Understanding The Identification Report, Credit Report,
and Social Security Number Trace

The Identification (“ID”) Report and Social Security Number (“SSN”)  Trace provide valuable demographic information for conducting background checks on your job applicants.

The Identification Report is often requested in lieu of a full credit report.  Although ID Report information comes from a credit bureau, it does not include the financial data found on a credit report such as account balances, payment history, tax liens, judgments, collections, and bankruptcies.  (The Credit Report, however, includes everything in the ID Report.) Typically, the ID Report is chosen anytime the applicant’s financial record is not necessary or relevant for the position. Both an ID and Credit report are noted as “inquiries” in the applicant’s credit file. The format for the ID Report is:

     Bureau Accessed:
     Other Names Used:
     Addresses Listed:
     Employment Listed:
     Discrepancies:
     Comments:

The ID Report is initiated by submitting your applicant’s name, address and social security number to one of the major credit bureaus.  Since we are on-line with the bureaus we retrieve the data quickly.  This helps us in selecting the most appropriate location for the criminal history search.

Other names and social security numbers your applicant has used will generally show up on the report.  Names would include maiden name, previous married names and aliases.  This is important because often times records (criminal, education, profess-ional license, even employment) are found under a name different than the one submitted by your applicant.  Our searches are more thorough if we have all the names.  Addresses where the applicant has lived will also show up on the report.  Usually dates will accompany them.  We use these dates to determine how long the individual has lived at their current address.  If they have lived in that location for less than a year we typically conduct the criminal search in their  previous residence location.  The reason for this is that it’s very unlikely someone would be arrested, prosecuted and convicted in less than a year.  So it doesn’t make sense to search the records where they currently live.  If conviction information exists it is likely to be found in the individual’s previous location.

Employment information frequently appears on ID Reports.  When you apply for credit or a loan or make a major purchase typically you are asked to list your employment.  This information is then reported to the credit bureaus.

We compare the employers listed on the ID Report with those on the resume and employment application.  Occasionally, applicants will try to hide bad work experiences.  The ID Report is where we catch this and note it for you in the discrepancies or comments section. 

Keep in mind that just because an employer shows up on the ID Report and not on the resume or application, that doesn’t necessarily mean the applicant is trying to hide it.  It may be a part time job or that the employment is simply older than what is listed on the resume or application.

Conversely, not all employers on the resume or application will show up on the ID Report.  However, this should not be construed as negative.  It all depends on what is reported to the bureaus by their subscribers.

The Social Security Number Trace gathers much of the same type of information as the ID Report but from a different source.  The format for the SSN Trace is as follows:

     Bureau Accessed:
     Valid:
     State of Issue:
     Year of Issue:
     Employment Listed:
     Other Names Found:
     Applicant Addresses:
     Discrepancies:
     Comments:

The SSN Trace is initiated by submitting your applicant’s SSN to one of the major credit bureaus.  We use a different bureau than the one selected in the ID Report.  Different bureaus can have different information reported to them so we want to utilize more than one source.

The SSN Trace will indicate if the applicant’s number is valid and where and when it was issued.  This catches the common ploy of using a child’s number or that of a deceased person.

As with the ID Report, names, addresses, and employment information are obtained. In addition, the SSN Trace will list anyone else who has used the applicant’s social security number.

People who are trying to conceal a criminal background or severe financial difficulties will often try to confuse you by giving you a slightly altered name or an incorrect social security number. 

Multiple names, numbers or addresses on a SSN Trace or an ID Report can be a tip off that additional criminal searches should be conducted; especially if the criminal search is clear in the first location checked.

It should be noted, however, that having additional names appear on either the SSN Trace or ID Report is not necessarily suspicious.  Occasionally, a spouse’s name or other family members can be linked to the same credit file. 

In fact, even totally unrelated names can sometimes be linked.  This occurs when a credit bureau subscriber reports a social security number incorrectly.  If they happen to enter the number of your applicant by mistake (perhaps by inverting a digit or two), the recorded person’s name will appear in the file.  The way to distinguish a mistaken entry is by checking the addresses.  If there are no matches between the “other name(s)” addresses and the applicant’s addresses, chances are the other names are harmless entries.  If there are any matches, it is possible the applicant is using an alias and there may be cause for concern.

As you can see, the Identification Report and Social Security Number Trace provide valuable information about your applicant and are important components of the report packages ESS offers.