Do you need a copy of your birth certificate for a passport, to apply for a job, purchase insurance or other reasons? Where do you begin?
Don’t be pulled into a scam. There are some sites that will charge a fee for what you think is a purchase of your birth certificate. After you pay, you learn it’s just a finder’s fee for a website where you can actually purchase a birth certificate, such as www.vitalchek.com.
Also, don’t be caught by a phishing scam. The site pretends to be a legitimate one, such as a government site, when in reality it is a fraudulent site designed to get information to steal your identity.
To get a Colorado birth certificate, I visited the Colorado State Vital Records website. On the site it states the Colorado State Vital Records office does not accept credit cards or online orders. They have partnered with VitalChek to provide an online service. VitalChek does charge a fee for this service and accepts all major credit cards.
VitalChek also provides death certificates. They are a BBB Accredited Business.
If you have time and want to write the state for your birth certificate, visit the “Where to Write for Vital Records” page on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website. This site will tell you where to send a check and for how much. You will save some money this way. A Colorado birth certificate is $17.75 with this option. Through VitalChek it is $20.00 plus a $7 VitalChek fee and a $5.50 agency expedite fee.
Where do you start if you weren’t born in Colorado? Rules, ordering instructions, and fees for all states, the District of Columbia and all US possessions can be found on the “Where to Write for Vital Records” webpage. Select the state where the birth certificate was issued. Each state has its own set of rules and fees for ordering the certificates. The federal government does not issue birth certificates.
A certified copy of a birth certificate has a registrar’s raised, embossed, impressed or multicolored seal, registrar’s signature, and the date the certificate was filed with the registrar’s office, which must be within one year of the person’s date of birth.
Have you had any problems obtaining your birth certificate?
VitalChek should be renames VitalScam. I paid them for a birth certificate. Never received anything after and will not for two months return or answer phone calls. And, will not reply to any emails. Save your money. BBB beware consumers are being routed to their website in masses when they do a search online to get a birth certificate. In addition, it states the State of California no longer issues them and uses them as their contracted source.
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I am writing this to counter-balance Steve Kimball’s comment above.
I recently used VitalChek to order two copies of my birth certificate, and they sent me exactly what I ordered. I received my certified birth certificates within 3 – 4 weeks.
Hope this helps.
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I agree with Katherine I placed an order with VitalCheck and i did received my certificate a few weeks later although they said it will take 2 to 3 business days with UPS. Im glad they’re not scammers but the down side is that they take forever to place your order and this is due because they want to verify your identity. So if you’re going to order with VitalCheck be ready to wait and make sure you have proper documentation of your identity which they will ask after you placed an order something that they tell you upfront. Hope this is helpful too.
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Oops I meant to say they DON’T tell you upfront that you need to provide more documentations of your identity.
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I submitted payment to VitalCheck on 3/3/13, to date, nothing but run arounds. I asked several times via email because I wanted a paper trail, what is my option since I elected regular mail and of course I never got my birth certificate and all they told me in each response is “Dear Customer,
When the order was placed you selected regular mail as the shipping method which is not track able. Unfortunately if the package was lost or damaged you may need to replace the order.” When I asked if that meant that I had to pay for a whole new order I never received a response back. It’s all selective apparently, and so the money I spent and lost is just that, my loss.
I’m in agreement with Steve. I’m now in limbo and out of money and if I want to get my BC I have to pay all over again, somehow that smacks of scam to me as well.
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