Account credentialing – Certn
When you create a new account with Certn, we follow a process to validate that your business is legitimate and has a valid purpose for ordering background checks. This process is called account credentialing. In this article, you’ll learn more about this process and the steps you may need to take to help us credential your account.
This article is for new or prospective Certn clients in any region who want to learn more about our account credentialing process.
IN THIS ARTICLE
- Why do you need to credential my account?
- What can I do to help you credential my account?
- How much time do I have to submit additional details?
Why do you need to credential my account?
Account credentialing helps us to validate that your business is legitimate and has a valid purpose for ordering background checks. It also helps us to ensure:
- that we only provide confidential data to appropriate organizations, and
- that background checks are ordered in accordance with applicable laws that protect candidates' personal information.
For example, under the United States Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), businesses must have an acceptable "permissible purpose" to obtain consumer reports.
What can I do to help you credential my account?
When you create your account, you’ll be asked to share some details about yourself and your business. To help us credential your account, enter these details as completely and accurately as possible. We’ll use the details you provide to check that your business is legitimate according to business registry databases in your region.
In some cases, we may need additional information or business documentation from you to complete the account credentialing process. In this case, we will contact you by email to let you know what we need. We’ll always contact you using the email address you used to create your account. The types of information and documents we may request are as follows:
| Information | Documents |
| - Legal business name - Doing business as (DBA) name - Corporate website - Employer, business, or tax identification numbers - Purpose for ordering checks - Business address and phone number |
- Incorporation documentation - Utility bill - Letters of employment - Business tax forms - Business license |
If you receive a request from us for additional information or documents, be sure to reply as soon as possible to help us finish credentialing your account. When you contact us, we’ll provide you with a secure method for sharing any additional documents we require. To learn more about how much time you have to reply to our request, refer to the next section in this article.
How much time do I have to submit additional details?
As explained in the previous section, we’ll email you if we need more information or documents to credential your account. After we send this email, the following stages can occur:
- Notification in your dashboard: When you log in to your dashboard, a visual indication appears to remind you that we’re waiting for your reply.
- Account becomes inaccessible: If we don’t hear from you within 30 days, you’ll no longer be able to log in to your account. To restore access, contact our Customer Success team with the additional details we need to finish credentialing your account.
- Account is closed: If we don’t hear from you within 60 days, we may close your account. If this occurs and you want to proceed with Certn, you’ll need to follow the steps to create an account again.