On June 7, 2019, the Social Security Administration ("SSA") provided notice of an initial enrollment period for a new electronic "Consent Based Social Security Number ("SSN") Verification Service," called "eCBSV." The fee-based service allows "permitted entities to verify an individual's SSN based on the SSN holder's signed consent." Permitted entities, defined as "a financial institution or service provider, subsidiary, affiliate, agent, subcontractor, or assignee of a financial institution," are required to have an "employer identification number (EIN) and Dun and Bradstreet (D-U-N-S) number." Permitted entities will "be able to submit via an application programming interface fraud protection data to SSA for each verification request." 

The SSA will select a limited number of entities to participate during the first rollout of this service. The entities will be selected "based upon the earliest date and time of the receipt by SSA of a fully completed application." In addition, the entities will be chosen from the following categories: either (1) Financial institutions that fall above or below a transaction threshold, or (2) "A service provider, subsidiary, affiliate, agent, subcontractor, or assignee of a financial institution" with an annual volume of transactions that fall above or below three separate thresholds.

The enrollment period will begin on July 17, 2019 and remain open until July 31, 2019. The service will be open to a "limited number of users" by June 2020, and will expand to additional users within six months. If selected, a permitted entity will receive a bill to pay a prorated portion of 50 percent of the fees associated with the program start-up. The fees will vary based on the number of entities selected and the number of annual transactions. While the amount of the fee is not final, entities that pay the initial start-up fees will have that amount credited to future transactions.