What does your standard search logic do?

When you enter a debtor's name and click on "Search", our standard search logic will "normalize" the name and then check for matches. Only the standard search uses our standard search logic.

 

What does "normalize" mean?

"Normalized" text is text that is modified in order to make it consistent. This helps to improve the results of a standard search.

 

How do you normalize names?

Organizations:  

• The name is converted to upper case.
• Ampersands (&) are converted to "and".
• Characters that are not 0-9 or A-Z, including punctuation, are replaced by a space.
• Spaces at the beginning or end of the name are removed.
• If there are two (or more) spaces in a row, extra spaces are removed and only one will remain. 
• "A", "an" and "the" at the beginning or end of a name are removed.
  • "A" is not removed if it is followed by "and" and a space (such as "A and M, Inc." or "A & M, Inc.")
• "Ending noise words" are ignored (e.g., "company", "Corp", "Inc", etc.)
• All spaces are removed.
• Only names that are an exact match to the normalized name are included in the results.

For example, if you searched for "The ABC Company", your results would include:

• ABC Co
• ABC Company
• ABC Inc
• ABC LLC
• ABC Partnership
• The ABC Company

Individuals:

• Only the last name, first name, and middle name are used.
• A last name is required
• The name is converted to upper case
• Any characters that are not 0-9 or A-Z, including punctuation, are replaced by a space.
• Spaces in the last name, first name, and middle name are removed.
• Only last names that are an exact match to the normalized last name are included in the results.

You can search for an individual using any of these combinations:

Search terms	A search for	Will return	Result includes records that
Last name	Smith	Smith	Match the exact last name. Have no first name. Have no middle name.
Last name, first initial	Smith, J	Smith, J Smith, John Smith, John A Smith, John Brandon	Match the exact last name. Have any first name that begins with the first initial. Have any middle initial or name.
Last name, first initial, middle initial	Smith, J J	Smith, J James Smith, John J Smith, John Jackson Smith, John James	Match the exact last name. Have any first name that begins with the first initial. Have any middle name that begins with the middle initial.
Last name, first initial, middle name	Smith, J Jean	Smith, J Jean Smith, Jane Jean Smith, Jane Jeanette	Match the exact last name. Have any middle name that begins with the middle name.  Have any first name that begins with the first initial.
Last name, first name	Smith, John	Smith, John Smith, John Adam Smith, John B Smith, Johnson	Match the exact last name. Have any name that begins with the first name. Have any middle initial or name.
Last name, first name, middle initial	Smith, John A	Smith, John A Smith, John Adam Smith, John Andrew Smith, Johnson A	Match the exact last name. Have any first name that begins with the first name. Have any middle name that begins with the middle initial.
Last name, first name, middle name	Smith, John James	Smith, John James Smith, John Jameson Smith, Johnny James Smith, Johnny Jameson	Match the exact last name. Have any first name that begins with the first name. Have any middle name that begins with the middle name.