Open banking platform Tink is rolling out a new service in the U.K. that enables lenders to verify a person’s income using real-time data from their bank account, streamlining the entire verification process.
Income Check is Tink’s new product that leverages face recognition or a single-click verification to connect to a user’s bank account, where transactions are grouped by salary, pension, benefits, and cash deposits.
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Tink’s latest solution offers lenders an easy method of viewing a customer’s income over a longer period of time to get a clearer assessment of creditworthiness and repayment ability. This long view snapshot provides a comprehensive overview that shows irregular payments from freelance and gig economy work.
The tool also removes the necessity of using slow-moving manual verification processes, lowers expenses, reduces application time and boosts approval rates, according to the release. The introduction of the tool in the U.K. follows a successful launch across Europe in Sweden, Finland, Spain, France, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.
Currently live in 18 markets, Tink works with 300-plus financial institutions including NatWest, American Express, PayPal, ABN AMRO and BNP Paribas.
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“While income verification has always been a crucial part of the lending industry, the process itself has been far from simple — until now. With new capabilities made possible by open banking, income verification has finally entered the digital age, taking minutes to check instead of days or weeks,” said Tasha Chouhan, UK and IE banking lead at Tink.
“The arrival of our Income Check product in the UK, means that our UK partners can now instantly verify income directly from a user’s bank account, based on granular and secure real-time transaction data,” Chouhan said.
Chouhan added that the new solution is a benefit for both individuals and businesses because it offers reduced overhead with an improved user experience, along with an overall process that’s quicker and more accurate.