by John Huetteman

Created on: September 29, 2010   Last Updated: October 01, 2010

Finding someone’s contact information on the web has never been easier, so easy that it becomes cumbersome having to choose from the numerous databases, whether free, or for a fee.  Depending upon what information is available of the person’s contact information being sought will be a prime indicator as to what service database needs to be accessed, and whether or not a fee will be incurred.  The first location everyone should search for someone’s contact information on the web is by performing a

Google search on whatever information is available.

Subsequent to a Google search, the following are service databases that are free of charge and are good to search if the contacts full name is available as well as the City and State they reside in:

MSN White Pages - Find People for Free

*Also provides reverse lookup capability for telephone number and street address which service is provided by whitepages.com.

Yahoo Search - People Search

*Also provides reverse phone lookup and email search.

People Finder - AnyWho

*Also provides reverse phone lookup.  People Finder is a service of Anywho and AT&T.

People Search, Yellow Pages, White Pages, Phone Directory

*Also provides reverse phone lookup and is a service offered by WhoWhere.com.

The Official White Pages

*Also provides the following tools: Search for business, reverse phone and reverse address.

Other great places to search for contact information free of charge are through Facebook and LinkedIn.  Facebook allows you to send messages directly to its registered users, and Linked in, depending upon whether a connection to that person exists, as well.  If no connection exists, users of LinkedIn can subscribe to LinkedIn Premium for a fee to by using the InMail® service and send that person a message.

However, there arise occasions when information may have been lost, or perhaps the acquaintance was not very well known or there is difficulty in obtaining certain key items of information ordinarily used to facilitate a contact information search.  In these situations where no address information is available, or full name, and/or the telephone number that is available is an unpublished number, a service database that charges a fee would be of most help.  The following are service databases that charge a fee but can search on limited available information, the last three of which require accounts with two major legal services, Westlaw and LexisNexis:

Intelius

People Finder

MyLife

US Search

People Finder Databases

Ultimate People Finder ...

LexisNexis Public Records

Incurring the expense of a thorough background report by one of the aforementioned services shouldn’t be necessary, nor should the services of a private investigator be needed for contact information.  However, those options could be used as a final resort – background reports are available at higher costs and are available at all fee listings above and a private investigator can be contracted in almost any local Yellow pages.

Beware of service databases that require payment of fees and familiarize yourself with their billing practices and whether or not you are acceptable to recurring monthly fees and the site terms and conditions to avoid any misunderstanding or ill sentiments afterward.

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