Editor: Tiffany Binate

Want to know if your customer filed bankruptcy?

If your ex-wife got a DUI?

Or how'd you like to know if you have a lien on your property?

Now you can “watch” the public record activities of yourself and others through a revolutionary new online service created by one of Chicagoland’s premiere data gathering firms, Record Information Services.

The new Website, which launched in February of 2009, is called Watch Illinois, or http://watch.public-record.com It allows users to receive email alerts if the item they wish to “watch” appears in Northern Illinois public records. Users may track items such as a person, a business, a phone number, or a property pin number. The WatchIllinois Web site scans through over 14,000,000 past and new public records, such as mortgages, bankruptcies, divorces, foreclosures, felonies and more, to find the information users wish to track.

Owner and CEO Jeff Metcalf states, “Imagine going through a child custody battle, and finding out your child’s father received a DUI. Or finding out that someone stole your identify and got a mortgage in your name. Monitoring your own public records is just as important as monitoring your credit report nowadays.”

Record Information Services has been providing public record information to businesses for over 17 years through their high-tech searchable website, http://www.public-record.com. This information comes from the 14 Illinois county government offices that parent company Record Information Services compiles data from. A full list of the counties and types of public records covered appears on the home page of the Watch Illinois site: http://watch.public-record.com

"New users are going to like the Watch Illinois site because it monitors public records for you, versus you having to keep checking back for new ones, “ says Tiffany Binaté, director of marketing for Record Information Services. “And being able to do it affordably from the privacy of your own home is a bonus.”

Visitors to the site can set up an account, purchase the items they wish to “watch”, and start getting weekly email alerts, all in about five minutes.

To check out the site and see a free demo of how you can watch people or properties, visit http://watch.public-record.com/content/tour Record Information Services is located in Kaneville, IL. More information can be obtained by e-mailing watch@public-record.com