ST. LOUIS, Dec. 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Equifax Inc., a global information solutions company, today announced its 5,000(th )employer client has joined The Work Number(®), the largest database of employer-direct income and employment information, operated by Equifax Workforce Solutions, a business unit of Equifax, Inc. The Work Number® provides automated income and employment information to banks, mortgage companies, auto dealerships, and other entities when authorized by the consumer, and utilized in compliance with Fair Credit Reporting Act regulations. The University of Maine System is the latest employer to benefit from a service that handles outside requests for employment verification.

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The University of Maine System benefits by lowering its administrative costs, helping protect employee information, and mitigating organizational risk related to the release of sensitive data.

Through The Work Number, Equifax can instantly fulfill inbound verification requests, because the database is refreshed each pay-period, and directly interfaces with organizations seeking to determine consumer eligibility.

"University of Maine System employees can now expect an expedited response when applying for refinancing of their home, a car loan or even just applying for a credit card," said Dann Adams, president of Equifax Workforce Solutions. "Their information will also be obtained with their consent in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act."

Michael Kuentz, senior vice president of Equifax Workforce Solutions, added that, "The fast-growing list of educational institutions and Fortune 500 companies subscribing to The Work Number® helps decision-makers who are dependent on third-party employment verifications by providing instant access to millions of payroll records. This ultimately helps to speed up the application process, minimize risk, and keep the economy moving forward."

Established in 1995, The Work Number has seen steady, consistent growth, resulting in 75 percent of the Fortune 500 outsourcing their income and employment verification functions to Equifax Workforce Solutions. Use by small and mid-sized employer organizations, including federal, state and local governments, has also been on the rise. Equifax remains committed to engaging a broader range of employers and verifiers to subscribe to the service to meet their business needs.

Additional information on The Work Number can be accessed at: www.TheWorkNumber.com.

About Equifax

Equifax is a global leader in consumer, commercial and workforce information solutions that provide businesses of all sizes and consumers with insight and information they can trust. Equifax organizes and assimilates data on more than 600 million consumers and 81 million businesses worldwide. The company's significant investments in differentiated data, its expertise in advanced analytics to explore and develop new multi-source data solutions, and its leading-edge proprietary technology enable it to create and deliver unparalleled customized insights that enrich both the performance of businesses and the lives of consumers.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Equifax operates or has investments in 19 countries and is a member of Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500® Index. Its common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol EFX. In 2015, Forbes named Equifax one of the World's 100 Most Innovative companies; Bloomberg BusinessWeek nominated it as one of its Top 50 companies; its CIO was named one of the top 100 by CIO magazine; the company ranked 16(th) in the Fintech 100 list; and it was recognized as a top 20 company to work for by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and was named a 2015 InformationWeek Elite 100 Winner. For more information, please visit www.equifax.com.

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SOURCE Equifax Inc.