Specifications

Verification Methods

A credential is confirmed by the method and source the standard prescribes — not whatever’s easiest.

What it ensures

A credential “confirmed” by the applicant, a friendly reference, or an unofficial line isn’t verified at all. This control requires the prescribed method and source for each credential type before a claim is recorded as verified.

It makes the channel of verification, not just the outcome, part of accuracy.

Watch it run

An applicant’s claimed employment and education need to be verified for the report.

Illustrative run — one case moving through the Verification Methods specification.

Verification due Method verified Verified Blocked
Permitted transition Forbidden move Start Terminal state
A credential is confirmed by the method and source the standard prescribes — not whatever is easiest. Accepting an unverified or wrong-source confirmation is in red.
✕ Accept unverified 1 ✓ Claim 2 ✓ Prescribed method 3 ✓ Verified
Ready

An applicant’s claimed employment and education need verification.

  1. Ready

    The claim

    The applicant says where they worked and studied. The report turns claims into confirmed facts — by the right method.

  2. Blocked

    The wrong move

    The fast confirmation is often the wrong one. Accepting verification from a source the standard doesn’t allow is refused.

    Where it comes from

    Accuracy depends on method: a credential “confirmed” by a friend, a fake reference line, or the applicant themselves isn’t verified at all.

    What it satisfies

    Requiring the prescribed method and source for each credential type enforces the reasonable procedures the §1681e(b) accuracy duty demands.

    FCRA §1681e(b) Statute 15 U.S.C. § 1681e(b) Whenever a consumer reporting agency prepares a consumer report it shall follow reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy of the information concerning the individual about whom the report relates. U.S. Code · Cornell LII ↗
  3. Permitted

    Verified properly

    Employer of record, registrar, the official source — the channel the standard names.

  4. Permitted

    Verified

    A claim becomes a confirmed fact, by an approved route.

  5. On the record

    The proof

    The file shows how each credential was confirmed — not just that it was.

Why it holds

Why the whole holds

No single confirmation is verification on its own. What holds is that a credential can’t be marked verified except through the prescribed method. Reliability isn’t a diligent checker; it’s that an unapproved confirmation has no path.

Why it matters

Verifying by the wrong source is exactly the kind of unreasonable procedure §1681e(b) targets — and the kind that produces confidently wrong reports.