurance or a government benefit or licence.
- Any other decision the FCRA lists as a permissible purpose for a consumer report.
Making a hiring or tenant decision? Use an FCRA workflow.
FCRA workflows are built primarily for tenant screening and hiring decisions. If a result will help decide whether to hire someone or rent to them, the check has to run as an FCRA-regulated consumer report, with a permissible purpose, consent, accuracy controls and a dispute path for the person. Our standard search and API are not a consumer report. FCRA workflows run through FCRA Partner Access, for background check companies and screening platforms under a written FCRA agreement.
FCRA pricing is quoted per partner, so contact us for pricing.
How to keep a non-FCRA integration on the right side of the line
- Write down what each call is for. If the answer is an eligibility decision, it belongs in an FCRA workflow.
- Say in your own terms and interface what the results may not be used for.
- Treat anything short of a full date-of-birth match as a lead for a person to review, not a finding.
- Keep the record citation with every result so a reviewer can open the official record.
- Give people a way to tell you a record is wrong, and pass corrections on through the corrections channel.
What a non-FCRA background check API returns
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
matchState | Full date of birth, birth year, age or name-only match |
matchConfidence | A numeric score for thresholds |
matchBasis | Which identifiers agreed |
sources[] | The jurisdiction holding the record, with its official link |
sourceStatus[] | Which jurisdictions answered the search |
Full field lists: the registry record and criminal record references.
Non-FCRA background check API pricing
The standard API is $0.15 a call and $0.11 for each call past 2,000 in a month, with no setup fee, no seat licence and no minimum on search. New accounts get 25 free calls with no card — see the free background check API page — and the volume maths is on the pay-as-you-go background check API page. FCRA workflows are priced by quote.
The combined product is described on the background check API page.
Non-FCRA background check API questions
Is a non-FCRA background check legal?
Looking up public records is lawful. What the FCRA restricts is using information about a person for eligibility decisions without the consumer-report process. This page is a description of the product, not legal advice; ask counsel about your use.
Can I use a non-FCRA background check API for employment screening?
No. A check used for a hiring decision is a consumer report. Use an FCRA workflow through FCRA Partner Access.
Can a landlord use a non-FCRA background check?
Not to approve or deny an applicant. A check that feeds a rental decision runs as an FCRA workflow.
Is the data different from an FCRA report?
The underlying public records can be the same. An FCRA workflow adds permissible purpose, consent, accuracy procedures and a dispute path around them.
Why is a non-FCRA API faster and cheaper?
It returns records without the regulated ordering process, so it answers in the same request and is priced per call.
Does a sex offender registry search count as a consumer report?
It depends on what it is used for, not on the data. The longer answer is in is a sex offender registry check a consumer report?
Can I start non-FCRA and move to FCRA later?
Yes. Screening companies often build on the standard API first; the FCRA workflow uses the same data with regulated controls added.
Do you offer an FCRA background check API as well?
Yes, through FCRA Partner Access, for background check companies and screening platforms under a written FCRA agreement. Pricing is quoted per partner.
Start with the public-records lookup
25 free calls, no card. When a decision needs a consumer report, FCRA Partner Access is the regulated path.
The Offendersearch APIs
One account, one key, one bill — the sex offender registry and criminal records, side by side.
Sex offender registry
- Sex offender API — One call across 58 US sex offender registries, with scored matches and a citation on every record.
- Sex offender search API — Endpoints, request shapes, record fields, matching and batch, in detail.
- Sex offender database — The national registry data in one schema — photos, aliases, offenses, addresses.
- Registered offender database — What a registered offender record holds, and how its accuracy is measured.
- Bulk sex offender search — Screen a whole list of names in one upload or one API call.
- Sex offender registry API — Choose which of the 58 registries a search covers, and see which ones answered.
- Offender search API — The registry search and the criminal search side by side, on one key.
Criminal records
- Criminal records API — County, state and federal records — jail, prison, court and warrant — through one API.
- Criminal background check API — One cited answer per person for onboarding and screening flows.
- Criminal search API — The search endpoint itself: parameters, record types and coverage, call by call.
- Court records API — Criminal court cases with charges and a disposition on each charge.
- Arrest records API — County jail bookings: booking date, custody status, facility and photo link.
- Inmate search API — State prison and county jail custody, with sentence, release and parole dates.
- Background check API — The registry and criminal layers together, on one key and one bill.
- Employment background check API — The registry and criminal data layer for HR, ATS and screening platforms.
- Employment screening API — The stages of a hiring pipeline, and where criminal and registry checks sit in it.
- Bulk criminal record search — Run a list of names against criminal records in one call.
- Statewide criminal search — One state at a time: prison, court and warrant systems that cover the whole state.
- Federal criminal records — Federal criminal records through the same API, and what a federal search covers.
Build with it
- API documentation — Quickstart, every endpoint, the record object and the OpenAPI spec.
- Sex offender map API — Clusters, pins and names for your own map, and the full record when one is opened.
- Background check API pricing — $0.15 a call, $0.11 past 2,000 a month, 25 free calls to start — worked out by volume.
- Background check API integration — Keys, the first call, async and webhooks, batch, monitoring and errors, step by step.
- Free background check API — 25 free calls on real data, no card — what is included and what comes after.
- Pay-as-you-go background check API — Per call, per report or subscription: the pricing models, with costs by volume.
- Background check API in Python — A working tutorial with requests: search, batch, async, errors and retries.
- Background check API in Node.js — A fetch client, response types, an Express webhook handler and retries.
- NSOPW API — Is there one? What exists, and a developer API for searching US registries.
- MCP server for offender search — Give Claude and other AI agents the same search as a tool.
- Integrations — Screening inside referral software — CarePort, ExtendedCare, Ensocare and Aidin.
- AI integration — Offender safety checks for AI agents and chatbots, with cited answers.
- Offendersearch vs offenders.io — A side-by-side comparison of the two registry APIs.
Screening and compliance
- Tenant background check — Screening applicants for a rental, and where an FCRA workflow is required.
- FCRA Partner Access — The FCRA workflow for hiring and tenant decisions — pricing by quote.
- FCRA-compliant background check data — Accuracy, disputes and permissible purpose for consumer reporting agencies.
- FCRA disputes API — Open, track and resolve a consumer dispute against a record.
- Sex offender monitoring — Watch a person or an address and get an alert when the registry changes.
- Tenant screening API — The registry and criminal layer for property software, with FCRA workflows for rental decisions.