Do I have to use a Social Security Number to access a potential borrower’s credit file?

The short answer is No.

The credit bureaus do not require a Social Security Number to access the potential borrower’s credit file.

The main criteria are name and address. Anything you can add in addition to the name and address will increase your hit rate. You can add the Social Security number, date of birth or even a phone number. All these items will increase the potential match in the credit file.

What happens if I don’t use a Social Security Number?

Two items to be aware of:

• You may see a reduced hit rate or “NO RECORD FOUND”
• In most cases, without a Social Security number, we cannot use duplicate detection. When a Social Security number is omitted, those records could be reordered inadvertently by a user.

Most of our customers are set up on a reorder limit of 30-days, if you try to run a credit report within those 30-days, you will get a copy. If there is no Social Security Number you will not get a copy, you’ll get a new report.

Tip: If you get a “NO RECORD FOUND” always check the address to see that it’s correct. Copy and paste it in google to see if the street and city are spelled correctly and the zip code matches. Also, that it is not a work address or P.O Box.

Contact us to learn more about accessing credit reports directly within your Salesforce org without needing a SSN, and with the click of a button.