The Work Number^® from Equifax is an automated Income and Employment Verification Service that provides proof of income and employment for employees to help them qualify for loans, credit, and public aid ¹.

It is used by lenders, property managers, creditors, social service agencies, and other requestors, collectively called “Verifiers”, who need to confirm individuals’ employment status and often income as well.

This service helps fulfill these requests by automating payroll information through the provider’s software for a higher degree of data accuracy.

The Work Number is the nation’s largest database of employment information with over 5M employer contributors from businesses of all sizes and industries. ¹

Nearly 42,000 credentialed Verifier organizations trust the service for its automated and direct payroll information ¹.

Employers don't pay Equifax or Trimble for this service — typically Verifiers pay a fee for each verification request.

The Work Number^® is an added-value offering from partnering payroll providers of Equifax. Trimble has enrolled you in this offering automatically. If you are not interested in this offering we also have an easy way to opt out.

If employers receive a call or an email from a bank, other lender or creditor that is processing a loan or credit for employees or from a government agency confirming income to provide aid to employees, they should direct them to www.theworknumber.com.

Many lenders and government agencies already utilize The Work Number today, and they often check the database before contacting the employer. However, they may call an employer first because they are not aware that the employer is now a part of the service or they have not used the service before. Instructions can be accessed at www.theworknumber.com.

Employees can receive improved opportunities for loans, credit, and government benefits because lenders and government agencies are able to make faster decisions with automated employment information.

Additionally, outsourcing the proof of income and employment to The Work Number provides greater privacy to employees by removing the employer from personal transactions.

Typically, employees provide consent for organizations to obtain their income information for a loan, credit, or benefit.

Verifiers obtain consent from employees for their employment and income information typically during the application process for access to a loan, lease, credit, or government benefit. If a Verifier requests an employee’s income information, the Verifier is required to certify to The Work Number that they have a record of the employee’s consent specific to its request for income information. Verifiers and all transactions are subject to planned and random audits to help ensure proper usage of the data received.

Information from The Work Number is deemed a consumer report under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Therefore, Verifiers must have a permissible purpose.

Each Verifier is vetted and approved by The Work Number before they can access any data. In short, The Work Number knows who is requesting access to employee data, and only those with a FCRA-permissible purpose may access it. For income information requests, Verifiers must additionally certify they have a record of the employee’s consent.

Typically lending institutions, property managers, government agencies, or other organizations that have a permissible purpose, under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), to confirm employment and income information about a consumer may be considered a Verifier.

The Work Number can provide different types of verifications for different purposes. For example, if a consumer is seeking a new job, the hiring employer might want to verify past employment, while a mortgage lender will typically need to verify income in detail before approving a loan. If a consumer applies for public aid from a social service agency, they too will typically need a verification of income.

Equifax is committed to providing clients with digital solutions that are not only aligned with best practices in security and privacy standards but are also easy to use and accessible on demand. Equifax holds an ISO 27001 certification. Applicable systems are FISMA Moderate and/or PCI-DSS compliant. Equifax deploys advanced data encryption techniques, and maintain a strong vulnerability management program, routine physical and digital scanning/monitoring, sophisticated web application firewalls and stringent user identity validation, typically through multi-factor authentication.

The Work Number has an uncompromising stance on data security, leveraging multiple layers of protection – verifier credentialing, multi-factor authentication, on-site inspections, and auditing of data use. Protecting the data entrusted to them is their top priority.

The Work Number helps reduce your potential risk in responding to fraudulent requests, to providing more information than is permissible to a lender or government agency or making an error in the information provided.

Participating employers receive The Work Number service at no cost.

Lenders, creditors, and government agencies are willing to pay a nominal fee for their requests because they can access direct payroll information that they need to process a loan, mortgage, or aid instantly – 24/7. Verifiers pay for the speed and convenience that The Work Number offers over traditional methods of manually reaching out to employers.

Once Trimble facilitates the transfer of data to Equifax, Equifax may disclose that data for valid income and employment verification requests to credentialed verifiers who have a legally permissible purpose. Equifax may also aggregate and/or de-identify personal data for the following purposes: product enhancements, product development, statistical analysis and modeling, trend analysis, market analysis, and product testing. Under FCRA regulations governing Equifax’s The Work Number, Equifax is strictly prohibited from selling this consumer data to third-party data brokers or marketing firms. For more information on how Equifax collects, uses, and shares personal information, please see Equifax’s Privacy Statement.

As the database administrator, Equifax's systems process and store incoming data and verification requests. Internal system access is strictly limited to authorized administrative, support, and compliance operations. Equifax retains copies of verification requests and completed verifications solely for audit trails and FCRA compliance purposes.

To facilitate the employment and pay verifications that the Work Number program provides, Trimble securely shares certain data fields from your ERP (Vista or Spectrum) with Equifax and updates them on a daily basis.

This information includes:

• Company Information: Business name, address, phone number, and state employer ID

• Employee Information: Name, address, Social Security number, birth date, work email address, phone number, hire date, employment status (active/inactive), income type, and resident tax state

• Earnings & Pay Information: Earning history, earning codes/types, rates, and payroll groups