Equifax Launches CourtSmart™ To Drive More Efficient Court Research for Background Screeners

ATLANTA - December 6, 2022 - Equifax® (NYSE: EFX) today announced CourtSmart™, a new solution designed to help solve unique challenges facing consumer reporting agencies (CRAs) and empower more intelligent decision making. An enhancement to the Court Data as a Service (CDaaSTM) solution from Equifax, CourtSmart uses proprietary, third-party data to help account for the redaction of personal identifiable information (PII) in key jurisdictions. Powered by the Equifax TotalVerifyTM data hub, CourtSmart delivers a simplified platform that helps background screeners achieve faster turnaround times and increased confidence in research and investigations. 

Employers rely on CRAs to conduct timely and reliable background checks for job applicants in order to keep their workplaces safe and protect their company’s brand. However, recent legislative changes in California have made this more challenging by redacting PII such as a candidate’s date of birth and driver’s license number from public court records. An innovative solution is necessary — one that accounts for these legal challenges and supports the needs of employers. CourtSmart is a leading-edge court technology and service solution designed to help address both of these needs for background screeners.

“CourtSmart represents a sea change in how background screeners can access data that is critical to the pre-hire screening process in order to continue delivering results for their customers,” said Brian Kelly, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Insights business at Equifax Workforce Solutions. “CRAs are facing a number of complex challenges, including date of birth redaction, and CourtSmart is the most recent example of how we are using innovative technology that helps our partners solve problems and equips them to grow their businesses.” 

A significant boost to an industry grappling with these new challenges, CourtSmart uses the broadest coverage available in the United States to improve CRA turnaround time and increase cost savings when processing criminal records.

The CourtSmart solution helps background screeners identify applicable court records by separately providing additional data about the court record sourced from third parties. The supplemental third-party information may provide additional context when certain identifying data is not available in the court record. By reviewing this “data on data” alongside the court record, background screeners may be better able to determine whether a particular court record is connected to an individual being screened.

CourtSmart is currently available in 36 of 58 California counties, including the 5 largest counties in the state, and will continue to expand to other jurisdictions nationwide. Learn more about how this product and others are helping background screeners at the TotalVerify website. 

ABOUT EQUIFAX INC.

At Equifax (NYSE: EFX), we believe knowledge drives progress. As a global data, analytics, and technology company, we play an essential role in the global economy by helping financial institutions, companies, employers, and government agencies make critical decisions with greater confidence. Our unique blend of differentiated data, analytics, and cloud technology drives insights to power decisions to move people forward. Headquartered in Atlanta and supported by more than 14,000 employees worldwide, Equifax operates or has investments in 24 countries in North America, Central and South America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific region. For more information, visit Equifax.com.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Daniel Jenkins for Equifax
mediainquiries@equifax.com

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