Experian is expanding the payroll data available through its income and employment verification network through a new integration with Workday.
The integration will expand the real-time income and employment information accessible through Experian Verify, according to the companies. Experian says its broader verification network now has a path to more than 80 million records, representing more than half of U.S. payroll employees.
For mortgage lenders and originators, however, the significance is straightforward: the more borrowers whose employment and income can be verified directly through payroll data, the fewer files potentially requiring manual verification or additional borrower documentation.
Workday customers will be able to verify income and employment through Experian as part of Workday Total Benefits beginning in late October.
“Whether it’s buying a home, purchasing a family vehicle, getting a job, or navigating another important financial milestone, behind every verification request is a person trying to move forward,” said Michele Bodda, group president of Experian Verification Solutions, Employer Services and Housing.
“Our integration with Workday gives employers another way to support those moments while helping reduce the verification burden on their HR teams,” Bodda added.
Verification Competition Is Growing
The deal comes as income and employment verification becomes an increasingly competitive part of the mortgage technology stack.
Experian Verify is an authorized income and employment validation report supplier for Fannie Mae's Desktop Underwriter validation service. Experian is also among the service providers supported by Freddie Mac's Loan Product Advisor Asset and Income Modeler for payroll income and employment verification.
Freddie Mac's current AIM service-provider roster includes other companies competing in various parts of the verification market, including Equifax, Argyle, Truv, Truework, Blend, and others. The providers and the types of data they support vary, and Freddie Mac notes that lenders remain responsible for determining whether a provider meets their requirements.
NMP has tracked that competition increasingly moving closer to the point of origination.
Earlier this month, Argyle introduced a broker-branded verification experience for wholesale lenders, allowing income, employment, and asset verification requests to carry the originating broker's name while giving the wholesale lender standardized documentation for underwriting.
Another recent Argyle integration with Tidalwave brings direct-source borrower income, employment, and asset information into ICE Mortgage Technology's Encompass LOS.
And in August, Checkr agreed to acquire Truv, adding consumer-permissioned payroll and banking connections to its verification business. Truv had already been expanding its mortgage footprint, including a real-time income and employment verification integration with Pylon announced in June.
The common thread is a shift toward obtaining borrower information closer to its source rather than relying exclusively on documents collected from borrowers.
Experian Is Building Out Its Mortgage Verification Strategy
The Workday integration also builds on Experian's own push to make a larger pool of payroll information usable earlier in the mortgage process.
In March, Experian introduced its Verify Preview Report for mortgage lenders, which allows lenders to see which employment records are available for a borrower before ordering a full income and employment verification report. Experian offers the preview at no cost and says it is intended to help lenders avoid unnecessary verification orders and determine earlier when another verification method may be needed.
That combination — broader payroll coverage and visibility into whether a record is available before purchasing the full verification — addresses two related challenges for lenders: finding the data and controlling the cost of retrieving it.
Experian markets Verify specifically for mortgage lending and says automated verification can reduce manual processing and accelerate time to close.
