How to Catch Hidden Vendor Risks with a License Look-Up
License Look-Up: Because Compliance Theater Is Expensive
It starts the way these things usually do: a spreadsheet — innocent, manageable, a single tab named Vendor Info FINAL (2).xlsx drifting into your inbox at 5:37 pm on a Wednesday. By Friday, it’s grown teeth. By Monday, you’re squinting at a 200-row VLOOKUP migraine and an email from your CFO: “Are we sure these subs have valid licenses? What about permits? What if…”
You know how that sentence ends because you’ve lived it: What if we miss something and pay for it in penalties, delays, or front-page headlines?
At TrustLayer, we believe compliance should be boring — because noncompliance is painfully exciting: lawsuits, fines, regulators perched on your timeline like vultures with clipboards. So we built License Look-Up to drag business credential checks out of the tar pits of chaos and into a place where your team can breathe.
Why License Look-Up Exists: A Story in Three Acts
Act I: The Superficial Check
You buy a generic KYB (Know Your Business) tool — maybe it pulls basic registration info and runs a quick OFAC ping. You feel confident. Someone on your team asks, “Does it check local licensing or contractor permits?” You say, “Probably!” You’re wrong.
Act II: The Manual Marathon
Your risk manager spends three hours toggling Google, city clerk sites, and archived PDFs. You call it “due diligence.” It’s mostly whack-a-mole with outdated county websites and conflicting filings. You still miss things.
Act III: The Real World
A vendor you trusted turns out to be a shell company with an expired plumbing license. You eat the cost. Or worse — your insurance carrier does, and your premium triples next renewal cycle.
License Look-Up exists because we’ve all seen this movie, and we’re tired of the sequel.
What Is TrustLayer License Look-Up, Really?
Think of it as your outsourced compliance forensics team — checking what vendors claim against what regulators actually say. It’s not a superficial tick-box for “KYB complete.” It’s the gap between feeling compliant and being compliant.
What We Check (So You Don’t Have To)
✔️ TIN/EIN Validation — Does the tax ID match the registered business name? Fraud loves a mismatch.
✔️ Business Name & Address Confirmation — Corporate addresses that point to P.O. boxes or houses? Not always wrong — but you should know.
✔️ Licenses — Local, state, sometimes occupational — a permit for the permit.
✔️ Permitting Records — A contractor with a history of real permits is statistically less likely to disappear halfway through drywall.
✔️ People & Ownership — Who really owns this business? Any red-flag aliases?
✔️ OFAC & U.S. Security Lists — No one wants to wire funds to a restricted party.
We do this with multiple trusted data sources, permitting aggregators, and good old-fashioned human eyes. Then we wrap it in a clean, bias-checked report. No 40-tab spreadsheets. No raw CSVs you’ll never read.
How the Vendor License Verification Process Works
1️⃣ Share Your Vendor List
Upload your list — one vendor or a hundred. We scope the work to fit.
2️⃣ We Verify Everything
TrustLayer taps multiple state and local databases, applies alias checks, and finishes with a human QA pass.
3️⃣ You Get an Actionable Report
A clear, final compliance report you can defend to an auditor — with flags, context, and plain English.
When You’ll Be Glad You Ran a License Look-Up
Construction: Verify subcontractor licenses and permits before issues hit the jobsite.
Procurement: Weed out shady shell companies posing as legitimate bidders.
Insurance & Risk: Prove diligence to underwriters — reduce your E&O exposure.
Lending & Vendor Finance: Know your borrower’s real history before signing the check.
Corporate Governance: Sleep better. Enough said.
Why It’s Not 100% Automated
Great question. Some parts are automated — but the nuance can’t be. Local permitting databases run on everything from Excel to fax machines. OFAC hits require context: is Carlos Mendoza your actual HVAC guy, or is it the same name on a restricted list?
That’s where humans finish the job: we automate the repeatable, then add judgment where it matters.
What It Costs
Some high-confidence data sources cost us money per record, so License Look-Up is scoped per party. One-time batch or ongoing — transparent pricing, no surprise invoices.
Want monitoring later? Easy upgrade. We’re your compliance partner, not a nickel-and-dime SaaS trap.
How to Get Started
Keep rolling the dice — or give us fifteen minutes to see which vendors could be your next headline risk. We’ll check the rest.
See how it works — visit the License Look-Up page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How fast is the turnaround?
A: Depends on volume and jurisdictions, but typical turnaround is days, not weeks.
Q: Is this part of TrustLayer?
A: Yes — License Look-Up is available as a scoped service under TrustLayer Plus. Self-serve and API options coming soon.
Q: How do I scope a project?
A: Book a quick consult, tell us who you want verified, get a clear quote. That’s it.
The Part Where You Decide
Not every risk can be eliminated — but plenty can be verified. Let’s swap your 42-tab spreadsheet for real business intelligence.
You might also like
