Client due diligence is the short list of questions you answer before you commit hours, people and money to a new account: is the company real, is it in good standing, does it have a working business behind the website, and have other vendors been left unpaid. ClientVetter turns that list into one report built from public records and documented member reports, so the check happens on every new client instead of only when something already feels wrong.
Banks and other regulated institutions follow formal customer due diligence rules under anti-money-laundering law. Most freelancers, agencies and contractors are not covered by those rules, but they carry a different risk: they deliver first and get paid later. For a service business, client due diligence is about payment risk and identity, not about filing compliance reports.
The goal is simple. Before you send a proposal or accept a deposit, you want enough facts to choose your terms. A well established company with a clean record can get net-30. A two-week-old domain with an unregistered company name gets a deposit and milestone billing. Some prospects get a polite no. Some professions do have legal duties to identify clients, so if you work in a regulated field, ask your own advisor. Nothing on this page is legal advice.
This is the list ClientVetter runs for you. You can also do it by hand, it just takes longer.
| Step | Question | Where the answer comes from |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Does the legal entity exist and match the name on the contract? | State business registry |
| 2 | Is it active and in good standing? | Registry status and filing history |
| 3 | How old is the domain and who registered it? | Public domain registration records (RDAP) |
| 4 | Does the website answer over HTTPS and look like a working business? | The client's own site |
| 5 | Is business mail set up (MX, SPF, DMARC)? | DNS records |
| 6 | What do public listings and review platforms say? | Public ratings summaries with links |
| 7 | Are there court or news mentions of unpaid vendors, liens or lawsuits? | Public court indexes and news |
| 8 | Have other members reported unpaid invoices, and did the company reply? | ClientVetter non-payment reports |
| 9 | Are the company or its listed principals on a sanctions list? | OFAC SDN list and other government lists |
| 10 | Who signs, and are they who they say they are at the company? | Company pages and public professional profiles, business role only |
Every item in the report carries a written reason and a source link, and the items add up to a risk score from 0 to 100 with a band: Low, Watch or High. The band comes with suggested terms for the project value you entered, so the output of due diligence is a concrete choice about deposits, milestones and payment terms rather than a vague feeling. To see the steps one by one, read how to vet a client.
The single most useful step is matching the client's name to a state record. Use our business entity search guide to see which office holds records in each state, and the llc lookup page to read status values such as administratively dissolved or forfeited. ClientVetter does this matching for you and flags a name that is not registered anywhere, a status that is not active, or a company formed days before it contacted you.
A real business leaves a trail: a domain older than the project brief, a site that loads, mail that is configured, a few listings. A thin footprint is not proof of fraud, many honest companies are new, but it is a reason to protect yourself with a deposit. The report explains what a thin footprint means instead of hiding it.
The registry tells you a company exists. It does not tell you whether it pays. That part comes from public dispute mentions and from the shared database of non paying clients, where members file reports only with evidence: a signed contract or accepted proposal, the unpaid invoice and proof of delivery. Each report is moderated, the reported company gets a right of reply, and paid invoices are marked Resolved. Reports are visible only to logged-in paying members.
Agencies get the most value when the check is mandatory, not optional. A common setup is to run a full check before the proposal, store the PDF with the deal, and add the client to business credit monitoring once the contract is signed. Team adds shareable PDF links and roles, Agency adds a branded PDF and an audit log, and Enterprise adds SAML SSO and SCIM. Each plan has a fixed number of full checks per month (25, 120, 400 or 1,500), the count resets each billing period, and deleting a report does not return a check.
Yes, checking a business you plan to work with using public records is ordinary practice. ClientVetter covers businesses and people only in their role at a business. Reports are not consumer reports and cannot be used for decisions about an individual's credit, insurance, employment or housing. See the fcra compliant background check page.
A full ClientVetter check reads public sources in about a minute. Doing the same steps by hand across registry sites, domain tools, reviews, court indexes and the sanctions list usually takes much longer.
A sole proprietor often has no state entity, so the check leans on the domain, website, mail setup, listings and reports. The person is considered only in their business role, never their private life.
Checks are private to your account, and the client is not notified. Many firms simply mention in their terms that they review new clients before starting work.
Type the client's domain and get the registry match, footprint, disputes and sanctions in one report with reasons.
Your full report for this client is saved to your account.