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As directed by the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (S. 2155), enrollment is underway for the Social Security Administration's (SSA) database to verify an individual's social security number (SSN).

The initial enrollment period began July 17 and will close July 31. NAFCU is encouraging credit unions to apply for access before the deadline as the next enrollment period could be two years away, according to the SSA. Additional details can be found in the Federal Register; the enrollment form is available here.

The Content Based Social Security Number Verification (eCBSV) allows permitted entities to verify an individual's SSN for a fee as long as the individual has signed consent. The service will roll out to a limited number of users in June 2020, and will expand the number of users within the first six months.

The database will allow financial institutions to verify the identity of credit applicants, helping to reduce identity theft and other financial fraud. Consent can be given via electronic signatures, as long as they are ESIGN compliant.

As the SSA worked to implement this provision of S. 2155, NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger urged the agency to adopt a process of self-certification of compliance in order for a permitted entity to begin using this database and to work with the NCUA to ensure that implementation of this synthetic identity fraud provision does not create additional regulatory burdens for credit unions.