Records & identity glossary
Plain-language definitions for the terms you'll meet in CoverFi results, in consumer-records data generally, and in the postal jargon that rides along with US address data. Terms are grouped: match semantics first, then data provenance, then postal/address codes.
Match outcomes
Match — the details submitted are consistent with one person on file. CoverFi requires a strong locator (email, phone, or date of birth) *plus* name agreement; a name alone never produces a match.
No match — the submitted combination is not consistent with anyone on file. Not proof a person doesn't exist — proof the combination doesn't hang together in the data.
Needs review — partially consistent: some submitted details agree with a record, others disagree or are missing. The honest middle outcome most systems round up or down.
Match confidence — a 0–100 signal of how consistent the submitted details are with the matched record. Higher means more independent details agree. It is a signal for prioritizing human verification, not a verdict.
Match tiers
When an exact search finds nothing, CoverFi widens one criterion at a time rather than failing silently. Every widened result is labeled with the tier that produced it:
Contact match — the searched email or phone matched directly. The strongest tier; other typed details may still disagree and are noted per row.
Contact reassigned — the searched email or phone is on file under a *different name*. Phone numbers get recycled; this tier surfaces that instead of hiding it.
Contact corrected — the exact contact isn't on file but a close variant is: a common email-domain typo, or the same seven-digit number under a different area code.
Former name (AKA) — matched a maiden, former, or alternate name linked to the person rather than their current primary name.
Nickname — matched a recognized short form (Bill/William, Peggy/Margaret).
Name order — matched with first and last name transposed; "Last, First" input with a comma forces exact ordering.
Compound surname — matched an alternate spelling of a multi-part surname: spaced versus joined (De La Cruz / DelaCruz) or punctuation removed.
DOB relaxed — everything but the exact date of birth matched; the date on file may differ or be recorded at month precision.
Nearby — no match in the exact city, so results include the same metro area or state, exact-city rows first.
Out of state — the exact name exists only in other states than the one searched.
Similar name, any state — the broadest tier: similar spelling plus the same date of birth, searched nationwide. Verify carefully before relying on it.
Data provenance
Record ID (GD-…) — CoverFi's permanent identifier for a person record. Stable across dataset refreshes; safe to store and use in API calls years later.
First seen / last seen — the dates a name, phone, email, or address was first and most recently observed in the source data. Recency is the core quality signal in records work: a phone last seen in 2017 deserves less trust than one seen this quarter.
Address history — the sequence of addresses associated with a person over time, each with observation dates. Historical addresses are how skip tracing bridges from where someone was to where they are.
Alternate names — spellings and name variants the data provider has linked to the same person: maiden names, hyphenation differences, transliterations.
Deceased flag — a marker that the person is reported deceased. CoverFi excludes deceased records from identity-check matches rather than letting them corroborate a live identity.
Masking — replacing field values with a locked placeholder while keeping the field's presence visible. CoverFi's free tier returns masked results that never reveal more about a person than the searcher already typed in (echo-only masking) — structure is visible, values require credits.
Suppression — removing a person's records from serving at their request. Suppressed records stop appearing in results for everyone. Requests go through the privacy request page.
Postal & address codes
DPV (Delivery Point Validation) — USPS confirmation that an address is a real, deliverable delivery point — the difference between "well-formed" and "actually exists."
Delivery point code — two digits that, combined with ZIP+4, uniquely identify a single mailbox.
Carrier route — the USPS code for the group of addresses served by one mail carrier (e.g. C012). Useful for grouping addresses by micro-neighborhood.
ZIP+4 — the four-digit extension narrowing a five-digit ZIP to a block face, building, or PO-box range.
Z4 type — what kind of delivery the ZIP+4 record represents: street, high-rise, PO box, or rural route.
Predirectional / postdirectional — the compass component before or after a street name: the *N* in N Main St, the *SW* in Park Ave SW.
FIPS code — the federal numeric identifier for a state and county (48453 = Travis County, TX). The join key between address data and census or property datasets.
Every field CoverFi actually stores, with its type and source block, is published in the data dictionary. For how these concepts combine into search behavior, see the API documentation.