Method for verifying employment data

• US 20030097342A1
• Filed: 01/24/2000
• Published: 05/22/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 01/24/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: TALX Corp. (Equifax, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: TALX Corp. (Equifax, Inc.)
• Inventors: Whittingtom, Barry R.
• Application Number:
  US09/490,651
• Publication Number:
  US 20030097342A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/75
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

The method for verifying employment data provides a quick and convenient means for a mortgage company to verify salary and employment data for a loan applicant. The system may be used by any entity that needs to verify salary and employement data, such as furniture companies, subprime lenders and apartment rental agencies. The system is of benefit to large employers that wish to out-source this verification process. Employee data is transmitted from an employer to a service provider. In some situations, the loan applicant (an employee) contacts the service provider to obtain a salary key code (“SKC”). The SKC is disclosed to the mortgage company or other verifier. The verfiier contacts the service provider and upon presentation of a valid SKC and identification data, the verifier is provided with a report containing employment data. In the preferred mode, all of these interchanges occur over the Internet. In an alternative embodiment, a governmental agency can access the service provider to obtain employment data to aid in its decision of whether to grant public assistance. In another alternative embodiment, the employer can perform all of the functions of the service provider and verify inquiries for employment data itself.

Claims

1. A method for a service provider to respond to inquiries from a verifier to disclose employment data over the Internet for a plurality of employees from at least one employer that maintains a computer system which is Internet accessible, the employees also having Internet access, and the verifier also maintaining a computer system which is Internet accessible, the method comprising:

Maintaining a service provider computer system that is capable of sending and receiving data over the Internet;

Transmitting over the Internet employee ID data and employment data from the employer computer system to the service provider computer system and storing the employee ID data and employment data in the service provider computer system;

Generating a plurality of salary key codes and storing a list of these valid salary key codes in the service provider computer system;

Making a connection over the Internet between the employee and the service provider computer system and assigning at least one unique salary key code to the employee, each salary key code authorizing a single verification by the service provider computer system;

Making a connection over the Internet between the employee and the verifier computer system and inputting at least one unique salary key code into the verifier computer system;

Making a connection over the Internet between the service provider computer system and the verifier computer system and comparing the employee ID data and the unique salary key code furnished by the verifier computer system against the list of valid salary key codes and employee ID data in the service provider computer system to validate whether employment information should be disclosed to the verifier computer system; and

Generating a report, after proper validation, by the service provider computer system containing at least some of the employment data and transmitting the report over the Internet to the verifier computer system.

2. The method of claim 1 further including an encryption system at the service provider computer system, an encryption system at the employer computer system and an encryption system at the verifier computer system to encrypt at least some of the data that is exchange among said service provider computer system, said employer computer system and said verifier computer system.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said service provider computer system includes a single primary database server and a single redundant database server to store employment information for all employers.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said service provider computer system includes a separate database server and a redundant database server to store employment data for each employer.