Questions About the Social Security Report

What is the Social Security Report used for if not to validate the social security number?

ESS uses this information to locate possible AKA's or past addresses associated with the SSN for the purpose of identifying jurisdictions in which to conduct further research for possible criminal records. This product should not be used to confirm whether the SSN is valid and/or belongs to your applicant.

Why is the Social Security Report result flagged as a discrepancy?

The information that on the Social Security Report is compiled from numerous financial databases when individuals apply for credit cards, submit change of address cards, or engage in any other credit-related transaction.

A Social Security Trace result might return a “discrepancy” or “no match found” for the given social security number if there is no information listed on the results we receive. There are several reasons that this may occur:

• The applicant is young and they do not have any financial/credit history
• The applicant has never applied for credit
• The applicant is new to the country and has just received a Social Security number
• The applicant has a security freeze on obtaining information related to their SSN

Keep in mind that the Social Security Report is completed using a database of names and addresses collected from various financial resources and is not provided by any official government registry or the Social Security Administration. 

Is there a way to see if an SSN belongs to my applicant?

ESS offers a product for this service called the CBSV (Consent Based Social Security Verification). If you’d like to have more information and pricing options for this search, please contact your Sales Representative or Account Manager.