HIR Issue 5: Credit Bureau Terminals
What follows is the text off of a sheet of paper I found next to a device that caught my eye while in a used car shop. The device appeared to be a keyboard at first, just sitting alone on the desk. After some quick analysis, I knew this was more than a normal keyboard. On the back, it had a small array of ports. The cord that I originally thought was the keyboard cable actually was attached to a connector, very wide. Oddly enough, the port was labeled "Printer". I noticed 2 RJ-11 jacks on the back, as well, labeled "Wall" and "Phone". This was without a doubt some sort of terminal keyboard. I figured maybe it only used the printer for output, but that would be absurd. I boldly approached it. Taped to the counter was an old, tattered piece of paper. Its contents have been captured in HiR 5 forever. The keyboard had a low-res lcd screen. There was a screen saver playing on it. It was basically advertising the dealership, moving around and changing font sizes. Pretty lame stuff. I didn't try to play with the device. If the instructions on the paper were for the device, I was standing inches away from a credit bureau terminal, which could give me anyone's credit record, if I had enough info on 'em.
<-----begin text on paper----->
To run credit bureau
make sure printer is online
enter
enter
enter
ADD Key
Down arrow key
enter
individual or joint
enter enter
last, first, middle init.
enter
ssn
enter
enter
(repeat if joint application)
house # street name
enter
city,st,zip
former house# street name
former city, st, zip
enter
f8
listen for dialtone
<------End text on paper------> Naturally, I would need all of the above info on a person just to get their records. That's a lot of stuff. After researching the topic of credit checks, I realized that the terminal must have quite a bit of information about the dealership and their credit agent. No where on the paper did it mention entering a merchant ID number, or the initials of the credit checker, but that is mandatory information. It must be sent, along with the other data, in order to receive the credit record information.
