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Some checks work without an SSN; first choose the required product

A Social Security number is not required for every criminal-history search. Michigan State Police describes ICHAT inputs as first and last name, gender and date of birth. Nebraska State Patrol explicitly requires at least a name and date of birth and treats an SSN as additional helpful information. These are documented state products, not proof that every employer, landlord or licensing program accepts the same identity information.

Ask the organization requiring the check which report it will accept, which jurisdictions it must cover and whether it requires fingerprints. An available name-based public search may not meet a legally required national fingerprint check. Do not pay for a substitute until the recipient confirms that it fits the purpose.

Michigan: name-based public history through ICHAT

Use the ICHAT link on Michigan State Police’s Criminal History Records page. Have the accurate first and last names, gender and birth date ready. The current MSP guidance lists $10 per name-based public-history search at checkout. Its FOIA FAQ describes the online result as instant; save the response and the information you entered so you can tell which person and search it represents.

ICHAT searches Michigan’s public repository. Its exclusions include suppressed records, warrants, federal and tribal records, traffic and juvenile records, local misdemeanors, and other states’ histories. Michigan requires reporting of felonies and serious misdemeanors punishable by more than 93 days, but that coverage is still different from a national screening package. A search miss is not a nationwide clean-history certificate.

Nebraska: name and date of birth are the minimum

Nebraska offers a name-based Record of Arrest and Prosecution request online, by mail or in person. The fee is $45. Supply the name and birth date; previous or maiden names and an SSN, if provided, help matching. For mailed or in-person requests, use its Criminal History Record Request form and the listed cashier’s check, personal check or money-order payment options.

State Patrol says it can take up to three business days after receiving a complete, properly paid request. The Nebraska record concerns Nebraska arrests where fingerprints were submitted and resulting dispositions, subject to public-release restrictions. It omits other states’ arrests; a missing fingerprint submission can also explain a missing event. Statutorily authorized national fingerprint checks are a separate, more restricted service.

A missing SSN makes accurate matching more important

Use the exact name, known former names and correct birth date, and compare the returned details before treating a case as the subject’s. CFPB’s published explanation warns that name-only matching can combine information about different people. A common name is insufficient evidence that a criminal case belongs to the person being checked.

Never invent an SSN, borrow someone else’s number or enter a guessed birth date to satisfy a required field. If the selected provider insists on an SSN, ask its official support team what approved alternative documentation or manual process it permits. The Michigan and Nebraska examples do not create a general right to omit a required field from a different service.

Employment screening still has permission and review safeguards

When an employer uses a background reporting company, the FTC says the employer must give a standalone written disclosure and obtain written permission. Before an unfavorable decision based on the report, it must provide the report and a Summary of Rights. Using a no-SSN search does not remove those steps.

If the report leads to denial of a job or promotion, the notice must identify the reporting company, explain that it did not make the decision, and explain the rights to dispute errors and obtain another free report within 60 days. Ask the reporting company to send a corrected report to the employer and tell the employer about the mistake. State and local hiring rules may add requirements.

Follow through on a mismatch or missing outcome

For an inaccurate Nebraska repository entry, State Patrol directs you to the source court, prosecutor or law-enforcement agency and can help identify that source; the reporting agency supplies the correction. In Michigan, use MSP’s Search, Expunge, Modify or Update Criminal History Records instructions for a personal review or challenge. A new paid name search alone does not correct an underlying record.

Keep the report, transaction reference, exact identifiers submitted and any court disposition that explains the error. Dispute a reporting-company error with that company as well as seeking any necessary correction from the original custodian. Share identity documents only through the provider’s verified process, and ask which fields are necessary rather than broadcasting an SSN merely to strengthen a casual name search.

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