Mortgage applications are set to become speedier after Nationwide joined forces with Experian to automate the checks needed to verify a customer’s income.
Through Experian’s Work Report™ income and employment verification service, Nationwide is able to digitally confirm homebuyers’ declared income instantly, removing the need for applicants to provide manual income proofs, such as copies of their payslips.
Typically, a mortgage decision in principle is subject to verification of income. This can create uncertainty and delays for customers and brokers alike. By incorporating Work Report™ into its application journey, Nationwide is further streamlining and automating its income verification process to quickly obtain a highly accurate view of the applicant’s income.
Alongside its recent expansion of automated valuation models, Work Report™ has increasingly enabled a move towards instant offers, in minutes rather than days, improving efficiency and certainty for both customers and mortgage brokers.
Paul Speirs, Managing Director, Consumer Information Services, Experian UK&I, said: “Income verification is a key point of friction in the mortgage journey and having one of the country’s largest and most well-known mortgage lenders use our solution to enhance their service is outstanding recognition for the value Work Report brings.
“We collaborated closely with Nationwide for more than two years on the project, developing a full payslip categorisation capability so data can be managed consistently, and helping unlock the key automation benefit for them and ultimately their customers.”
Henry Jordan, Nationwide’s Director of Home, said: “We are simplifying the homebuying experience for both brokers and customers. The introduction of Work Report is a new and important step in the way our mortgage application process will work.
“Removing the need to provide proofs and introducing automated verifications will make it quicker for brokers and customers to move from a decision in principle to getting an instant offer.”
Ben Robbins, Senior Mortgage and Protection Adviser at DGS Financial, said: “I use it all the time I find it fantastic. It makes my life so much easier, giving me the confidence that what I have entered is correct and has been verified. A large amount of my clients have benefited from a positive experience reflected in the days from application to offer.”
Work Report™ is the first digital verification service that will allow consumers to consent to digitally share their payroll information with another organisation. It provides connectivity to an employer’s payroll data to provide direct confirmation of a consumer’s gross and net income, as well as their employment status and tenure, in a matter of seconds.