Broker profile
The Work Number
- Equifax company
- FCRA-regulated
- 1.7M opt-outs in 2024
Equifax's employment and income database, fed straight from employers' payroll systems rather than from anything you do - which is why most people have a file here and don't know it. Lenders, employers, landlords and government agencies buy verification of what you earn and where you've worked. Its 2024 California filing reports 1,732,143 opt-out requests, all granted, the largest consumer-request volume any household name in the registry declared. The freeze is free.
The Work Number overview
At a glance
- Data published
- Extensive
- Re-listing frequency
- Aggressive
- Complaint record
- Mixed
- Opt-out friction
- Moderate
- Operator opacity
- Fully disclosed
- Prior data incidents
- None documented
Each broker is scored 1 to 4 across the six dimensions above; higher means more exposure, and the overall gauge is their average.
What each dimension means
- Data published: how much and how sensitive the personal data they put out.
- Re-listing frequency: how quickly you reappear after opting out.
- Complaint record: volume and pattern of complaints across BBB, Trustpilot, and Sitejabber; no findable review presence counts against the broker.
- Opt-out friction: how hard the removal process is to complete.
- Operator opacity: how hidden the operating company and its principals are.
- Prior data incidents: history of breaches or leaks of the data they hold.
- Category
Employment and income verification
- Operating entity
Equifax Workforce Solutions LLC
- Headquarters
Atlanta, GA
- Where the data comes from
Employers' payroll systems, automatically
- FCRA covered?
Yes · ~80% of 2025 revenue, per its own filing
- Collects minors' data?
Yes
- Collects citizenship / immigration status?
Yes
- Collects biometric data?
Yes
- Sold to government or law enforcement?
Yes to federal, state and law enforcement
- 2024 opt-outs
1,732,143 received · all granted · 1-day median
- Freeze
Free, any time, four channels
Background
Background
You never signed up for The Work Number, and that's the point. Employers send payroll data to it directly, so a file exists because of where you've worked rather than anything you applied for. Equifax then sells verification of your employment and income to lenders, prospective employers, landlords and government agencies deciding on benefits.
- Operating entity
Equifax Workforce Solutions LLC
- Address
1550 Peachtree St NW Atlanta, GA 30309
- Filed contact
usprivacy@equifax.com · (866) 295-6801
- Employee portal
employees.theworknumber.com
- Freeze line
(800) 367-2884 · TTY (800) 424-0253
- Sibling filings at the same phone
Equifax Information Services · IXI Corporation · PayNet
What its California filing declares is a good deal more than "where you work". Equifax Workforce Solutions answers yes to collecting personal information of minors, government-issued identification numbers, citizenship and immigration status, and biometric data. It answers yes to having shared or sold consumer data to the federal government, to other state governments, and to law enforcement outside of a subpoena or court order, all within the reporting year.
It also answers yes to FCRA regulation, and quantifies it - the filing describes an entity that "collects, assembles, and sells consumer reports that contain employment and income information" and states that approximately 80% of 2025 revenue came from products and services subject to the FCRA. That's what gives you rights here rather than just a request form.
The scale of consumer pushback is the striking part. In 2024 it reported 1,732,143 requests to opt out of sale or sharing, granted every single one in full, with a one-day mean and median. By contrast it reported just 685 deletion requests, also all granted. No other consumer-recognisable name in the California registry declared opt-out volume in that range.
The portal itself has recently changed in a way that matters practically. It now says "You no longer need an employer code to log in" - historically a real barrier, since workers often had no idea what their employer's code was - and that all users must create a new account, including anyone registered on the old site.
You can see who's been looking. The portal shows the names of any verifiers that requested your information in the last 24 months. That's a genuinely useful audit trail and it's free - worth checking even if you decide against a freeze.
Data Published
Data types
Nothing here is public - there's no page with your name on it. This is what the company declares it collects, taken from its own California filing and portal copy.
Employment history - employers, job titles, dates, status
Income history, at the level of detail payroll holds it
Government-issued identification numbers
Citizenship and immigration status
Biometric data
Personal information of minors
A record of which verifiers accessed your file, retained and visible to you for 24 months
Income data is unusually sensitive and unusually hard to contest. A wrong address on a people-search site is embarrassing. A wrong income or employment record here can cost you a mortgage, a job offer or a benefits determination - and because it arrives from payroll rather than from you, you may never see it until a decision has already gone against you. Pulling your file before you need it is the cheap insurance.
Contact
Contacts & links
- Operating entity
Equifax Workforce Solutions LLC
- Address
1550 Peachtree St NW Atlanta, GA 30309
- Filed contact
- Employee portal
- Freeze by phone
(800) 367-2884 · TTY (800) 424-0253
- Freeze by email
- Equifax privacy centre
Network
Sister brands
The Work Number is one of five Equifax entities filing separately with California from the same phone number - alongside Equifax Information Services, IXI Corporation, PayNet and Austin Consolidated Holdings. All of them route consumer rights through the same Equifax privacy centre, but each holds a different file on you.
Freezing your credit file does not freeze your Work Number file. They're different products, different databases and different freeze processes, even though both are Equifax. If you've frozen your credit at Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, your employment and income data is still being released - this freeze is a separate action.
Reputation
Trust signals
The Work Number sells to institutions, so consumer review platforms say little. What it filed with California says a great deal - both about how many people want out and about how readily it complies.
Workers discovering the file exists only when a verifier pulls it
Income or employment records that don't match reality, surfacing mid-application
Historically, needing an employer code to log in - the portal says that requirement is gone
FAQ
Q & A
Does The Work Number have my data?
If you've been paid by a US employer that uses it, very likely. You didn't opt in - employers send payroll data directly. You can check for free by registering at employees.theworknumber.com, and the portal no longer requires the employer code that used to block people at the door.
Can I delete my Work Number file?
Not really, and be sceptical of anything claiming otherwise. It's an FCRA consumer reporting agency, so it's entitled to hold employment and income records. What you can do is freeze the file for free so it can't be released, dispute anything wrong, and see who has accessed it in the last 24 months. Its own filing does report granting all 685 deletion requests it received in 2024, so deletion requests aren't refused outright - but the freeze is the reliable control.
Should I freeze it?
It depends on timing more than principle. A freeze blocks release, which is exactly what you want when you aren't applying for anything. When you are applying - a mortgage, a job, benefits - a frozen file means the verifier can't confirm your income, and the application slows or stalls. The workable pattern is to freeze by default and lift it, or issue a Salary Key, when you need a verification to go through.
What is a Salary Key?
A code you generate in the portal and hand to a specific verifier, letting them see your income data for that one verification. It's the middle setting between a fully open file and a frozen one - useful when a single lender or employer needs access and you don't want to unfreeze for everyone.
Does freezing my credit report freeze this too?
No, and this trips people up constantly. Your credit file and your Work Number file are separate databases with separate freezes, even though Equifax runs both. Freezing all three credit bureaus leaves your employment and income data fully available.
Who buys this data?
Lenders, prospective employers, landlords and government agencies determining benefits - anyone the FCRA gives a permissible purpose. The California filing also answers yes to having shared or sold consumer data to the federal government, other state governments, and law enforcement outside of a subpoena or court order.
Take yourself off data broker sites
Redact scans 120+ data broker sites from your device, finds where your details are listed, and submits the removal requests for you. If a broker relists you, it files again.
August 6, 2026 · Drafted from the California data-broker registry CSV (downloaded and read directly) and the employee portal at employees.theworknumber.com. ⚠️ No freeze or request has been put through this process.