ACRAnet, a national background screening company headquartered in Spokane, has acquired the assets of AIRFactz,  a competitor also based in Spokane, says Nicholas Warrick, ACRAnet’s president and owner. 

ACRAnet, founded here in 1903 as Credit Bureau Services Inc., now provides consumer and business credit reports as well as employment and tenant background screening services. 

Warrick declines to disclose the terms of the Nov. 1 transaction involving AIRFactz, but says the acquisition included AIRFactz’ client lists, office equipment, and proprietary contracts on some of the company’s software. Warrick says it was a cash purchase. 

ACRAnet has retained AIRFactz’ staff of 12 employees, which brings its total workforce to 42 people. The staff has relocated to ACRAnet’s offices at 521 W. Maxwell, where ACRAnet occupies 6,000 square feet of office space. A sister company of ACRAnet’s, CBS Collections Inc., occupies the remaining 9,000 square feet in that building, Warrick says. 

AIRFactz, which had been in business since 1980, had been located at 1213 S. Pines Road in Spokane Valley. 

ACRAnet operates sales offices in Portland and Seattle and has 12 affiliates throughout the U.S., he says. ACRA provides services such as marketing, billing and information access to support affiliates by working with national lenders and brokers to build subscribers nationwide. 

Warrick says the acquisition will enable the company to gain footprints in some areas where ACRAnet was not active, including other parts of the Northwest and Nevada. 

“It gives us a customer base we hadn’t been able to reach,” Warrick says. 

“By combining volumes, it will give us economy of scale, and we’ll be able to expand our marketing efforts,” he says. 

Both companies use the same technology and software, which will make the transition easier, adds Warrick.