What Is a CRD Number?
A CRD number is the permanent ID number behind every registered brokerage firm and registered representative in the United States. Here is how to find one, free, and what the record behind it actually tells you.
The short answer
To look up a CRD number, go to FINRA BrokerCheck at brokercheck.finra.org and search by person name, firm name, or the CRD number itself. The number appears at the top of the report, along with registration status, employment history, and any reported complaints or regulatory actions. It is free and takes about two minutes.
CRD stands for Central Registration Depository — the registration system FINRA operates for securities firms and their people. Individuals and firms each get their own number, and an individual's number never changes, even when they move firms.
What a CRD number is — and what it is not
Individual CRD number
Assigned to a registered representative the first time they register. It follows them for their entire career, across every firm they work for.
Found on their BrokerCheck report and, if they are also an investment adviser representative, on their record at adviserinfo.sec.gov.
Firm CRD number
A separate number for the brokerage firm itself. A legitimate professional can quote both their own number and their firm's.
Registered advisory firms also carry an SEC file number beginning 801- or 802-. That is a different identifier, not a CRD number.
A CRD number is not proof of safety
Impersonators routinely quote the real CRD number of a genuine professional and then give you their own phone number and email. The number checking out only proves that the number belongs to a registered person — not that the person contacting you is that person.
Always take the phone number from the regulator's record or the firm's official website and call that instead of the number you were given.
How to look up a CRD number, step by step
1Start at FINRA BrokerCheck
BrokerCheck is the free public front end to the Central Registration Depository. No account, no fee.
2Search by name, firm, or the CRD number itself
If someone gave you a CRD number, type it in and see whether the record that comes back is genuinely the person you are dealing with.
3Read the full report, not just the summary
The detailed report lists employment history, licences held, exams passed, and every reported disclosure event.
4Cross-check the investment adviser side
Many professionals are advisers rather than brokers, or both. The same CRD number carries across.
How do I find someone's CRD number if they never gave me one?
- Search their full name and city on BrokerCheck — the number is on the record itself, so you do not need it to start.
- Search the firm name on BrokerCheck and open the list of registered people at that firm.
- Look on their business card, email signature, or the disclosure page of the firm website; many firms publish CRD numbers.
- Search their name on adviserinfo.sec.gov, which displays the same CRD number for adviser representatives.
- Ask them directly. A registered professional will give it without hesitation — being asked is routine.
What the record should — and should not — show
Warning signs
- The CRD number you were given belongs to someone with a different employer, city, or age
- They refuse to give a CRD number, or say their firm "does not use one"
- The name is almost identical to a well-known registered firm (a common impersonation tactic)
- Registration lapsed years ago but they still present themselves as licensed
- Multiple customer complaints or a regulatory action on the report
- They send you a screenshot of a record instead of letting you search it yourself
Reassuring signs
- The CRD number matches the name, firm, and location you were told
- Current registration in the state where you live
- Employment history with no unexplained gaps or rapid firm-hopping
- Disclosures, if any, are old, minor, and openly explained
- The firm CRD number also checks out on BrokerCheck
- They encourage you to verify them independently
What to do next
Run the CRD check on the person or firm in front of you now, and save a dated copy of the report before you send any money.
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Who writes these guides
Written and reviewed by the Smart Money Verified Team. We build every guide from primary regulator material, we take no payment from any company we write about, and we say plainly when public records cannot answer a question. Our guides are education, not financial advice.
Primary sources we work from
How we check things: our methodology · disclosures