About

This document covers the setup and options of the Credit Assist API

The Credit Assist API is ideal for any business that would gain from receiving current, easy to understand and accurate business credit information on demand. A business that needs to make credit decisions quickly or a sales and marketing business that needs to identify potential sales prospects would greatly benefit from using the Credit Assist API.

Prerequisites

                It is essential that anyone wishing to use the Credit Assist API has some experience in developing software that uses HTTP and JSON.Credit Assist cannot provide any advice and support on developing your own software
              

REST Webservice

The Credit Assist RESTful Web API is completely designed in within the REST architecture. REST is not a technology it’s rather an architectural style of exposing API to the web service consumers. An important concept in REST is the existence of resources (sources of specific information), each of which is referenced with a global identifier (e.g., a URI in HTTP).

Transport

The Credit Assist RESTful Web API Service exchanges JSON over HTTP. Requests are submitted via the HTTP POST method, with a Content-Type of text/json. Sessions are usually synchronous, with the requested JSON data being returned in the response.

Endpoints

              
                Production API:  api.creditassist.co.uk
              	Development API:  dev-api.creditassist.co.uk

Authentification

Credit Assist uses sessionless authentication. For each request an API Key and API Secret has to be included into the request-header. On receiving any post we will go through several stages of checking what is being sent and authenticating the sender. In all cases an JSON response will be sent (even if the initial post wasn't JSON). Authentication will be performed through a combination of a API Key and API Secret.

Supplying Basic Auth headers

Build a string of the form apikey:apisecret
Base64 encode the string
Supply an "Authorization" header with content "Basic " followed by the encoded string, e.g. "Basic YWRtaW46YWRtaW4="

Example Request

              
              curl -D- -X GET -H "Authorization: Basic ZnJlZDpmcmVk" -H "Content-Type: application/json" https://creditassist.co.uk/v1/companySearch/?searchTerm=creditassist&countrycode=GB

Company Search

Endpoint	`api.creditassist.co.uk/companySearch`
Type	GET
Description	This endpoint returns the best matches for given criteria.

REQUEST PARAMETERS

Name	Data Type	Required	Example	Description
BusinessID	string	false	804735132	A 9-character numeric string identifying the entity by our unique id number.
registrationNumber	string	false	11514917000120	The number assigned by an external body that either uniquely identifies or helps to identify an organization. This value is required for Registration Match.
registrationNumberType	integer	false	33482	A unique code assigned by Dun & Bradstreet to identify the type of registration number. Refer to RegistrationNumberType.xlsx file for all possible values which are a subset of Code Table 7 [Registration Number Type]. Note : registrationNumberType is optional except for inquiries on the following, where it is mandatory. * 33461 Office of Scottish Charity Regulator Charity Number (GB) * 33462 Charity Commission of Northern Ireland Charity Number (GB) * 33463 Charity Commission for England & Wales Charity Number (GB) * 33482 Financial Conduct Authority Reference Number (GB)
name	string	false	string used to search for entities	Up to 240 characters used to find the entity by its primary name, tradestyle names, or former names. This value is required for Asian Matching and High-Volume matching.
streetAddressLine1	string	false	street address	Up to 70 characters of the first line of the entity's street address. This value is required for "Name and Address" Match.
streetAddressLine2	string	false	street address line 2	Up to 70 characters of the second line of the entity's street address.
country	string	false	GB	The 2-letter country/market code defined by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) ISO 3166-1 scheme identifying the country of the entity. This parameter is required for "Name and Address", "Registration Number" and "Telephone Number" Match.
postalCode	string	false	94536	Up to 10 characters of the identifier used by the local country's postal authority to identify where the address is located. This value is required for Postal Code Match.
addressLocality	string	false	London	1 to 50 characters that identifies the city, town, township, village, borough, etc. where the entity is located.
addressRegion	string	false	NJ	The name of the locally governed area that forms part of a centrally governed nation to identify where the address is located. Note: As a guiding principle this is a geographic area which could theoretically exist as a separate nation. In the U.S. this would be a State. In the UK this would be one of the Home Nations. If country is US or CA, the Region must be 2 characters. For other countries, it can be up to 64 characters.
addressCounty	string	false	Essex	The name of the county in which this address is located. Applies only to high-volume match, not transactional Identity Resolution, Match and Append, or mult-process small batch requests.
telephoneNumber	string	false	5555555555	The sequence of digits used for voice communication with the entity. This sequence of digits includes the area code or city code and domestic dialing code. Valid values: - For Asian matching, up to 16 characters. - For non-Asian matching, up to 32 characters. This value is required for Telephone Number Match.
url	string	false	www.creditassist.co.uk	A URL used to identify an entity by its email domain.
email	string	false	[email protected]	An email address used to identify an entity by its email domain.
candidateMaximumQuantity	integer	false	25	The maximum number of results to be returned. Valid values: 1 to 100 If not specified, the default of 10 is used. Value is ignored for Multi-Process which always uses value of 1. Maximum limit is 25, except for a nationwide search in US, CA - Maximum limit is 100. Note : Refer Guide as this value varies based on IDR Lookup type and this parameter is not applicable for Multi-Process Batch Match and High-Volume Match.
confidenceLowerLevelThresholdValue	integer	false	7	The lowest confidence level for entities returned in the response. Valid values: 1 to 10 If not specified, the default of 4 is used. Note: This value is ignored for Asian Matching and Multi-Process High-Volume Match.
exclusionCriteria	string	false	ExcludeNonHeadQuarters,ExcludeNonMarketable	Provides the ability to exclude entities based on several properties. Values: * ExcludeNonHeadQuarters: Only entities that are headquarters are returned. A headquarter is defined as Parent/HQ, Domestic Ultimate, or Global Ultimate. * ExcludeNonMarketable: Only entities where isMarketable = true are returned. * ExcludeOutofBusiness: Only entities where isOutofBusiness = false are returned. * ExcludeUndeliverable: Only entities where isMailUndeliverable = false are returned. * ExcludeUnreachable: Only entites where isUnreachable = false are returned. Up to 5 attributes will be accepted. Note: This parameter is not applicable for Asian Matching and Multi-Process High-Volume Match.

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