Payscore: automating income and ID verification accurately, easily, and securely

Automating income verification

Payscore, formerly known as The Closing Docs, was founded by Stephen Arifin and Mark Fiebig in October 2017. What motivated them?

Well, Stephen’s early research confirmed that frustrations Mark experienced over decades as a property manager were shared across the industry. This assessment motivated the pair to attack the problem with a cloud-based software design. After interviewing operators of all sizes, it became apparent that existing processes were failing businesses every day, regardless of scale. Onsite teams and property and lending professionals agreed that wasted time, inaccuracy, risks of fraud and liability exposure, and the need to make consistent, objective decisions are their most significant challenges. Furthermore, all these problem areas coalesced around income verification as the biggest offender, leading Stephen and Mark to define an emergent, fintech / proptech solution they named: automated income verification.

Automating ID verification

Assessing an applicant's income properly requires establishing the truth behind their identity. Since Payscore focuses on making life easy for its customers, we launched an effort to tackle this problem. One of the main issues customers raised was that current ID verification methods require dedicated hardware, often an expensive camera or iPad. These costly devices are one drop away from requiring replacement and, sadly, have an odd tendency to flee the site. We challenged the engineering team to solve this problem, with the accuracy, ease, and security onsite teams deserve and they delivered the new industry standard.

Addressing inaccuracy and unfairness

Early in discovery, they also identified how the current, pay stub-based approach to income verification amplified pre-existing unfairness and inequity in the rental housing market. Wage documentation often failed to reflect the true earnings of potential renters. And tips-based income is often poorly or even un-documented, rendering a person with cash-based earnings, or even a member of the “gig economy” struggling to prove their capacity to pay rent. The Payscore team realized their automated approach would not only accelerate and greatly simplify the application process but also raise the level of fairness by systemically treating all earnings as valid, not just documented wages.

Today, Payscore is automating income verification for over 700,000 properties nationwide. Recognizing that income verification challenges industries beyond real estate, the team also supports borrowers and lenders culminating loans in over 2,500 motorsports dealerships across the United States.