FAQ
Questions we are asked before an account is issued
Access, eligibility, what the platform searches, how the compliance controls work and what it costs. If your question is not answered here, call or email us.
Access and eligibility
Can I sign up online?
No. There is no self-service signup. Every account is issued only after we verify your identity, your organisation and the authorised purpose you intend to search for.
Who is eligible for an account?
Licensed private investigators, law firms and legal professionals, credit and collections teams, finance and insurance risk functions, corporate risk, compliance and AML teams, and process serving firms. Individuals without a professional basis for searching are not eligible.
What evidence do I need to provide?
Proof of identity, evidence of your organisation, your licence or professional registration where one applies, and a written statement of the authorised purpose your searches will serve.
How long does verification take?
Most accounts are verified within two to three working days once the evidence we need is in hand. Enterprise arrangements take longer because the terms are negotiated.
What happens if my licence lapses or is suspended?
You must tell us promptly. We may also re-verify your eligibility at any time as a condition of continued access, and we will suspend an account where eligibility can no longer be evidenced.
Can more than one person use my login?
No. Accounts are issued to a named, verified individual. Additional users are added as their own seats so the audit log records who ran each search.
The platform and the data
What can I search on intelID?
Skip tracing and person locate, social and digital footprint, property and title, security interests on the PPSR, companies and directors, insolvency events, a comprehensive New Zealand media archive, and litigation history from public court and tribunal decisions. Individual credit checks, commercial credit checks and sanctions, watchlist, PEP and adverse media screening are also available. Further licensed New Zealand sources are added as access agreements are completed.
Which data sources are integrated?
Licensed credit reporting data from Equifax and Centrix, MBIE and Companies Office registers, LINZ property and title data, the PPSR, insolvency and bankruptcy registers, a comprehensive New Zealand media archive of newspapers, magazines, journals and public notices, published court and tribunal decisions and legislation, and a digital footprint and contact tracing capability. Individual and commercial credit checks from Centrix and Equifax, and screening against global sanctions, watchlists, politically exposed persons and adverse media are also available. The full list, with the legal basis for each, is on the data sources page.
How do I find someone's current address in New Zealand?
You search the records that carry a date-stamped address, credit-linked address history, company and director records, property titles, PPSR registrations and directory data, then corroborate the match across at least two of them. On intelID you select those sources in one place rather than working through six separate provider logins.
Can I run an individual credit check?
Individual credit checks are available through Centrix and Equifax. The report covers the credit score, credit history and account conduct, defaults, judgments, insolvency events, enquiry history, and the addresses and contact details held on file. A full credit report is supplied only with the subject's consent, or where the Credit Reporting Privacy Code 2020 permits access without it, such as recovery of an existing debt. That is separate from the address and identity data already used for tracing.
Can I run a commercial credit check on a business?
Commercial credit checks are available through Centrix and Equifax. The report covers the company credit score and rating, payment behaviour, defaults and judgments, registered security interests, insolvency and adverse events, and the directors and shareholders behind the entity. Where the report includes information about an individual, such as a director guarantee history, the Credit Reporting Privacy Code 2020 applies to that part of it.
Do I need the subject's consent for a credit check?
For a full credit report, yes, unless the Credit Reporting Privacy Code 2020 gives you a permitted basis to obtain it without consent, for example recovering a debt the subject already owes you. intelID records the basis you declare and the credit reporter logs the access at their end as well.
Do you screen against sanctions, watchlists and PEP data?
Sanctions, watchlist, PEP and adverse media screening is available. It checks individuals and businesses against global sanctions lists, regulatory watchlists, politically exposed persons and adverse media, returned in the same consolidated result and under the same authorised-purpose declaration and audit logging as every other source.
Read: adverse media, sanctions and PEP screening in New Zealand
How does social and digital footprint tracing work?
It searches publicly visible information and platform signals tied to an identifier, a phone number, email address or username, and returns the linked accounts, registrations and aliases that connect them. It does not circumvent logins or platform terms of use.
What does the media archive search cover?
A comprehensive New Zealand media archive of newspapers, magazines, journals and public notices, searchable by name or entity and going back decades. It surfaces reporting, notices and mentions that never reach a register, which is often what confirms a link between a person, an address and a business.
What does a litigation history search return?
Published court and tribunal decisions by party name, so you can see whether a person or company has appeared in proceedings, in what capacity and with what outcome. It covers decisions that are published, not the full court file, and it is a starting point for enquiry rather than a complete litigation record.
Can I run a PPSR or company search on its own?
Yes. Any source can be searched on its own, or all of them together against a single subject. Most users start with a combined search and drill into the source that matters for the file.
How fast are results returned?
Most searches return within seconds. Where a source is slower to respond, the result is returned as soon as that source answers rather than holding back the sources that have already reported.
Is a result a report I can rely on?
A result is source data returned as the source holds it. It is evidence to weigh, not a finding. Corroborate an identity or an asset position across more than one source before you act on it.
Can I export or share what I find?
Reports are for your internal business use, and may be disclosed to your client, or to a court, tribunal or regulator. They may not be used for marketing, resold, or published where they would be publicly indexed.
Does intelID cover data outside New Zealand?
The integrated sources are New Zealand sources. Publicly visible online information is not bounded by country, so a digital footprint enquiry may surface offshore signals, but registers, credit and property data are New Zealand only.
Searching in practice
What is skip tracing?
Skip tracing is the process of locating a person who cannot be reached at the details on file, a debtor, a defendant, a party to be served, a beneficiary or a witness. It works by assembling date-stamped records from several sources and testing them against each other until two independent records agree.
How long does a trace take?
A straightforward locate on a subject with a credit footprint, a company association or a property interest is usually resolved in a single sitting. A subject with none of those takes longer, because the enquiry rests on digital footprint work and directory data rather than a dated register entry.
Can I trace a person from a phone number or email address?
Yes. A phone number, email address or username is often the strongest identifier on a stale file. Digital footprint tracing resolves it to linked accounts, registrations and aliases, which in turn corroborate a name and a location.
Can I find out whether someone is worth suing before I file?
Largely, yes. Property titles show ownership and encumbrances, the PPSR shows registered security interests over personal property, company records show directorships and shareholdings, and the insolvency registers show whether recovery is already constrained. Together they answer the recoverability question before you spend on proceedings.
Can I use intelID to check a tenant, an employee or a customer?
Only where you have a lawful, declared purpose for that specific enquiry and the source permits it. Credit data in particular is restricted by the Credit Reporting Privacy Code 2020. Curiosity, screening without a basis and personal enquiries are not permitted purposes.
What can I not use intelID for?
Anything without a declared authorised purpose: harassment or stalking, locating a person who has moved for their own safety, marketing, health or criminal justice profiling, and searches run on your own behalf outside your professional functions.
Compliance, privacy and security
What is an authorised purpose?
It is the lawful reason you have for searching a particular person or entity, debt recovery on a specific account, service of proceedings, a claim investigation, a due diligence enquiry. It is declared before the search runs and recorded against it.
Why do I have to declare a purpose on every search?
Because the lawfulness of a search depends on the reason for it, not on your account being open. Declaring it at the time creates the contemporaneous record that answers a complaint months later.
What is recorded in the audit log?
The user, the time, the subject searched, the sources queried and the authorised purpose declared. The log cannot be edited by the account holder.
Is intelID compliant with the Privacy Act 2020?
Yes, and access to credit reporting data is aligned with the Credit Reporting Privacy Code 2020. The compliance page sets out the position in full.
Where is the data hosted?
On Google Cloud Platform in the Australia/New Zealand region, with encryption in transit and at rest. Some processing or support may occur outside New Zealand, under safeguards consistent with IPP12.
What happens in a privacy breach?
Where a notifiable privacy breach occurs we notify the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, the affected individuals and the affected customer, as set out in the privacy policy.
Who is the Privacy Officer?
Mike Gillam, Director. Privacy enquiries, access requests, correction requests and complaints go to privacy@intelid.nz or 027 299 7603.
Pricing and billing
What do the plans cost?
Solo is $49 per month + GST for one user. Team is $99 per month + GST for up to three users, then $25 per additional user + GST to a maximum of ten. Enterprise covers more than ten users and bespoke terms.
What does the subscription include?
The seat itself, role-based access control, the authorised-purpose declaration and the full audit log. Role-based access control is included on every plan.
Are search fees published?
No. Search fees depend on the sources queried and are confirmed at the time your account is issued. There is no minimum spend and no bundle to use up, so a quiet month costs you the subscription and nothing more.
How is it billed?
Invoiced monthly in arrears on 7-day payment terms. Default interest of 4% above the overdraft rate applies to arrears, and recovery costs are payable. All prices exclude GST.
Can I cancel?
Yes. A subscription fee already paid is not refunded on cancellation, and we give one month's notice where we terminate. The terms and conditions govern.
I am an existing user and something is not working. Who do I contact?
Email support@intelid.nz for sign-in problems, search errors, result queries and billing questions. The inbox is monitored Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5.30pm NZT. Urgent matters can go to 027 299 7603.
Read further
Integrated data sources
Every source, what it returns and the legal basis it is accessed under.
Compliance position
Authorised purpose, credit reporting rules, audit logging and permitted disclosures.
Reference articles
Longer reading on tracing, identity verification and privacy obligations.
Request access to intelID
Tell us who you are and what you need to search, and we will set up your account. Verification is part of the process and usually straightforward. Most accounts are verified and issued within 2 business days.