FinLocker and Argyle are teaming up to help shorten the underwriting process and simplify mortgage applications for consumers.
The partnership will integrate Argyle’s real-time payroll data from its repository of 550,000 employers into FinLocker’s electronic vault for financial information, which contains personal credit, income, and account data. Via FinLocker’s app, borrowers can then present their verified financial profiles to lenders without having to upload documentation. Because the data is already verified, institutions can cut turn times and costs in loan decisioning. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Through Argyle, all the data can only be collected and used with the borrowers’ permission, which drove the decision for the partnership, according to FinLocker CEO Henry Cason. Cason took over the position in January after serving nearly 28 years at Fannie Mae, most recently as senior vice president and head of digital products.
“Mortgage decisions are based on a lender’s ability to verify a borrower’s identity, employment, income, credit, and assets,” Cason said in a press release. “However, this frequently laborious process often requires the borrower to provide multiple documents to their lender, causing friction and slowing down the decision process.”
The collaboration is the latest in a series of income verification products recently launched in an effort to better address the growing gig economy and potential home buyers with multiple income streams. Giving lenders accurate data upfront should help them mitigate risk while more mortgage-worthy borrowers achieve homeownership, according to Shmulik Fishman, CEO and founder of Argyle.
"Many workers are kept from financial upward mobility because income and employment data has traditionally been hard to manage, store, and keep track of — and fair access remains elusive,” Fishman said.
