No-Cost Databases
In many instances, the cost is nothing more than the time spent on retrieval. Free, easily searchable databases are available for a variety of public records in most jurisdictions. They reveal a wealth of information about businesses and the individuals behind them such as liens, judgments, assumed or fictitious names, business ownerships and (in some jurisdictions) bankruptcies. These free databases are only as current as the most recent updating -- a fact that is, unfortunately, not always disclosed. Still, they’re good for giving a quick read on a situation.

Fee-Based Databases
Once you move up to paying for an online service, the quality of the information you’ll receive becomes up-to-the-minute, comprehensive and definitive, to the point of supplanting the need for a traditional credit check. Commercial services will allow you direct entry into the latest public filings, credit agency and business rating reports, and other revealing sources.

Online Sources
What follows is only a cross-section of the background information that’s available online, from free resources to commercial databases and services.

Pacific Information Resources, Inc. dba Search Systems, www.pac-info.com/, is a compendium of neatly organized links to more than 1,500 free, searchable public record databases. The site categorizes its links by geography, according to whether they are nationwide or relate to a specific state.

Information of particular interest will most likely be found in the state databases, which vary according to the jurisdiction. They include everything from court filings, corporate documents and professional license verifications to convictions (which may be a fee-based database) and county property appraisal, ownership and tax records.

The nationwide headings, however, contain a few industry-based databases that might be helpful in evaluating a commercial loan application. If the applicant lists an airplane as an asset, for example, check on aircraft ownership via the Landings aviation search engines at www.landings.com/_landings/pages/search.html. Whether or not an applicant (or any of its principals) is in the health industry, it wouldn’t hurt to consult a list of defaulted borrowers on Health Education Assistance Loans at the Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources & Services Administration, www.defaulteddocs.dhhs.gov/cgi-bin/ddocs_counter.pl.

InfoUSA offers an inexpensive way to jumpstart a loan evaluation. Even if you order a more detailed credit report from another source, you can get a quick picture of a business’s condition at www.infousa.com.

InfoUSA boasts a database of 12 million businesses -- not just publicly traded companies, but privately held corporations, sole proprietorships and other small businesses. For each one, information is gathered from such sources as public records, court and SEC filings and annual reports, then confirmed by telephone several times annually. A business report includes the company’s credit rating, sales figures, number of years in business, contact names and titles and Web address. The report also gives information about related or interlocked businesses by identifying the company’s headquarters and any subsidiaries or branches.

Business reports from the infoUSA cost $5 each, with volume discounts available. What the site doesn’t tell you is that the reports are also available at no charge at its related page, www.businesscreditusa.com/.

For a broad-brush preliminary evaluation, KnowX, www.knowx.com, offers another quick, affordable solution. KnowX claims to be the most comprehensive source of public records on the Web. Indeed, a staggering array of information is available in single databases directly from its Web site. The databases, which may be searched across the nation or by state, include air and watercraft ownership, bankruptcy, real property, litigation, assumed name, corporate officers, death, divorce and military records. Single-state searches of many of the databases are free. Rather than a subscription or set-up fee, KnowX charges either per search or per record, varying by database; fees are extremely low.

KnowX is affiliated with ChoicePoint, www.choicepoint.com, which offers more sophisticated online search services specifically geared to commercial, retail and asset-based lenders. ChoicePoint Online, www.choicepointonline.com (formerly known as CDB Infotek, www.cdb.com/public/),  provides access to more than 1,600 databases of local, state and national public records. You can reach the service through either Web site; pricing information is available on request.

These databases are set up to address a range of investigations, including identifying and verifying people, businesses and their assets. Business background data includes bankruptcies, litigation history and judgments, tax liens, UCC filings, Dun & Bradstreet reports and records of corporate, limited partnership or fictitious names. For the owners or principals of a business, the service provides civil and criminal court filings, bankruptcies, tax liens, judgments and social security number (SSN) research. The SSN information is designed to uncover aliases, identify addresses and spouses, and investigate whether the number is connected to fraudulent activity or use.  UCC searches are also available on either a nationwide or single-state basis.

The Next Step
The wave of the future is an online credit information systems that are integrated with the lender’s own computers.  One that already exists is eCredit.com InfoLink, offered by the Global Financial Network at www.ecredit.com.

Geared to financing providers, this service generates data from public records,  as well as from Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, Equifax and Trans Union. The service is designed for information to be downloaded and stored on the user’s system, so that once retrieved (and purchased) it is available to anyone at the institution.

Packages and pricing are customized, depending on whether you want to merely gather data or automate the entire credit process.  Two related products, DecisionDesktop and InstantDecision, process loan applications according to the lender’s specified credit criteria. Instant Decision is suited for routine, volume consumer credit applications (and could be used equally well by a vendor or leasing company, which many of eCredit’s clients are). Decision Desktop evaluates and approves loans, document decisions, and generates form correspondence.

The Internet has more credit evaluation resources to offer than many loan officers realize. Tracking down the appropriate sources can take a little extra time upfront, but finding and utilizing the right system can save significant time in the long run. The Net has drastically improved standards of speed and accuracy for evaluating credit.

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