When interest rates drop, it often signals a spike in loan applications as consumers and businesses alike look to capitalize on lower borrowing costs. For lenders, this presents a unique opportunity to attract new customers and drive revenue growth. However, with opportunity comes the challenge of managing increased demand efficiently and cost-effectively. For a digital verification of employment/income (VOE/I) service provider, the key to helping lenders stay competitive lies in streamlining processes, reducing costs, and enhancing the borrower experience. Here are the top five areas to focus on when preparing for an interest rate decline, starting with technology investments, consistent policies, and automation.

1. Invest in Technology to Reduce Loan Origination and Verification Costs

When interest rates drop, a surge in loan applications can strain a lender’s resources, leading to potential bottlenecks. Technology is essential to reducing the costs associated with loan origination and verification, helping lenders manage this increased demand without sacrificing accuracy or speed.

For VOE/I service providers, it’s crucial to develop tools that seamlessly integrate with lenders’ systems to reduce time and costs associated with income verification. Cloud-based solutions, for example, can streamline the process by offering secure, on-demand access to income verification data, eliminating the need for cumbersome paperwork and physical storage. Additionally, investing in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) algorithms can further reduce costs by automating complex data verification tasks, minimizing human error, and improving data accuracy.

When selecting or enhancing technology, consider scalability and flexibility as top priorities. Ensure the system can handle spikes in demand and integrate with a range of third-party platforms that lenders may use. This way, as loan applications increase, the technology can seamlessly support the volume without additional strain on resources.

2. Develop Consistent Policies and Procedures Throughout the Loan Manufacturing Process

A sudden increase in loan applications can put pressure on a lender’s policies and procedures. Inconsistent processes not only lead to inefficiencies but also increase the risk of errors, regulatory issues, and customer dissatisfaction. VOE/I service providers can play a key role in helping lenders develop and implement standardized policies and procedures for loan verification.

Consistency is particularly important in compliance-heavy areas, such as income verification, as regulations may vary between different jurisdictions. By creating uniform policies and training teams across the board, lenders can ensure that every application is processed with the same level of diligence, regardless of volume. This also helps in reducing loan cycle times, as there’s less need for manual intervention and double-checking.

VOE/I service providers should work closely with lenders to ensure that verification policies align with regulatory standards and industry best practices. They can provide lenders with customizable templates and process guides to foster a consistent approach to income verification. In doing so, lenders will not only streamline their operations but also instill confidence in borrowers, knowing their applications are being processed in a reliable, efficient manner.

3. Automate and Streamline Manual Processes

Many steps in the loan manufacturing process are still heavily manual, from document collection to data entry and income verification. These manual steps are not only time-consuming but also introduce the risk of errors, especially when application volumes rise in response to lower interest rates. VOE/I service providers are uniquely positioned to help lenders replace manual workflows with automated processes.

Automation in income verification can take several forms, such as optical character recognition (OCR) to digitize physical documents or APIs that pull income data directly from payroll providers or banks. These technologies reduce the need for borrowers to provide extensive paperwork, thus improving their experience while speeding up the processing time for lenders.

Additionally, consider the benefits of automating borrower communication. Automated notifications can keep borrowers informed of their application’s status, reducing the likelihood of repeated inquiries and allowing staff to focus on more complex tasks. Automation not only drives operational efficiency but also enhances transparency and satisfaction, ensuring that lenders can handle larger volumes of applications without sacrificing service quality.

4. Strengthen Cybersecurity to Protect Sensitive Borrower Information

With an increase in applications comes a higher volume of sensitive information flowing through digital systems. As VOE/I providers support lenders in processing this information, strengthening cybersecurity measures becomes essential to protect borrower data and maintain trust.

Investing in robust cybersecurity solutions is crucial. This includes implementing encryption protocols to protect data at rest and in transit, multi-factor authentication for system access, and regular security audits. Ensure that your verification platform complies with relevant industry standards, such as GDPR or CCPA, to safeguard against potential data breaches.

Lenders also benefit from working with VOE/I providers who adopt a proactive approach to cybersecurity. This includes monitoring for threats in real-time, keeping software up-to-date, and training staff on best practices. In a highly competitive market, demonstrating a commitment to data security can be a significant differentiator for both VOE/I providers and lenders.

5. Enhance the Borrower Experience Through Personalization and Customer Support

In a competitive landscape where borrowers have many lending options, enhancing the borrower experience can set lenders apart. Personalization and customer support are crucial to making borrowers feel valued throughout the loan application process.

VOE/I providers can contribute by delivering a seamless verification experience. This may involve customizing workflows based on borrower profiles or offering tailored guidance for different types of applicants. For instance, a first-time borrower might require more information on the verification process, while a returning borrower might appreciate streamlined, expedited services.

Providing multi-channel support is also essential. Borrowers should have the option to contact support via chat, email, or phone, ensuring they can resolve issues quickly and efficiently. Additionally, incorporating a user-friendly interface in the VOE/I platform can help borrowers navigate the process with ease, further improving their overall experience.

When interest rates drop and application volumes rise, lenders who invest in borrower-centric processes will be better positioned to retain customers and foster positive word-of-mouth. VOE/I providers can partner with lenders to offer personalized services and customer support options, creating a smooth, satisfying experience that builds borrower loyalty.

Conclusion

When interest rates fall, lenders face the dual challenge of managing increased demand while maintaining operational efficiency and regulatory compliance. For VOE/I service providers, this presents an opportunity to empower lenders through innovative, streamlined solutions. By investing in technology to reduce costs, developing consistent policies, automating processes, strengthening cybersecurity, and enhancing the borrower experience, both lenders and VOE/I providers can thrive in a high-demand market.

As the financial industry continues to evolve, preparing for future rate drops will be crucial. VOE/I service providers who proactively adapt to these key areas will help lenders meet demand and remain competitive, providing borrowers with a fast, secure, and satisfying experience. Whether you’re a lender or a VOE/I provider, prioritizing these strategies will position you for success in a fluctuating interest rate environment.

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This integration aligns seamlessly with Informative Research’s mission to provide end-to-end credit and verification services that streamline the lending process and drive positive outcomes for lenders and borrowers alike. With Veri-Tax’s expertise and technology complementing Informative Research’s existing capabilities, clients can expect enhanced efficiency, accuracy, and speed in their verification processes.

“We recognized the need for a strategic partner that shares our commitment to delivering value in verification services,” said Informative Research SVP Craig Leabig. “This collaboration expands the product set available on Informative Research’s Verification Platform. Adding a best-in-breed manual verification product to the mix enhances our ability to help lenders streamline the loan manufacturing process.”

By eliminating manual procedures and significantly reducing turnaround times, Veri-Tax enhances Informative Research’s service offerings, ultimately enhancing the borrower experience and expediting loan origination timelines. Leveraging its “employer happiness” process, innovative digital tools, and an employer intelligence database of over 4 million transactions and growing, Veri-Tax ensures swift and precise verifications, further bolstering Informative Research’s reputation for efficiency and reliability in the mortgage industry.

“Employer sourced data is accurate, detailed, contextual, and prospective making it an essential complement to payroll data. But employer interactions are daunting and complicated. So, we have been sharply focused in streamlining and re-engineering this manual process with technology and data, and achieved market leadership as a result of our disciplined focus,” said Veri-Tax CEO Nick Lim. “We are excited by our collaboration with Informative Research and look forward to the opportunity to help serve their clients. By combining our expertise and resources, we are poised to redefine industry standards and drive positive outcomes for lenders and borrowers alike.”

Veri-Tax concentrates solely on verifications of employment and income. This specialization allows them to excel in their domain, offering unparalleled expertise and efficiency to clients. Veri-Tax’s commitment to excellence has earned them partnerships with many of the nation’s top lenders, who entrust them with 100% of their manual verification needs. By partnering with Veri-Tax, Informative Research gains access to this expertise and reputation, further solidifying its position as a leading provider of credit and verification solutions in the mortgage industry.

About Informative Research

Informative Research, a Stewart company, is a leading technology platform that delivers data-driven solutions to the lending community. The solutions provider currently serves mortgage companies, banks, and lenders throughout the United States. The company is recognized for streamlining the loan process with its straightforward service model, progressive solutions, and cutting-edge technology. To learn more, visit https://www.informativeresearch.com.

About Veri-Tax

Veri-Tax is a leading national verification specialist sharply focused on offering Verification of Income and Employment, 4506-C Tax Transcripts, and SSN and EIN Verifications. We have been fortunate to have earned the trust and confidence of nearly 1,000 clients and growing including 3 of the top 5 banks in the country and other large, midsized, and smaller banks, credit unions, lenders, fintech players, and other financial services players. Our technology-enabled service is ultimately differentiated by our “customer happiness” culture which guides our strategy, innovation, and execution on each and every single order every day. Visit Veri-Tax.com or call our Customer Happiness Team at (800) 969-5100 to learn more.

Media Contact
Lindsey Neal
Depth for Informative Research
(404) 549-9282
lindsey@depthpr.com

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Please read how Carolyn delivers our Customer Happiness Promise below!

Carolyn Peterson

Customer Happiness Representative (Irvine Remote Team)

“I would imagine my co-workers would say that the core value I embrace the most would be over-communication. They’re probably right! My personal core values and goals are to take initiative where it’s needed and always remember to work as a team. I strive to make sure that whatever queue I’m in, I take the time to be sure that I’ve completed that order to the best of my ability so that the next person to touch it will be able to do their job more effectively. If, by the end of the day, I’ve helped a caller to reach their goals quicker, I’ve helped a lead by taking the initiative on keeping eyes on queues that might need tending, or personally assisted a team member to lighten their load, then I’ve had a successful day. Because, in the end, working together is what it’s all about.”

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Please read how Jessica delivers our Customer Happiness Promise below!

Jessica Van Sciver

Team Lead Queue Manager (Irvine Remote Team)

“Our Customer Happiness Promise means making sure we go above and beyond to make our clients and employers happy. This can be doing extra work on an order to ensure good turnaround times for our clients to having a friendly tone when talking with employers. I would say that the 2 core values that I use the most are Make Lemonade and LOL Everyday. I feel like as a Queue Manager you never know that will be through your way to overcome and so we are always having to Make Lemonade to make the best of the situation that we are dealing with (people calling out, low order volume, ect). I also try to LOL Everyday as it just makes for a better day. It could be as simple as sending GIFs to someone over chat or just laughing off something that happened.

Being a Queue Manager is a lot of work. We have to stay on top and monitor all of the queues to ensure that the operation is running smoothly. We also have to know who is trained in what and what their work hours are for the day. We are always making moves throughout the day (which our processors know the most haha). When it comes to making lemonade we are always doing that cause we get thrown curveballs of being calling out sick, leaving early, low volume, high volume and more. For example, when a caller calls out for the day or leaves early we have to ensure that we reassign their orders so they can still be handled in a timely manner.”

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Please read how Jaya delivers our Customer Happiness Promise below!

Jaya Musal

Customer Happiness Representative (Irvine Remote Team)

“Customer Happiness to me is doing everything we can do to avoid any delays for our clients and taking each order closer to the completion. It is so satisfying to see rush requests being completed because I was able to go above and beyond on the order which helped getting the completion.

I remember this verbal rush request I had that I received late in the day and the client note said that they were closing that day and the employer’s business hours were closed for the East Coast employer, so it was looking very hopeless to get that request completed that day. However, keeping client request and hope in mind, I knew that I can at least try my best to get the request completed. I found quite a few contacts on employer site, so I tried a few of those and luckily one person was working later which I was able to get hold of and completed the request. That felt so good, and I also emailed the client right away letting them know that we were able to complete their request. It felt really good!!

Ultimately, I try to put myself in the client’s place and treat each order as if this was my loan and how I would like it to be treated!”

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Please read how Jamie delivers our Customer Happiness Promise below!

Jamie Czajkowski

Senior Systems Engineer (Anchorage, AK)

“Working within the IT department can be unique at times because when we consider ‘Delivering Customer Happiness’ we not only have to think about our external customers who are placing orders for our services, but we also consider everyone internally at Veri-Tax as our “Customers”.

Primarily this is factored in terms of system uptime where our goal as an IT organization is to have “Five-Nines” or 99.999% system availability each year. This means that we aim for less than 5 minutes and 15 seconds of unplanned production system downtime every year. We experience technology issues like any other organization, but our design philosophy is built around multi-layered redundancy across our networks, servers, firewalls, ISP connections, redundant-power, and all of these allow us to generally continue serving our internal and external clients even if we are temporarily degraded in one aspect or another or a particular user is having an issue with something.

As a member of the Infrastructure Team, I will be honest that I don’t have much direct communication with our external customers on the average day and rely heavily on feedback from other teammates at Veri-Tax for questions or suggestions on areas where we could improve our systems, services, and overall IT posture. I’ve always found the best way of doing this is just by being available. I can’t promise that I WON’T ask you to open an IT ticket about a particular issue you bring up, but my mailbox is always open and anyone can feel free to reach out to me on Teams for basic IT questions and issues they experience and I’m happy to assist as best as I can.”

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Please read how Beatriz delivers our Customer Happiness Promise below!

Beatriz Mamede da Rocha

Customer Service Representative (Irvine Remote Team)

“I deliver customer happiness by implementing the Core Values: ‘Make Lemonade’ and ‘Wear Any Hat.’ My work ethic is to do my best to serve our clients and I put myself in their place to try to help them like I would like to be helped. For each order, I work diligently to provide the best work and to complete it as fast as possible. I like to carry the message that we are reliable. And I enjoy motivating my fellow co-workers in keeping up with the good work by sending out stats emails daily. In addition to that, by knowing many queues, I’m able to hop from one queue to another, so I can help with the order volume. I look forward to learning new queues and acquiring new hats to help clients and colleagues alike.”

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Fannie Mae also reports income and employment fraud as more than 50% of their investigative findings in the last year.

• Fabricated income documents (Paystubs and W-2’s)
• Interested parties to the transaction posing as employers
• Falsified bank statements showing direct deposits

In today’s environment, we find lenders are looking for ways to cut costs and bringing the VOE/VOI process in house. This poses a big risk opening the lender to a repurchase.

• Below are a few ways Veri-Tax can help you mitigate risk of consumer misrepresentation.
• Consumer permissioned payroll data sourced from payroll provider
• Independently validate employer through trusted 3rd party sources
• Intelligent employer database of 4 million HR/Payroll records
• Digital VOE platform for employers to complete verifications electronically and securely

CONTACT US TO LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW VERI-TAX CAN HELP MITIGATE RISK!

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Please read how Leticia delivers our Customer Happiness Promise below!

Leticia Ceja

Customer Service Representative (Irvine Remote Team)

“Delivering customer happiness to me means putting yourself in the client’s shoes. It means understanding the type of industry we work in, what’s at stake and why clients might need things rushed or extra information verified. It means understanding that since you are assisting with processing an order, you are essentially a piece of the puzzle in a borrower’s loan process so it’s important to always take that extra step to ensure our piece of the puzzle is a smooth process for them. In the end, that’s what our clients like to see and what ultimately keeps them happy.”

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EPC is the new highly anticipated API platform that offers clients a new look and feel with added functionalities that are not currently available on the PSDK legacy platform. With our Encompass Partner Connect integration, you will benefit from:

• New look, improved design making the platform easier to navigate and place orders (e.g., similar design and flow that mirrors the Veri-Tax web portal making it more streamline with less clicks)
• Specifically identifies errors that prevent orders from being placed within Encompass® (e.g., missing required data fields, corrupt forms etc.)
• Ability to add additional “real time” comments within Encompass after the order is placed
• History of order comments now available for real time status updates
• Ability to cancel order within Encompass after order has been placed
• Completed reports will be automatically available in the eFolder upon order completion
• Ability to add CPA information for self-employed VOE orders within Encompass
• Blend compatibility now available! Upload a Blend e-signed borrower authorization directly from the documents folder/eFolder.

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