Mortgage lenders need to manage acquisition costs while keeping prospective borrowers engaged. But gaining a clearer picture of an applicant’s finances earlier in the process has traditionally required additional steps, from connecting bank accounts to uploading documents, increasing the risk of drop-off before borrowers move forward.
That’s why we’re introducing Home Lending Insights—a set of borrower insights designed specifically for mortgage and HELOC lending—now available for eligible users through Instant Link, Plaid’s new connectivity experience designed to make cash flow and network-level insights easier to access across the lending lifecycle.
Instant Link: Access cash flow and network insights without adding borrower friction
For 1 in 2 U.S. adults with a bank account, Plaid is already a familiar way to connect their financial accounts. With Instant Link, eligible users can now consent to share cash flow and network-level insights through Plaid’s Consumer Reporting Agency (CRA) on subsequent credit applications, without having to reconnect their accounts.
Once a consumer has provided consent, lenders with a qualifying reason submit basic borrower information, like name, phone number, and address. Plaid matches that information to a consumer’s profile on our network and returns cash flow and network-level insights in under two seconds. For all other users, Plaid Link provides a fast, secure way to connect their financial accounts and share their financial data.
Instant Link works across Plaid’s credit insights, giving lenders a new, easier way to access income, cash flow, assets, and credit risk insights earlier in the lending lifecycle.
Home Lending Insights: Identify qualified borrowers from the start
Available through Instant Link, Home Lending Insights provides visibility into borrowers’ income, assets, financial obligations, and cash flow behavior—including signals like income sources, available cash reserves, and potential undisclosed obligations like buy-now-pay-later payments and new loan disbursements. For mortgage and HELOC lenders, that means access to Home Lending Insights from the moment a prospective borrower expresses interest.
The strength and speed of an early qualification or pre-approval depend on how much information a borrower shares and how confidently lenders can assess it. Home Lending Insights adds real-time financial context earlier in the process, giving lenders a more complete picture of a borrower’s financial capacity while helping them identify individuals who may be harder to qualify using traditional credit data alone, including thin-file borrowers and non-traditional earners.
In mortgage, that can mean better understanding prospective homebuyers before investing in more costly income, asset, and employment verification. For HELOCs, that same visibility can help lenders assess a homeowner’s current income and financial capacity, identify qualified homeowners, and deliver more personalized offers before asking for additional documentation.
Move seamlessly from early qualification to verification
As borrowers move from early qualification into formal verification, lenders can build on the financial context provided by Home Lending Insights with Plaid’s Home Lending Report. The report uses consumer-permissioned bank data to digitally verify borrower assets, including account balances and transaction history, to support mortgage underwriting.
Plaid’s Home Lending Report is GSE-approved for digital asset verification, helping lenders qualify for representation and warranty relief on assets, income, and employment for eligible loans. Built-in refresh capabilities also help lenders stay up to date on borrower finances through closing and into servicing.
To date, Plaid has powered over 72 million asset verifications, helping lenders move from early qualification into underwriting with greater confidence.
A more connected mortgage journey
Early qualification has traditionally given lenders a limited view of the borrower. Home Lending Insights, delivered through Instant Link, changes what lenders can understand at that moment by bringing cash flow and network-level insights into the picture from the start.
That richer context can make early qualification a more meaningful entry point to the mortgage journey, helping lenders identify and engage the right borrowers earlier and carry that understanding forward as borrowers move from qualification to closing and beyond.
See how Home Lending Insights and Instant Link can help you understand and qualify borrowers earlier.