Knowing that an in-depth investigative consumer report is being conducted on a person may be disconcerting even when the person feels that they have not done anything wrong.  Just knowing that former and present associates are being questioned about a person can seem like an invasion of his or her privacy.  Even so, investigative consumer reports are conducted to protect employers, employees and the public regularly. 

An investigative consumer report is different from a credit report because it is a more in-depth process.  The purpose of an investigative consumer report is to discover information about the person's reputation, lifestyle and characteristics that cannot be retrieved from credit reports.  In the event that an employer wants to carry out an investigative consumer report instead of a credit report, neighbors and other acquaintances may be contacted as part of the investigation.

Different people who have interacted personally with the person being investigated may be subject to being contacted for the purpose of an investigative consumer report.  People who may be contacted for questioning include former employers, neighbors, friends and other people that are known to have associated with the person who is being investigated.  Interviews may also be conducted with any staff or people associated educational institutions.  The people who are questioned about a person may be from past or present relationships with the person. 

Typical concerns of an in-depth investigation are generally limited to employment, tenancy and insurance.  The people asked questions for the purpose of these investigations, typically, would not provide detailed information about payments such as that, which is included on credit reports.   Instead, these people will provide anecdotal information about the person.  Anecdotal information could include reports about personal interactions with the person or any observations about the person.

It is not just personal interviews that are used in investigations; there are varieties of the bits of information that can form an investigative consumer report.  Other bits of information that can be used in in-depth reports include personal references, workers compensation investigations, interviews with former and present co-workers about conduct and any outside investigations. 

Unfortunately, not all information gathered from in-depth investigations may be fair.   It could be that a relationship has ended badly and despite the fact that the person being investigated did nothing wrong, that person is wrongly accused of bad behavior by the other person in the relationship, the one being questioned.  It is up to the investigators to gather enough information for a reliable portrait.