The questions we ask before we take the assignment.

Permissible purpose is documented on every engagement

Before we begin, we record what the matter is and what lawful basis supports the search: a judgment and case number, pending or contemplated litigation, a fiduciary or receivership appointment, a fraud investigation, or a legitimate business need in a transaction. That record lives in the engagement file.

If a request has no permissible purpose, we decline it. That is not a formality — it is the difference between a report you can use and a liability you now share.

Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act — we do not pretext

The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act prohibits obtaining a customer's information from a financial institution by means of false, fictitious, or fraudulent statements, and it prohibits asking another person to do so on your behalf. Impersonating an account holder to a bank is a federal crime.

We do not pretext financial institutions, and we do not subcontract work to anyone who does. Our bank and brokerage searches develop institutional relationships from lawful sources — public filings, recorded instruments, court records, discovery productions, and permissible-purpose data sources available to licensed investigators. Where the answer can only come from the institution itself, the correct instrument is lawful process: a subpoena, a writ, or a debtor's examination. We will tell you that rather than manufacture a result.

Fair Credit Reporting Act — our reports are not consumer reports

Northwest Investigative Services is not a consumer reporting agency, and our reports are not consumer reports under the FCRA. They may not be used, in whole or in part, to establish an individual's eligibility for credit, insurance, employment, housing, or any other purpose regulated by the FCRA.

If your need is a pre-employment or tenant background check, you need a consumer reporting agency operating under FCRA procedures, and we will refer you rather than accept the work.

Driver's Privacy Protection Act

Motor vehicle records are restricted by the DPPA and by state law. Where a search touches driver or vehicle records, we access them only under a permissible use recognized by the statute — such as use in connection with a civil proceeding or in the operation of a licensed private investigative agency for a permitted purpose — and we document which use applies.

Washington licensing

Northwest Investigative Services operates as a licensed Washington private investigative agency, license number 22031080, under Chapter 18.165 RCW. Investigators working matters on our behalf are licensed as required. Where a matter requires field work in another state, we work within that state's licensing requirements or associate licensed local counsel-investigators.

What we decline

• Any request without an articulable, lawful permissible purpose
• Pretexting financial institutions, employers, or government agencies
• Obtaining account balances or transaction records outside lawful process
• Searches intended to facilitate stalking, harassment, or domestic violence
• Locating a person who is protected by a no-contact or protection order against the requester
• Use of our reports for FCRA-regulated eligibility decisions
• Unauthorized access to computers, accounts, email, or telephone records
• Recording or interception that is unlawful in the applicable jurisdiction

We screen for these at intake. If a request looks like a domestic-violence locate wearing a business suit, we will ask direct questions, and we will decline if the answers don't hold.

Client data and confidentiality

• Subject data is collected only to the extent the search requires it
• Files are stored encrypted and access is limited to assigned personnel
• Reports are delivered by secure means; sensitive identifiers are not sent by unencrypted email
• The substance of inquiries that do not become engagements is deleted after 30 days; we keep the sender's contact details to market our own services, and delete those on request
• Matter files are securely destroyed 30 days after delivery unless extended retention is arranged — clients retain their own copies
• Extended secure retention and storage is available as a separate paid service
• We do not resell, syndicate, or repurpose client matter data
• Conflicts are checked before an engagement is accepted

This page describes our internal standards. It is not legal advice, and it is not a substitute for your own assessment of what a particular matter permits. Northwest Investigative Services is not a law firm.