Kansas City, MO | April 30, 2026 – The American Association of Private Lenders today announced a new member discount partnership with Business Screen, a team of licensed private investigators specializing in business and principal background checks. As part of the collaboration, Business Screen has designed checks specifically for private lender underwriting and due diligence.
AAPL members now receive an exclusive 30-day free trial with up to 1,000 Business Screen credits, a value of approximately $2,000, no commitment or credit card required. Depending on report depth, the offer provides access to roughly 5 to 65 reports during the trial period.
Download the PDF one-sheet here.
The partnership also coincides with the release of AAPL’s new packaged learning course on Public Records Searches, now available inside the AAPL Member Dashboard. Developed in collaboration with Business Screen, the course provides members with end-to-end instruction on how to:
- Run public-records searches on borrowers
- Collected and interpret court and filing documents
- Produce due diligence summaries that inform decisioning.
AAPL and Business Screen will also host a live webinar on Wednesday, May 6 at 1:30 PM CT, showcasing borrower trends uncovered through thousands of real borrower screenings.
Register for the free, public webinar here.
“Private lenders don’t get paid for taking borrowers at their word,” said Ben Drellishak, co-owner of Business Screen. “Background checks have become a critical underwriting input because the issues that derail deals rarely announce themselves in a credit file. Our work is built around surfacing what conventional screening tools often miss, from county-level litigation and undisclosed entity history to reputational concerns and online sentiment.”
Business Screen currently serves as AAPL’s own vendor for new member screening and Verified Member review processes, further aligning the partnership with the association’s broader fraud prevention initiatives and Code of Ethics enforcement.
“This partnership strengthens AAPL’s growing fraud prevention ecosystem,” said Linda Hyde, president of AAPL. “Members already rely on AAPL tools such as Verified Member status, ethics enforcement, education, and industry standards to reduce transaction risk. Business Screen adds another practical layer of borrower due diligence that members can deploy immediately in their underwriting process.”
Business Screen reports are specifically structured around private lender needs and include identity and entity verification, litigation and foreclosure review, lien and UCC searches, bankruptcy review, sanctions screening, criminal record searches, and associated business risk analysis. Unlike many database-driven screening platforms, Business Screen investigators verify records directly through live county, state, and federal sources.
AAPL members can learn more and activate their Business Screen trial through the Member Dashboard. For non-members, Business Screen offers one free report.
About AAPL
The American Association of Private Lenders is the national organization representing private real estate lenders and service providers, dedicated to advancing transparency, education, and professional standards across the industry.
About Business Screen
Business Screen is a licensed private investigations firm founded in 1996 specializing in business and principal background checks for commercial and private lending due diligence.
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