2023-03-27: Personator SSN End of Life#

Personator - SSN Verification End of Life Advisory#

Beginning March 27, 2023, Our Personator Web Service will no longer support Name to Social Security Number verification and reverse appends.

We find that the data and functionality currently being provided in Personator for SSN verification do not meet the standard and qualifications that we want the product to achieve. Instead, Melissa has developed a newer and more accurate API for Social Security verification called the SSN Verification Web Service. We are currently recommending clients who currently leverage SSN Verification in Personator to make use of this new API as the replacement solution. Please see the section on how to access the SSN Verification Web Service for more information.

Who Will Be Affected?#

Clients who currently leverage the SSN and Name Inputs of Personator for verification or reverse append will no longer be able to do so.

Here is an example request for performing SSN and name verification with reverse appends:

https://personator.melissadata.net/v3/WEB/ContactVerify/doContactVerify?id=123456789&act=Check,Verify,Append&cols&opt=&first=DAVID&last=GLENN&ss=123456789&format=json

Sending requests to Personator using the name and SSN will no longer yield any results.

What Are the Changes?#

Here is an example of a previously working request and what the same request will return after the March 27, 2023 update.

Request#

https://personator.melissadata.net/v3/WEB/ContactVerify/doContactVerify?id=123456789&act=Check,Verify,Append&cols&opt=&first=DAVID&last=GLENN&ss=123456789&format=json

Response#

Current

After March 27, 2023

 
{
  "Records": [
    {
      "AddressExtras": " ",
      "AddressKey": "123456789123",
      "AddressLine1": "123 Main St",
      "AddressLine2": " ",
      "City": "Fake City",
      "CompanyName": " ",
      "EmailAddress": " ",
      "MelissaAddressKey": "123456789123",
      "MelissaAddressKeyBase": " ",
      "NameFull": "David Glenn",
      "PhoneNumber": "123456789123",
      "PostalCode": "12345-6789",
      "RecordExtras": " ",
      "RecordID": "1",
      "Reserved": " ",
      "Results": "AS01,DA00,DA10,DA30,PS01,PS08,PS10,VR01,VR02,VR11",
      "State": "XX"
    }
  ],
  "TotalRecords": "1",
  "TransmissionReference": " ",
  "TransmissionResults": " ",
  "Version": "5.6.2"
}

{
  "Records": [
    {
      "AddressExtras": " ",
      "AddressKey": " ",
      "AddressLine1": " ",
      "AddressLine2": " ",
      "City": " ",
      "CompanyName": " ",
      "EmailAddress": " ",
      "MelissaAddressKey": " ",
      "MelissaAddressKeyBase": " ",
      "NameFull": "David Glenn",
      "PhoneNumber": " ",
      "PostalCode": " ",
      "RecordExtras": " ",
      "RecordID": "1",
      "Reserved": " ",
      "Results": "SP01",
      "State": " "
    }
  ],
  "TotalRecords": "1",
  "TransmissionReference": " ",
  "TransmissionResults": " ",
  "Version": "5.6.X"
}

How Can I Access the New SSN Verification API?#

The new SSN Verification Web Service allows for a more accurate and up to date checking of your Name and SSN Data.

Here is an example request of the new SSN Verification API:

https://namessn.melissadata.net/v4/WEB/SSN/doLookup?id=LICENSEHERE&ssn=123456789&full=Kevin%20Wood&first=&last=&t=Lookups&format=JSON

Example Response:#

{
  "TransmissionResults": "",
  "TransmissionReference": "",
  "Version": "6.2.0.XXXX",
  "SSN": "585596457",
  "IssuingState": "New Mexico",
  "Results": "SN04"
}

The return of the SN04 Result Code indicates that the Name and SSN was correctly matched in our system.

If you require more information on the new SSN Verification Web Service, please reach out to our sales department (sales@melissadata.com or call 1 (800) 635-4772).

Thank you for your attention to this update and we appreciate your patience. Please rest assured Melissa continuously strives to support all of our products, data and services, whenever possible. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Tech Support at tech@melissa.com or call 1 (800) 800-6245 x4.

Thanks,

The Melissa Team