I’m a new provider, and a TS to boot, and I have a few questions about screening. Namely, what’s actually useful? Everyone seems to have a different idea of how much is necessary, how much is useful, how to go about doing it, and it all generally conflicts. Yeah, I know, that’s how it works, but I’d like some more specific information: what can you actually do with the information?

Some stuff is obvious, like full name and the email they use for googling and criminal background checks and all... but wouldn’t DOB be useful for that as well? After all, there can be more than one person of the same name. Similarly, home state seems useful for BG checking, being as such information tends to be organized by state.

On the other hand, what can you really do with work information, besides actually calling their place of employment? Is that useful? How does one go about doing that discreetly? Similarly, I’ve found suggestions of getting drivers license numbers... what on earth can be found out with a driver’s license? And who’d actually want to give one to someone who, for all they know, is a cop?

Home addy seems similarly questionable (and besides, easy to get if you can find their voting records). What can one do with a client’s home address?

What else would you recommend getting, and where would you recommend searching? What I’ve found out suggests that screening mostly comes down to determining if someone is a real person or a fake identity by finding old information about them on the internet (like a myspace or LJ account that’s been up for a few years) and making sure they’re not criminals. Is there anything else to look for?

Also, screening sites like Date-Check and RS2K: Which would you recommend? I know Date-Check doesn’t seem to accept providers who aren’t biologically female, so that’s out, what about the others?

Am I going a little overboard with all this? I want to be careful without scaring away legit clients, and I’d like to hear what’s actually useful and what isn’t.

Thanks.