The Work Number

USDA is pleased to announce a national employment verification service, The Work Number For Everyone ®.

USDA employees can use this service to provide employment verification, to secure a loan, or to rent an apartment. This service provides employment and salary verification information through a touch-tone phone to credit and reference verifiers upon request.

A verifier is a bank, lender, landlord, or other person or organization that has a need to verify your employment information.

Three Types of Verification

Basic Verification

This verification is usually required for apartment rentals and reference checks.

Employee name
Employee SSN
Employment status
Employee's service computation date for retirement
Employee's total time with the Government
Employee's job title
Reference number for the verification

Basic Plus Verification

This verification is usually required for small, short term loans.

All of the information from the basic verification option
Salary rate
Pay frequency

Full Verification

This verification is usually required for all major loans, including mortgages.

All of the information from the basic and basic plus verification options
Gross earnings YTD and for the past 2 years

Features and Benefits

The Work Number For Everyone ® will benefit you because it is:

Timely - The information is available to the lender in a matter of minutes
Easy to Use - Automated, one call, and paperless
Accurate - Information is taken directly from the USDA Payroll/Personnel System record and updated biweekly
Accessible - Available 17 hours a day, 7 days a week. TTY access is provided through the Federal Information Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339. Voice, fax, and EDI accessibility.
Trackable - A record of all requests is maintained
Simple - One number nationwide

How Does it Work?

As an employee, how do I use this service?

Each employee is responsible for authorizing the release of their employment and salary information. The credit and reference verifiers must receive an authorization code from you to access your information.

To obtain an authorization code:

From a touch-tone telephone, call 1-800-367-2884.
Enter the following information when prompted:
- USDA's company code, 10284
- Your social security number
- Your individual PIN number (contact your Personnel Office for your PIN)
Record the authorization code in a secure place for future reference.

How does the verifier use this service?

To access your employment information The verifier will need the following information:

The USDA company code, 10284
Your social security number
One of your authorization codes

The verifier will then need to call 1-800-367-5690 in order to complete the verification process.