The new tool acts as a single income verification provider across banking products and lending scenarios by combining multiple data sources and verification methods, enabling financial services firms to streamline credit risk assessments for all types of consumers, according to Blend.
The company revealed that more than 25 customers, including one of the five largest banks in the U.S., American Federal Mortgage, Lennar Mortgage, and IBC Mortgage have already signed on for the product.
“With the rise in gig economy and non-traditional work, income verification can be an obstacle for many consumers to gain access to financial services despite a strong ability to repay loans,” said Nima Ghamsari, co-founder and head of Blend. “Through Blend Income Verification, banking teams can confidently verify a consumer’s income in real-time without requiring time-consuming data entry or document uploads.”
Traditional methods of income verification require consumers to submit various forms of documentation, including pay stubs, W2s, and tax returns, to determine a consumer’s ability to pay back a loan. Data from these documents must then be manually extracted and reviewed. The company states that this method can prolong approvals and lead to delays. Blend believes that the new technology will help customers significantly reduce processing and underwriting work by pre-populating loan applications with verified payroll, tax, and asset data sourced directly from data service providers.
Blend Income Verification is an authorized report supplier for both Fannie Mae’s Desktop Underwriter (DU) validation service and Freddie Mac’s asset and income modeler (AIM), allowing financial services firms to take advantage of these programs for mortgages they manage through Blend. Additionally, the product will be fully integrated into Blend’s cloud banking platform.
Blend Income Verification is currently available for Blend’s mortgage product, and will soon scale to all the company’s consumer banking offerings.
