Coronavirus Crisis Causing Lenders to Tighten Standards

Changing Circumstances Bring Changing Standards

Mortgage rates continue to be at a near-record low. This means that even though our economy is slowing down during the COVID-19 crisis, home sales and particularly refinancing are still going on. But, because lenders and businesses are both operating with smaller and often virtual staff, lenders are moving to stricter standards to help protect against borrower default. They’re adding overlays to their origination process including raising the minimum credit score, reducing the age of documentation needed and making sure verification of employment is done within days of the closing of the loan. In some instances, they are needing to obtain verification within 3 days of loan closing.

The Need to Move Fast, Yet Stay Compliant

Lenders need to be able to move fast. They need to be able to get a hold of someone authorized to provide the borrower’s employment status within days. And, they need to do so in a secure and compliant manner. As you can imagine, this can prove difficult because many businesses are currently running bare-bones operations remotely. Some are turning to phone calls and emails for verifications. However, neither of these is the safest or most reliable.

Lenders need a quick, but secure and compliant way to verify employment. And, employers need an efficient and safe option to respond to verifications without disrupting their already strained operations. That’s where we see Verifent as a key tool to have in your toolbox. By utilizing a cloud-based, secure solution like Verifent for requesting and responding to verification requests, lenders and employers can efficiently and securely communicate so that employees can move through the underwriting process as smoothly as possible.

If you would like to learn how you can get set up using Verifent today, schedule a 30-minute demo or contact us.