Personal Finance
Experian Announces Expansion of Experian Verify Program
Experian has announced that it’s expanded its real-time income and employment verification tool Experian Verify.
About the update:
This week, the credit bureau Experian revealed that it was widening the score of its Verify program. With Verify, applicants can opt to share information directly from their employer’s payroll service, allowing creditors to confirm employment and income information more quickly and easily. Now, this service will be available to a wider variety of credit types, including mortgages, auto loans, and personal loans. Additionally, Experian estimates that that more than 85% of the United States workforce will qualify to have their information verified via this option.
As the Experian explains, verification of income and employment has long been a requirement for mortgage lending, with the practice now expanding to other types of lending. Thus, they are offering their Verify tool to more creditors. According to the bureau, this multi-step approach will help reduce dependencies on what they describe as complex and costly manual verification processes.
What they’re saying:
Announcing the expanded product, Experian SVP and GM of Experian Verification Solutions John Tsefrikas said, “With Experian Verify, we offer lenders multiple options to easily complete their income and employment verification while helping to provide consumers with the best possible experience.” Tsefrikas added, “Consumers must always consent to sharing their income and employment information with lenders through Experian Verify and, with this new enhancement, we’re helping remove the burden consumers face in providing paper documentation if a lender is unable to obtain this information in a digital and automated fashion.”
My thoughts:
On the one hand, Experian Verify sounds as though it could provide a better customer experience when it comes to confirming income. Thus, an expansion of the program would be welcomed. However, on the other hand, the fact that such verification is growing in popularity among other forms of credit could prove to be burdensome to other consumers, such as those who are self-employed or whose employers aren’t included as part of the program. Granted, this isn’t necessarily the fault of Experian, but it is a factor nonetheless.
Another concern is that this feature now allows Experian to access even more information about individuals. Considering the Equifax breach that happened only a few years ago, not all consumers may be too excited about that prospect.
All things considered, if nothing else, it will be interesting to see how Experian Verify expands from here and whether it is ultimately a benefit to consumers.
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