FAQs

Question: What is the Patriot Act Search?

Answer: InfoMart’s Patriot Act search is an industry-standard aggregate of global government watch lists. It includes data from more than 150 databases designed to identify known terrorists, wanted persons, drug traffickers, etc. Sources for the search range from the FBI to the US Marshals to Interpol and the Bank of England.

Question: What shortcomings exist with the Patriot Act Search?

Answer: The Patriot Act is a name-match only database search, so results aren’t able to be used in an employment decision without additional research being conducted to verify that a hit belongs to an applicant. Since the Patriot Act is name-match only, the results produce a high rate of false positive results and are often unreliable. Furthermore, there is a pending Federal court case that seems likely to establish new case-law regarding the legality of these name-match only watch list searches where the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is concerned.

Question: What is Verified Watch List?

Answer: Verified Watch List is an FCRA-compliant domestic and global sanctions search that is a sub-set of the Patriot Act database sources, all of which can be verified with more than just a consumer’s name; some additional identifiers include date of birth, social security number, or other pieces of PII. When a presumptive hit is received, InfoMart will go directly to the data source and confirm additional identifiers prior to reporting results to our customers. This extra layer of verification confirms that a potential match positively belongs to your candidate and, moreover, allows you to incorporate results into your hiring or placement decisions in a compliant matter. 

Question: What is the cost impact to InfoMart clients?

Answer: The Patriot Act search is typically priced between $1.00 and $2.00 per applicant. Verified Watch List is a more reasonable and affordable alternative, with the initial database search costing between $.50 and $1.00

Question: What do I need to do to change my screening program from the Patriot Act to the Verified Watch List?

Answer: InfoMart will begin sending out an addendum to your service agreement on March 1st. This agreement will be sent on the SignNow platform, allowing you to sign it digitally and send it back to us immediately. By signing the addendum, you will have taken all the steps necessary to successfully transition from the Patriot Act to InfoMart’s new Verified Watch List. Once we receive it, your designated customer service representative will update all of your account settings and background packages and you will be ready to go.

Question: Where can I go to find out more information or ask additional questions regarding the Verified Watch List?

Answer: We’re here to answer all of your questions. Please reach out to your trusted customer service representative, or email [email protected] for more information. To learn more about Verified Watch List and recent background screening news updates, please feel free to visit our blog or connect with us on social media.

Please note:

As of February 15th, the Patriot Act search will now be known as the Watch List search.