International
Screening
FAQs
The following is a list of additional Chimera frequently asked questions (FAQ’s):
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- What are Third party costs and fees for an “alias” search?
- How do I find out status online?
- My password is not working, what do I do?
- How do I add a user to my account?
- What can I find online?
- What does a red flag mean?
- What is the turnaround time for a report?
- Why would a screening report ever be delayed beyond three working days?
- Why can a criminal search occasionally take longer than 3 days?
- Why can employment and education verifications take longer then 3 days?
- A request for an employment was closed and the data was not there. What happened?
- Why do I have to fax the release if I am entering the order?
- Who do I contact to talk about a credit to my account or questions about my invoices?
- What if we decide not to hire someone, after receiving the background report?
- The social security trace has names on it that does not appear to belong to our consumer/applicant/employee. Does that mean there is fraud or identity theft?
- In dealing with sources of information, there are times when there are unavoidable third party costs. Some courts, for example, charge a fee to access public records. States impose charges for motor vehicle records. Some schools also charge fees. Finally, there are third party employer verification services, such as the Work Number for Everyone, which may also charge fees. Chimera advances these fees on our client’s behalf, and charges the client Chimera cost. For non-automated third party fees, such as employment or educational verifications, Chimera cost also includes a handling fee. An “alias” is a supplemental criminal search under a separate or former name and is charged separately.
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Log-in to your account and view your requests online. You can call or email Chimera Customer Service Department and request a user name and password.
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Sometimes it is a simple mistyped character, so try retyping your password a couple of times first making sure you are including a symbol, a number, an UPPER case character, a lower case character, and it is 8 characters minimum. If that does not work, contact Chimera Customer Service and we can quickly reset your password. For security reasons, the Chimera LLC system will on occasion prompt you to re-set a new password.
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The person(s) who has the authority and is listed with Chimera in your account is the person that should email Chimera Customer Service or Operations department requesting us to add a user. We will need to know the additional person’s name, email address and phone number, and what kind of access you would like them to have.
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In the Chimera LLC online system, all information is available in real-time 24/7. If there are any delays for any reason, that information will also be online.
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Red flags are important. All criminal records are flagged and it will be important for you to read the details of those records.
Employment and Education verifications are typically flagged with possible discrepancies because Chimera does not know what will constitute a discrepancy pertaining to the hiring decision.
Social Security Traces are flagged when there are other names associated with the results and if there were zero records found.
Motor Vehicle Records are flagged when there are 3 pts or more associated to a license, a license is suspended, revoked, or expired.
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A screening report is typically returned by the end of the third full business day. For example, a report submitted on Monday before 2:00 pm would normally be back by the end of the day on Thursday.
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There are times when, despite our best efforts, information is just not available. . If any item is incomplete, check the reason using the system’s status notes and determine if there is enough information to make the hiring decision. There will always be status notes in your report indicating why a matter is still pending.
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- Contrary to popular belief, there is no national criminal database available for criminal searches. Chimera searches for criminal records by utilizing the actual records in the courthouse, which typically means sending a researcher to the physical location of the courthouse. However, there are over 10,000 Court Houses in the United States. Criminal records are subject to delays that are beyond the control of Chimera, such as:
- There is a possible “hit” and the clerk needs to pull the file. No one has control over how long a court clerk takes to provide information. Chimera maintains a list of courts currently experiencing delays, available in the password-protected area of Chimera LLC.
- Some courthouses require that the researcher give the county clerk a list of names to search and the county clerk in turn gives the researcher an estimated turnaround time. If a record is found and needs to be pulled it may cause delay.
- Court delays might be because the courthouse was closed for a holiday.
- The date of birth is required to obtain or verify some information has not been provided. Chimera will contact you when that occurs.
These types of delays are beyond Chimera control; however, you can be assured that Chimera is doing everything possible to obtain the legally available public records for you as fast as we can.
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An employer may not return calls despite repeated attempts or a past employer cannot be located, has no records, has moved or is no longer in business. Chimera will make three solid attempts to contact an employer. Chimera has found that after three attempts, it is unlikely an employer will respond.
School records can be delayed where the school is closed or on break, verification can only be done by mail, or a check is required.
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There are times that, despite the best efforts of Chimera, no information are reasonably available. There will typically be some notes explaining the difficulty. No Record Found, No Listing of Employer, No Response, and/or Reference Not Available closures are all acceptable closures and the burden of proof/documentation should be put on the consumer/applicant/employee at this point.
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For any accounting issues please contact Chimera Customer Service at 1-670-235-8789. Chimera clients can always view their current invoices online in the Chimera LLC system. Please note that the online invoices do not contain information as to payments, credits or other adjustments.
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By faxing the release to Chimera you are helping to ensure that your requests will be expedited. If we have to email or call you to receive a release it may delay your request. Maybe you are out the day we call and we now have to wait until the next day for your response.
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Step One: If adverse action is intended as a result of a Consumer Report, then the consumer/applicant/employee is entitled to certain documents (FCRA Section 604)
Step Two: Notice must be given to a consumer/applicant/employee after an adverse action (FCRA sec. 615). If after sending out the documents required in Step 1, the employer intends to make the decision final, the employer must take one more step. The employer must send the consumer/applicant/employee a Notice of Adverse Action informing the consumer/applicant/employee that the employer has made a final decision, along with another copy of the FTC form "Summary of Your Rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.”
The Notice of Adverse Action must contain certain information. For more detailed information refer to the four step article on Chimera LLC website. http://www.chimerallc.com/
Keep in mind that a criminal record should not be used to disqualify a consumer/applicant/employee automatically unless there is a sound business reason taking into account the nature and gravity of the act, the nature of the job and how much time has passed since the conviction. If a criminal case that was just an arrest not resulting in a conviction, many states as well as the federal EEOC have rules limiting it’s use.
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The social security trace is an address information location index that is used exclusively to identify previous names and addresses that are associated with a social security number (SSN) in various databases. The information is gathered by private organizations and comes from multiple sources, and therefore it is not possible to determine exactly which database provided the information. The search is only utilized to assist in determining jurisdictions to search for records, or to suggest additional research.
On occasion there are names not associated to the consumer/applicant/employee that may appear, or it may come back a as “no record found.” This are not necessarily signs of identify theft. For more information, see Chimera LLC list of services and look at “Credit Reports and Social Security Numbers.”
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