Public record · definitions

What each number does not tell you.

Each official source answers one question and refuses another. This dictionary states both, field by field, on the same page as the field. Read the 'does not tell you' column before citing any number.

See also the methodology and match register. Cite a field with its source link and the pull time printed on the record.

50 fields across 26 sources · dictionary-2026-06

FMCSA SAFER Company Snapshot / QCMobile

Keyed on: USDOT number

Known limits: SAFER is a registration and inspection record. It carries no fault determinations, no insurance claims history and no shipper reviews. Most carriers have no safety rating at all.

Field	Means	Tells you	Does not tell you	Refresh
USDOT status	Whether the registration is active or inactive with FMCSA.	Whether the number is currently registered.	Whether the company is operating, solvent, or has authority to haul for hire — see Operating authority.	7 days per carrier
Operating authority	FMCSA's authority status (e.g. authorized for hire, common/contract).	Whether for-hire authority is on file.	Whether insurance is adequate for a given load or whether a broker should use the carrier.	7 days
Power units / Drivers	Counts the carrier itself reported on its MCS-150 form.	Approximate fleet size as self-reported.	Current fleet size; MCS-150 updates are required only every two years.	7 days
Safety rating	FMCSA's rating after a compliance review: Satisfactory, Conditional, Unsatisfactory, or none.	The result of the last review, if one happened.	Anything about carriers with no rating — most have never been reviewed. 'None' is not a grade.	7 days
Inspections and out-of-service %	Roadside inspections in 24 months and the share that produced an out-of-service order, with the national average.	How often inspectors ordered vehicles or drivers out of service.	Why inspections happened (some states inspect more), or whether violations were later dismissed.	7 days
Crashes (24 months)	Crashes FMCSA recorded for this carrier: fatal, injury, tow-away.	How many reportable crashes were recorded.	Fault. FMCSA records crashes regardless of who caused them.	7 days

FMCSA Motor Carrier Census (data.transportation.gov)

Keyed on: USDOT number + add_date

Known limits: The census is appended over several days; the newest date is incomplete. A registration is not authority to operate for hire.

Field	Means	Tells you	Does not tell you	Refresh
add_date	The date FMCSA added the USDOT number to the census file.	When a registration first appeared.	When the company was founded, or whether it has authority or insurance.	6 h day list, 24 h rows

UFLPA Entity List (FLETF) — complete list from the appendix to the latest Federal Register notice

Keyed on: exact printed entity name or alias as the notice prints it

Known limits: Names entities the FLETF placed on one of four statutory sub-lists. It does not trace goods or shipments, and a listed name is the FLETF's determination, published — not this platform's.

Field	Means	Tells you	Does not tell you	Refresh
Sub-list clause	Which clause of UFLPA section 2(d)(2)(B) the FLETF listed the entity under: (i), (ii), (iv) or (v).	The statutory ground the FLETF cited.	Anything about a company not named; whether specific goods are covered.	on each Federal Register notice; checked daily
Aliases	Other names the notice prints in parentheses for the same entity.	Spellings the FLETF itself associates with the entry.	Subsidiaries or affiliates not named in the notice.	with the notice

FDA Enforcement Reports (openFDA food, drug, device)

Keyed on: recalling firm name exactly as FDA prints it

Known limits: A recall is a product action FDA classified and published, most of them voluntary. The row is about a product, on a date; FDA spells firm names its own way.

Field	Means	Tells you	Does not tell you	Refresh
Classification	FDA's Class I, II or III for the product's health hazard.	How FDA classified that product action.	Whether the firm did anything wrong, or how it compares with peers.	weekly enforcement reports; read live, cached 24 h
Status	Ongoing, Completed or Terminated as FDA records it.	Where FDA's record of the action stands.	Whether affected product is still in the market.	live

CFPB Consumer Complaint Database

Keyed on: CFPB registered company name

Known limits: A complaint is a consumer's account sent to the company. The CFPB does not verify the facts of each complaint or adjudicate it. Counts scale with customer base.

Field	Means	Tells you	Does not tell you	Refresh
Complaints, last 12 months	Complaints the CFPB received and sent to the company, by date received.	Volume and direction versus the prior 12 months.	Whether any complaint was valid; how many customers the company has; anything about a company the CFPB does not list.	daily
Company response	The company's closure category: closed with monetary relief, non-monetary relief, explanation, or in progress.	How the company itself said it resolved each complaint.	Whether the consumer agreed, or what 'explanation' contained.	daily
Missed 15-day window	Share of complaints the company answered after the CFPB's 15-day response window.	Response timeliness as the CFPB recorded it.	Whether the response was adequate.	daily
Top issues	The CFPB issue category consumers selected most often.	What consumers were complaining about, in the CFPB's taxonomy.	Root cause; consumers pick from a fixed list.	daily

FDIC BankFind and Call Report financials

Keyed on: FDIC certificate

Known limits: Figures are what the bank reported to its regulator. They are not audited by Alpha Covenant and carry no rating here. Quarterly, with a filing lag of about a month.

Field	Means	Tells you	Does not tell you	Refresh
Total assets / deposits	Balance-sheet totals from the quarterly Call Report, in thousands of dollars.	Size and its change quarter to quarter.	Whether deposits above insurance limits are protected, or whether the bank is a suitable depository.	quarterly as filed
Tier 1 leverage ratio	Tier 1 capital divided by average total assets, as reported.	A capital ratio the regulator uses.	Whether the bank meets any particular requirement or what supervisors concluded; supervisory ratings are confidential.	quarterly
Return on assets	Net income divided by average assets, annualized, as reported.	Profitability as filed.	Quality of earnings or one-time items.	quarterly
Noncurrent assets %	Share of assets 90+ days past due or nonaccrual, as reported.	Reported asset quality.	Future losses or reserve adequacy.	quarterly
Holding company (NAMEHCR)	The holding company the FDIC lists for this bank.	The parent as FDIC records it.	Anything about the parent's other subsidiaries; their records are not folded in.	daily

Federal Reserve Board enforcement actions

Keyed on: Exact FDIC institution name

Known limits: Only Federal Reserve actions are read here; OCC and FDIC orders are linked to their own search pages. An order is a public regulatory record, not a finding by Alpha Covenant.

Field	Means	Tells you	Does not tell you	Refresh
Actions naming this exact name	Fed enforcement actions whose 'Banking Organization' equals this FDIC name, with effective and termination dates.	Whether the Fed issued an order to this institution and whether it was terminated.	Orders against a holding company or affiliate; OCC/FDIC orders; whether the conduct continued.	daily

HMDA loan/application register (FFIEC/CFPB)

Keyed on: LEI, found by exact filer name

Known limits: HMDA covers lenders above volume and asset thresholds; a bank absent from the filer list may still lend. The formula excludes withdrawn, incomplete and purchased loans.

Field	Means	Tells you	Does not tell you	Refresh
Denied share vs all lenders in state	denied ÷ (originated + denied) for this lender and for every HMDA lender in its home state, same year.	How this lender's denial share compares to the state, on the same formula.	Why applications were denied, applicant credit profiles, or whether any decision was unlawful.	annual, as published

USAspending.gov

Keyed on: Recipient name as registered in SAM; UEI

Known limits: Obligations are commitments, not money paid out. An award is not a performance judgment. Recipients returned by name search but not equal to the name are listed as 'not counted'.

Field	Means	Tells you	Does not tell you	Refresh
Active prime awards (obligated)	Prime awards with an end date in the future and the obligated amount, for recipients whose name equals the searched name.	Current federal contracting footprint.	Outlays to date, subcontracts, or whether work was performed well.	24 h shared cache
UEI / parent recipient	Identifiers exactly as USAspending publishes them from SAM.	Which registered entity the awards belong to.	Any relationship USAspending does not itself state.	24 h

CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities

Keyed on: vendorProject

Known limits: A KEV entry is about a product flaw with evidence of exploitation somewhere. It says nothing about whether any particular organization running the product was affected.

Field	Means	Tells you	Does not tell you	Refresh
KEV entries, 12 months	Catalog entries whose vendorProject equals this vendor's name, added in the last 365 days, with ransomware-use flag.	How often this vendor's products appeared in the catalog.	The vendor's security posture, patch speed, or any customer's exposure. Larger product lines appear more.	6 h

EPA ECHO (Enforcement and Compliance History Online)

Keyed on: FRS Registry ID; facility name as EPA prints it

Known limits: One row per regulated facility, not per company; only programs ECHO covers (CAA, CWA, RCRA, SDWA, TRI); 'quarters with non-compliance' is EPA's 13-quarter computation; a facility absent from ECHO may simply be unregulated.

Field	Means	Tells you	Does not tell you	Refresh
EPA compliance status / quarters with NC / inspections / penalties	EPA's own fields for one facility on the date shown.	What EPA's record says about that facility.	Cause, fault, whether the company's other sites are affected, or eligibility for anything.	24 h

OpenCorporates legal-entity registry

Keyed on: Registered name, jurisdiction, company number

Known limits: Aggregates state registries as filed; status and dates are the registry's; requires an API token — without it the receipt says 'did not answer'. Designated into Treasury's Do Not Pay working system 2026-08-18.

Field	Means	Tells you	Does not tell you	Refresh
Registry status / incorporation date / jurisdiction	What the state registry says about a filing under this exact name.	That a filing exists and its status.	That the filing is the same party as any list entry, who controls it, or whether it is 'legitimate'.	24 h

Consolidated Screening List (International Trade Administration)

Keyed on: Printed name / alt names; entity number where the list has one

Known limits: Twelve lists with different legal effects (licence requirements, denial orders, sanctions); the CSV is trade.gov's daily consolidation; OFAC SDN rows are read directly and skipped here.

Field	Means	Tells you	Does not tell you	Refresh
List / program / Federal Register notice	Which agency list names this exact party and under which program.	That the party appears on that list on the date shown.	What a buyer may or may not do — the licence or prohibition depends on the list and the transaction; read the source list.	24 h

FDA Debarment List

Keyed on: Printed name; no NPI or other key

Known limits: HTML table, not a file; firms and individuals in separate tables; individuals by name only so identity cannot be confirmed from the list.

Field	Means	Tells you	Does not tell you	Refresh
Effective date / term / FR citation	FDA's own debarment entry for this exact printed name.	That FDA published a debarment under that name.	That an individual of the same name is the same person; that debarment applies to any activity beyond what 21 U.S.C. 335a covers.	24 h

State business registries (open data: CT, CO, NY, OR, PA live; VA and FL from the states' own files)

Keyed on: Exact registered name; registry number per row

Known limits: Five states publish a live open-data registry and Virginia posts SCC extracts ad hoc (file date printed per row; the LLC file is cut at Excel's row limit). NY and OR list active entities only and PA prints no status column, so absence from those files is not 'dissolved'. The other 43 states and DC are not read.

Field	Means	Tells you	Does not tell you	Refresh
Registry number / state's status field / entity type / formed date	The state's own filing record under this exact registered name.	That a filing exists in that state under that name, and what the state prints about it.	That it is the same party as any list entry; who owns or controls it; anything about the states not read.	live per receipt

SEC EDGAR (data.sec.gov submissions)

Keyed on: CIK (official key) when supplied; exact printed registrant name otherwise

Known limits: Only SEC registrants appear (public companies, funds, certain issuers); a private vendor will have no CIK, which is stated as 'no registrant', not as a finding. Filing rows are the index entries; the documents are linked on sec.gov.

Field	Means	Tells you	Does not tell you	Refresh
Form / filed date / accession number	EDGAR's index row for a filing by this registrant.	That the SEC received that form on that date under that accession number.	What the filing contains or means; anything about the company beyond what it filed.	live per receipt
SIC / state of incorporation / filer category / former names	How the SEC records the registrant.	The SEC's own classification and history of printed names.	Ownership, control, or any relationship to other registrants.	live per receipt

IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search (Automatic Revocation list; Publication 78 data)

Keyed on: EIN (official key) when supplied; exact printed legal name otherwise

Known limits: Two pipe-delimited bulk files the IRS posts monthly; Publication 78 omits organizations that need not be listed (e.g., churches); the revocation list is a record of §6033(j) automatic revocations for three consecutive years of non-filing, with reinstatement dates where the IRS prints them.

Field	Means	Tells you	Does not tell you	Refresh
Revocation date / posting date / reinstatement date / exemption type	The IRS's own automatic-revocation entry for this EIN or exact name.	That the IRS revoked exemption under §6033(j) on that date, and whether it prints a reinstatement.	Why the returns were not filed; whether the organization is operating; whether any payment to it is proper.	weekly
Deductibility code (PC, PF, EO …)	Publication 78's code for the organization's contribution-deductibility status.	That the IRS lists the organization as eligible to receive deductible contributions, and under which limit.	That an unlisted organization is not exempt; anything about grants, subawards or eligibility beyond charitable deductibility.	weekly

HHS OCR Breach Portal (cases under investigation)

Keyed on: Covered-entity name as filed

Known limits: Only breaches affecting 500+ people appear; the entity reports the individual count itself; resolved cases move to an archive not read here. A report is a legal notification, not a finding of fault.

Field	Means	Tells you	Does not tell you	Refresh
Breach reports / individuals affected	Reports filed under this exact covered-entity name and the summed individuals as reported.	That the entity notified HHS and how many people it said were affected.	Cause, fault, whether data was misused, or the outcome of OCR's review.	24 h

CMS Hospital General Information

Keyed on: Facility name and CCN

Known limits: CMS facility data describes Medicare-certified hospitals; ownership type and star ratings are CMS's own categories, reproduced as published.

Field	Means	Tells you	Does not tell you	Refresh
Hospital type / ownership / CMS rating	CMS's classification and its published overall rating, where one exists.	How CMS categorizes the facility.	Quality of any specific department, or anything for hospitals CMS did not rate.	per query

CMS Open Payments (physicians)

Keyed on: NPI

Known limits: Open Payments records transfers of value from manufacturers to covered recipients. It is a disclosure, not a judgment, and does not include rebates, salaries or non-reportable payments.

Field	Means	Tells you	Does not tell you	Refresh
Payments received	General and research payments reported by manufacturers/GPOs for this NPI, by year.	What industry reported paying this provider.	Whether the payment influenced care, or payments below reporting thresholds.	per query

openFDA — labels, recalls, NDC, FAERS

Keyed on: FDA-listed brand/generic; NDC

Known limits: FAERS reports are voluntary and unverified; the same event can appear more than once; a report does not establish that the drug caused the event. Recalls may be firm-initiated.

Field	Means	Tells you	Does not tell you	Refresh
Adverse event reports (FAERS)	Reports naming this product submitted to FDA by manufacturers, clinicians and consumers.	That events were reported and how many.	Causation, incidence rate (no denominator of patients), or duplicates removed.	per query
Recalls / enforcement reports	FDA enforcement reports and recall class for this firm or product.	That a recall occurred and how FDA classified its hazard.	Whether affected units reached patients or whether the firm was at fault.	per query

Census Bureau — state & local government finance; ACS population

Keyed on: State code; GOVTYPE 001

Known limits: State-and-local aggregates for the fiscal year, published roughly two years later; no county or city totals are available from the API. Per-resident figures use ACS population with the formula shown.

Field	Means	Tells you	Does not tell you	Refresh
Revenue, debt, interest per resident	Census government-finance lines for state plus local governments divided by ACS population.	Scale of public finance relative to population and its change across years.	Fiscal health, creditworthiness or policy quality; a debt figure is not a rating.	as Census publishes

Exclusion lists — HHS OIG LEIE and SAM.gov Exclusions

Keyed on: Exact name as printed; NPI (LEIE) or UEI (SAM)

Known limits: Both lists are searched by the exact printed name. A vendor doing business under another name, a successor, an owner or an affiliate is not found by a name lookup — the buyer's officer must decide what names to check. 'No entry' is a statement about the file on a date, not eligibility.

Field	Means	Tells you	Does not tell you	Refresh
LEIE entry	OIG exclusion of a business name from federal health-care programs under the cited authority, with exclusion and any reinstatement date.	That this exact name is (or was) excluded and under which authority.	Whether payment to it is barred for a specific program today, or anything about related names.	7 days
OFAC SDN entry	Treasury's designation of this exact name (or listed alias) under a sanctions program, with Treasury's remarks.	That the exact name is on the SDN list today.	Whether a similarly named party is sanctioned; anything on the non-SDN consolidated lists; whether a transaction is prohibited — that is a legal determination.	daily
SAM exclusion entry	A federal agency's debarment, suspension or other exclusion of a firm, with program, type, agency, active and termination dates.	That this exact name or UEI carries an active or ended exclusion.	Eligibility for a specific award (some exclusions are agency-scoped); anything about individuals or affiliates.	daily

U.S. Treasury Fiscal Data — Debt to the Penny, Monthly Treasury Statement, average interest rates

Keyed on: record_date; MTS classification line

Known limits: Accounting lines, not budget authority or policy. Outlays mix benefits, salaries, grants, contracts and interest; a department total says nothing about need or efficiency. Debt to the Penny moves with auctions and redemptions, not only with spending.

Field	Means	Tells you	Does not tell you	Refresh
Total public debt	Total public debt outstanding at the close of the business day, including intragovernmental holdings.	How much the Treasury owes today and how that changed from yesterday.	Whether the level is sustainable, or what caused a day's move.	daily
Receipts, outlays, deficit (MTS)	Gross receipts and outlays for the month and fiscal year to date, from MTS table 1.	Cash in and out by month.	Obligations not yet paid; accrual measures; whether spending met its purpose.	monthly, ~8th business day
Interest per day	FYTD interest on the public debt ÷ days elapsed in the fiscal year (formula shown).	The daily cash cost of past borrowing.	Future rates, or the split between marketable and non-marketable debt.	monthly
Outlays by department	MTS table 5 'Total--' department lines, FYTD and same months prior year.	Which departments paid out the most, and how that compares with last year.	Where the money ended up (see USAspending awards), or whether any of it was improper (see PaymentAccuracy.gov program rates).	monthly

Federal Audit Clearinghouse — single audit filings

Keyed on: Auditee UEI

Known limits: Only entities spending $750,000+ ($1,000,000 from FY2025) in federal awards file; absence is not a clean record and presence is not a problem. Findings are the auditor's terms; the filing does not say whether they were later resolved or their dollar effect.

Field	Means	Tells you	Does not tell you	Refresh
Federal expenditures	Total federal awards expended in the fiscal year, as filed on the SF-SAC.	The scale of federal money the entity handled that year.	Whether the money was well spent.	24 h; annual filings
Findings / material weakness / going concern	Counts and yes/no flags exactly as the auditor filed them, including findings marked repeat from the prior year.	What the independent auditor reported about controls and compliance.	Fault, fraud, or resolution; a finding is a reported condition, not a verdict, and many are corrected before the next audit.	24 h; annual

SEC EDGAR

Keyed on: CIK

Known limits: Filings are the registrant's own statements. A late-filing notice (Form 12b-25) is the lawful procedure when a filing will be late, not a finding.

Field	Means	Tells you	Does not tell you	Refresh
Filings and late-filing notices	Filing counts and NT 10-K/10-Q notices for the CIK the reader picked.	What the registrant filed and when.	Whether disclosures were accurate; whether a late notice signals anything beyond lateness.	per query

Printed copies carry the source links and the time pulled (2026-11-10 16:50 UTC); the live record may have changed since.Archive hash of 2026-11-09: 1d61abdd84933172…