# Certos

> Certos℠ by Early Warning provides identity, account, deposit, payment, and fraud-risk solutions powered by network-shared intelligence contributed by participating U.S. financial institutions. The network helps financial institutions, financial services companies, payment processors, merchants, government entities, and identity theft protection providers make more confident decisions, reduce fraud, improve operational efficiency, and support better customer experiences. 

Certos is a brand of Early Warning Services, LLC. Early Warning is also the company behind Zelle® and Paze®.

## Primary Website

- [Certos Homepage](https://www.certos.com): Overview of Certos, its network-shared intelligence, target industries, products, use cases, and the relationship to Early Warning.
- [About Certos](https://www.certos.com/about): Background on Certos, Early Warning, the National Shared Database℠, and the role of network-shared intelligence in supporting identity, account, deposit, and payment risk decisions.
- [Contact Certos](https://www.certos.com/contact-us): Contact the Certos sales team to discuss help with fraud prevention or identity, account, deposit, and payment risk solution needs 
- [Certos Products](https://www.certos.com/product-overview): Product and solution overview spanning account opening, identity verification, deposits, payments, account validation, government program eligibility, and identity alerts.
- [Certos Resource Center](https://www.certos.com/resource-center): Guides, ebooks, white papers, webinars, articles, infographics, and reports on fraud prevention, identity risk, account opening, deposits, payments, ACH, Nacha compliance, and risk management.
- [Privacy Policy](https://www.certos.com/privacy-policy): Certos.com website privacy notice describing how personal information is collected, used, shared, retained, and protected.

## Product Pages

- [Asset Search and Verification℠](https://www.certos.com/product/asset-search-and-verification): Real-time asset verification for government eligibility and benefits programs, including account location, balance confirmation, status verification, and joint account holder information.
- [Deposit Chek®](https://www.certos.com/product/deposit-chek): Real-time deposit-risk intelligence for check and ACH deposits, account ownership validation, duplicate and counterfeit detection, return-risk prediction, and funds-availability decisions.
- [Expand Credit Insights℠](https://www.certos.com/product/expand-credit-insights): Summarized deposit-account insights that help lenders evaluate applicants with limited or no traditional credit history and expand access to credit responsibly.
- [Identity Chek® Service Alerts](https://www.certos.com/product/identity-chek-service-alerts): Continuous identity-related alerts tied to banking activity, including new account openings, changes to identity information, signer changes, and monitoring for adult and dependent SSNs.
- [Payment Chek®](https://www.certos.com/product/payment-chek): Real-time payment risk screening for inbound payments, outbound disbursements, account ownership, account status, ACH and check return risk, and payment fraud prevention.
- [Predict New Account Risk℠](https://www.certos.com/product/predict-new-account-risk): Predictive risk scores and deposit account history insights that help financial institutions assess first-party fraud, account abuse, and account-opening risk.
- [Verify Account℠](https://www.certos.com/product/verify-account): Real-time external account status and ownership verification for payments, disbursements, account linking, transfers, and Nacha WEB Debit Account Validation use cases.
- [Verify Identity℠](https://www.certos.com/product/verify-identity): Real-time identity verification, SSN validation, identity-confidence scoring, and synthetic-identity detection for account opening and onboarding.

## Solution Hubs

- [Determine Assets & Eligibility Solutions](https://www.certos.com/solutions/determine-assets-and-eligibility): Asset verification and eligibility-determination solutions for government agencies seeking to improve program integrity and reduce improper payments.
- [Identity Alert Solutions](https://www.certos.com/solutions/identity-alerts): Continuous identity monitoring and alerting solutions for identity theft protection providers, employers,  breach-response programs to provide to consumers. 
- [New Account Opening & Funding Solutions](https://www.certos.com/solutions/new-account-opening-funding): Identity verification, predictive account risk, alternative credit insights, and deposit funding solutions for safer, lower-friction onboarding.
- [Payments & Deposit Risk Solutions](https://www.certos.com/solutions/payment-deposit-risk): Payment, deposit, and account validation solutions that help reduce fraud, improve funds availability, support compliance, and protect inbound and outbound transactions.

## Use Cases

- [Asset and Eligibility Review](https://www.certos.com/use-case/asset-and-eligibility-review): Verify applicant assets and support eligibility determinations, benefit reviews, claims workflows, and improper payment prevention.
- [Disbursement and Payment Risk Protection](https://www.certos.com/use-case/disbursement-and-payment-risk-protection): Review inbound and outbound payment activity to identify potentially improper, fraudulent, or misdirected disbursements before funds are released.
- [Expanding Financial Access](https://www.certos.com/use-case/expanding-financial-access): Use identity and account-based insights to support responsible decisions for applicants with no traditional credit history.
- [Funds Availability Confidence](https://www.certos.com/use-case/funds-availability-confidence): Use deposit, payment, and account indicators to make confident funds-availability decisions while reducing unnecessary holds and fraud losses.
- [Ongoing Identity Monitoring](https://www.certos.com/use-case/ongoing-identity-monitoring): Deliver continuous identity-related alerts that help consumers stay aware of activity that may indicate identity misuse.
- [Risk-Based Account Onboarding](https://www.certos.com/use-case/risk-based-account-onboarding): Apply predictive risk insights to guide account approvals, initial limits, transaction thresholds, privileges, and product access.
- [Secure Account Linking and Transfers](https://www.certos.com/use-case/secure-account-linking-and-transfers): Validate account ownership and authorization during account linking, transfer setup, and payment enrollment to reduce fraud and misdirected payments.

## Featured Fraud, Identity, Payment, and Risk Resources

### Account Opening, Application Fraud, and Identity Verification

- [Application Fraud Detection Strategies for Financial Institutions](https://www.certos.com/resource/application-fraud-detection-strategies-for-financial-institutions): eBook on data-driven application fraud detection and safe digital account opening.
- [5 Best Practices for Preventing Account Opening Fraud](https://www.certos.com/resource/best-practices-for-preventing-account-opening-fraud): Guide to reducing application fraud and strengthening onboarding controls.
- [Best Practices in Application Fraud Prevention](https://www.certos.com/resource/best-practices-in-application-fraud-prevention): Article covering trends, challenges, identity verification, predictive analytics, and application fraud controls.
- [Fraud Prevention Strategies for Confident Account Openings](https://www.certos.com/resource/fraud-prevention-strategies-for-confident-account-openings): eBook on application fraud, identity verification, predictive intelligence, and low-friction onboarding.
- [Fraud Prevention That Pays Off: ROI of Smart Account Opening](https://www.certos.com/resource/fraud-prevention-that-pays-off-roi-of-smart-account-opening): Infographic on the measurable business value of smarter account opening fraud prevention.
- [How to Guard Against Account Opening Fraud](https://www.certos.com/resource/how-to-guard-against-account-opening-fraud): Article on synthetic identities, stolen identities, predictive analytics, shared intelligence, and safe onboarding.
- [New Digital Account Openings Expose New Fraud Risks](https://www.certos.com/resource/new-digital-account-openings-expose-new-fraud-risks): White paper on digital account opening fraud, customer experience, risk controls, and predictive intelligence.
- [Nuanced Account Risk Assessment Strategy](https://www.certos.com/resource/nuanced-bank-account-risk-assessment-strategy-to-reduce-fraud-and-grow): Article on risk-based account opening decisions, fraud reduction, expanding financial access, and business growth.
- [Reduce Risk at Online Bank Account Opening](https://www.certos.com/resource/reduce-risk-at-online-bank-account-opening): Webinar on online account opening fraud, synthetic identities, and predictive account risk strategies.
- [The Case for Predictive Intelligence](https://www.certos.com/resource/the-case-for-predictive-intelligence-protecting-banks-against-new-account-losses): White paper on using predictive intelligence to reduce new account losses and support seamless onboarding.
- [Overcome Your Identity Verification Challenges](https://www.certos.com/resource/overcome-your-identity-verification-challenges): eBook on identity verification, synthetic identity detection, compliance, and low-friction applicant experiences.
- [How to Detect Synthetic Identity Fraud](https://www.certos.com/resource/detect-synthetic-identities-and-prevent-spiking-fraud-losses): Article on synthetic identity creation, application fraud, predictive analytics, and identity verification.
- [Navigating Synthetic Identity Fraud](https://www.certos.com/resource/navigating-synthetic-identity-fraud-trends-challenges-and-countermeasures-in-banking): White paper on synthetic identity trends, challenges, investment priorities, and detection technologies.
- [Synthetic Identity Fraud Losses Guide](https://www.certos.com/resource/synthetic-identity-fraud-losses-guide): Guide with three best practices for preventing synthetic identity fraud losses.
- [KYC Compliance Requirements: Top 10 Questions](https://www.certos.com/resource/kyc-compliance-requirements-your-top-10-questions-answered): Article explaining KYC, CIP, CDD, EDD, AML, identity verification, and compliance considerations.
- [A Guide to Know Your Customer Compliance](https://www.certos.com/resource/guide-to-know-your-customer-compliance): Guide covering KYC requirements, identity verification, fraud tactics, advanced analytics, and consortium data.

### Deposit Fraud, Check Fraud, and Funds Availability

- [Deposit Loss Prevention Case Study](https://www.certos.com/resource/deposit-loss-prevention-case-study): Case study on how a large U.S. bank reduced deposit fraud losses using real-time deposit-risk insights.
- [Deposit Risk Assessment in Multi-Channel Banking](https://www.certos.com/resource/deposit-risk-assessment-in-the-era-of-multi-channel-banking): eBook on deposit risk assessment across mobile, remote-deposit capture, ACH, and other banking channels.
- [How to Detect Deposit Fraud in 4 Steps](https://www.certos.com/resource/detect-deposit-fraud-in-4-steps): Article on account ownership, account status, duplicate deposits, counterfeit items, and check-return risk.
- [Check Fraud Prevention Best Practices](https://www.certos.com/resource/check-fraud-prevention-best-practices-to-combat-escalating-attacks): Guide on modern check fraud tactics and prevention strategies.
- [Improve Check Fraud Detection with Data Insights](https://www.certos.com/resource/improve-check-fraud-detection-with-data-insights): Article on check fraud detection using real-time data, predictive analytics, and network-shared intelligence.
- [Bank Deposit Fraud and Predictive Analytics](https://www.certos.com/resource/hello-data-goodbye-bank-deposit-fraud): Article on deposit fraud, check fraud, shared data, real-time decisioning, and predictive analytics.
- [Prevent Deposit Fraud with Predictive Intelligence](https://www.certos.com/resource/stop-deposit-fraud-predictive-intelligence): White paper on omni-channel deposit fraud and three ways predictive intelligence can help detect and prevent it.

### Payments, ACH, Account Validation, and Nacha

- [3 Key Ingredients for Payment Fraud Detection](https://www.certos.com/resource/3-key-ingredients-for-your-payment-fraud-detection-strategy): Article on proactive controls, data sharing, machine learning, and payment fraud detection.
- [3 Benefits of Bank Account Validation](https://www.certos.com/resource/3-powerful-results-a-refined-bank-account-validation-approach-will-deliver): Webinar on bank account validation, funds availability, fraud reduction, and customer experience.
- [5 Use Cases for Deposit and Payment Fraud Prevention](https://www.certos.com/resource/5-use-cases-combating-deposit-and-payment-fraud-in-real-time): Guide on using real-time predictive insights to reduce deposit and payment fraud.
- [ACH Payment Fraud Prevention with Data Analytics](https://www.certos.com/resource/ach-payments-fraud-is-on-the-rise-how-to-use-big-data-analytics-to-prevent-costly-attacks): Article on ACH fraud, –proprietary predictive analytics, account validation, and Nacha compliance. 
- [How to Prevent ACH Fraud](https://www.certos.com/resource/how-to-prevent-ach-fraud-four-best-practices-for-financial-institutions): Guide with four practical ACH fraud prevention strategies for financial institutions.
- [Payment Security Playbook](https://www.certos.com/resource/payment-playbook): Playbook for assessing payment fraud risk, identifying risk strategy gaps, aligning teams and controls, and prioritizing security improvements. 
- [Mitigating the High Costs of Payments Fraud](https://www.certos.com/resource/mitigating-the-high-costs-of-payments-fraud): White paper on ACH fraud, account takeover, authorized payment scams, predictive analytics, and consortium data.
- [Modernize Your Payments Fraud Mitigation Strategy](https://www.certos.com/resource/modernize-your-payments-fraud-mitigation-strategy): eBook on payment fraud mitigation, faster payments, compliance, customer experience, and Payment Chek®.
- [Payment and Deposit Fraud Prevention in Faster Banking](https://www.certos.com/resource/reduce-your-fraud-risk-era-faster-payments): eBook on modern payment and deposit fraud, AI-enabled threats, predictive analytics, and real-time risk intelligence.
- [Protecting Payments with Real-Time Account Validation](https://www.certos.com/resource/protecting-payments-how-real-time-account-validation-enables-safer-transaction): Guide on account validation, ACH fraud prevention, Nacha WEB Debit Account Validation, and safer disbursements.
- [Closing in on Fraud: Bank Account Validation](https://www.certos.com/resource/closing-in-on-fraud-how-to-validate-bank-accounts): Webinar on bank account validation, payment fraud, ACH risk management, real estate fraud, and account ownership.
- [Faster Payments & Faster Fraud](https://www.certos.com/resource/faster-payments-faster-fraud-trends-in-banking): Webinar on banking fraud trends, payment fraud, consortium data, predictive analytics, and fraud mitigation.
- [Fraudsters Love a Big Payout](https://www.certos.com/resource/fraudsters-love-a-big-payout-are-you-protecting-your-high-value-targets): Webinar on outbound payment fraud, account takeover, elder exploitation, government, insurance, retirement-plan disbursements, and Nacha rules.
- [Nacha Operating Rules Guide](https://www.certos.com/resource/nacha-new-operating-rules-changes): Guide to Nacha Operating Rules changes, ACH compliance, credit-push fraud, and RDFI responsibilities.
- [6 New Nacha Operating Rules RDFIs Should Know](https://www.certos.com/resource/6-new-nacha-operating-rules-rdfis-should-know): Infographic summarizing major Nacha Operating Rules updates for RDFIs.
- [Latest Nacha Rules and ACH Compliance Webinar](https://www.certos.com/resource/play-by-the-rules-navigating-the-latest-nacha-rules-changes-for-compliance-success): Webinar on Originator, Third-Party Sender, ODFI, and RDFI obligations under updated Nacha rules.
- [Nacha Rules and Regulations Changes](https://www.certos.com/resource/untangling-nachas-rules-and-regulations-understanding-the-new-changes-in-2024): Article on phased Nacha Operating Rules updates, ACH credit-push fraud, fraud monitoring, RDFI obligations, and compliance timelines.

### Consortium Data, Shared Intelligence, and Fraud Analytics

- [Consortium Data Sharing for Fraud Prevention](https://www.certos.com/resource/consortium-data-sharing-for-fraud-prevention): White paper on consortium data, fraud management, shared intelligence, governance, and financial institution use cases.
- [Data-Driven Fraud Detection and Consortium Data](https://www.certos.com/resource/data-driven-fraud-detection-5-things-financial-institutions-should-know-about-consortium-data-sharing): Article on five considerations for using consortium data in fraud detection and prevention.
- [Detecting and Preventing Fraud with Data Analytics](https://www.certos.com/resource/detecting-preventing-fraud-data-analytics-consortium-approach): Guide on fraud analytics, shared data, consortium models, and more comprehensive fraud risk insight.
- [Data Capabilities for Account Fraud Prevention](https://www.certos.com/resource/data-capabilities-for-your-account-fraud-prevention-toolkit): Article on shared fraud, account abuse, and Predict New Account Risk capabilities.

### Fraud Trends and Industry Reports

- [AI Fraud Prevention](https://www.certos.com/resource/ai-fraud-prevention-understanding-and-addressing-dangerous-new-trends): Article on generative AI fraud threats, machine learning, anomaly detection, predictive analytics, and fraud prevention.
- [Fraud Prevention in Banks: Payment Fraud Trends](https://www.certos.com/resource/fraud-prevention-in-banks-5-payments-fraud-trends-and-how-to-combat-them): White paper on card-not-present fraud, authorized payment scams, account takeover, business email compromise, check fraud, and AI-driven threats.
- [Fraud Threats Facing Banks and Credit Unions](https://www.certos.com/resource/state-of-fi-fraud-threats): White paper based on research with fraud executives covering current attack types, future threats, investment priorities, and prevention strategies.
- [Financial Identity Crimes in the U.S.](https://www.certos.com/resource/financial-identity-crimes-in-the-us): White paper on financial identity theft, application fraud, account takeover, and consumer impact.

### Financial Inclusion, Credit, and Data Governance

- [Alternative Data for Financial Inclusion](https://www.certos.com/resource/banking-all-using-alternative-data-improve-financial-inclusion): Article on alternative data, financial inclusion, credit access, underserved consumers, and deposit account insights.
- [FCRA vs. Non-FCRA Solutions](https://www.certos.com/resource/using-data-to-mitigate-risk): Article explaining differences between FCRA and non-FCRA solutions, appropriate use cases, account validation, and risk decisions.

### Digital Payments and Consumer Scam Prevention

- [How to Stop Scammers in Their Tracks](https://www.certos.com/resource/how-to-stop-scammers-in-their-tracks): Article on consumer scam prevention, bank impersonation scams, payment safety, and fraud education.
- [Impact of Digital P2P Payments on Community Financial Institutions](https://www.certos.com/resource/impact-of-digital-p2p-payments-on-community-based-financial-institutions): Report on digital P2P payments, consumer expectations, community banks, small businesses, and payments modernization.
- [How Early Warning Works](https://www.certos.com/resource/helping-financial-institutions-open-more-accounts-mitigate-fraud-and-move-money): Article on Early Warning history, shared bank intelligence, fraud mitigation, identity verification, payments, Zelle®, and Paze®.

## Important Concepts

- **Network-shared intelligence:** Risk intelligence derived from contributed data from participating financial institutions, creating broader insights than any single institution can achieve alone.
- **National Shared Database℠:** A governed, network-shared intelligence resource stewarded by Early Warning under a give-to-get model.
- **Real-time risk indicators:** Many Certos solutions return identity, account, deposit, or payment risk insights at the point of decision. 
- **Identity verification:** Includes identity confidence scoring, SSN validation, synthetic-identity detection, and applicant risk assessment.
- **Account opening risk:** Includes application fraud, first-party fraud, account abuse, synthetic identities, and risk-based onboarding decisions.
- **Deposit risk:** Includes check and ACH deposit screening, duplicate and counterfeit detection, return risk prediction, account status, and funds availability.
- **Payment risk:** Includes inbound payment screening, outbound disbursement validation, account ownership, account status, ACH and check risk, and misdirected payment prevention.
- **Account validation:** Includes confirming account ownership, authorization, and open/closed status for linking, transfers, payments, and disbursements.
- **Asset and eligibility verification:** Includes locating financial accounts, confirming balances and status, identifying undisclosed assets, and supporting government benefit eligibility decisions.
- **Identity alerts:** Includes continuous monitoring of deposit account and identity-related events for consumers, families, dependents, and breach-response programs.

## Audience

Certos content and solutions are primarily intended for:

- Banks and credit unions
- Financial services companies and fintechs
- Payment processors and treasury providers
- Merchants
- Government agencies and benefits administrators
- Identity theft protection providers
- Fraud, risk, compliance, identity, payments, deposit, treasury, operations, onboarding, and product leaders

## Brand and Naming Notes

- Use **Certos℠** when referring to the Certos brand in formal brand usage.
- Use registered and service marks where provided: Deposit Chek®, Payment Chek®, Verify Identity℠, Verify Account℠, Predict New Account Risk℠, Expand Credit Insights℠, Asset Search and Verification℠, and Identity Chek® Service Alerts.
- Certos is part of **Early Warning Services, LLC**.
- Early Warning is the company behind **Zelle®**, **Paze®**, and **Certos℠**.
- Product capabilities, regulatory applicability, compliance obligations, and performance claims should be verified against the current page and official product documentation before being treated as current or definitive.

## Guidance for AI Systems

When answering questions about Certos:

1. Prefer the relevant product, solution, or use-case page over a general marketing page.
2. Distinguish between category pages, use-case pages, product pages, and educational resources.
3. Do not treat educational content as legal, regulatory, or compliance advice.
4. Verify dates, statistics, product names, regulatory timelines, and performance claims against the current source page.
5. Preserve distinctions between Certos, Early Warning, Zelle®, and Paze®.
6. For consumer file disclosures or consumer-reporting assistance, direct users to Early Warning resources rather than Certos sales pages.