The Work Number on your credit report: what this inquiry means

Who The Work Number is

The Work Number is Equifax's automated employment and income verification service. Employers and payroll providers send it payroll data, and lenders, government agencies and employers use it to confirm where you work and what you earn.

Is it a hard or soft inquiry?

An employment or income verification isn't a request for credit. It is logged in your Employment Data Report, not counted as a hard inquiry in FICO Scores, and myFICO lists background checks among soft inquiries.

Why it showed up on your report

A lender verified your job during a loan application, a landlord or agency confirmed income, or a new employer checked your work history. Because the service is run by Equifax, people sometimes assume it touched their Equifax credit report. The verification is a separate record in The Work Number's file.

How to check that you authorized it

1. Order your Employment Data Report, which lists who requested your data in the past 24 months.
2. Match each verifier to a loan, lease, benefit application or job offer.
3. If a verifier is unfamiliar, use the report's dispute option and ask the verifier for the authorization you signed.

How to reach The Work Number

Register at employees.theworknumber.com to view the report online, call 800-367-2884 (TTY 800-424-0253), or download the request form and send it by mail or to [email protected]. You can also request a data freeze at no cost from the same site.

Guides that go deeper

• Your rights when an employer checks your creditAn employer needs your written OK to pull your credit and must show you the report before acting on it. The federal steps, plus state and city limits.
• Getting your credit mortgage-ready in 12 months, month by monthA month-by-month credit plan for the year before a mortgage: what to check, what to fix, what to leave alone, and the timing rules underwriters use.
• Specialty consumer reports: ChexSystems, tenant screening and moreBanks, landlords, insurers, and utilities often check reports you've never seen. Who keeps them, how to get yours free, and how to fix errors in them.
• Hard vs. soft inquiries: which credit checks count against youA hard inquiry comes from a credit application and can trim your score. A soft one never does. A table of the common checks, gray zones included.