How Purpose Financial approves 99% of loan applicants who verify their income using Plaid

It’s no secret that verifying the income of loan applicants is slow and tedious. It’s also error-prone and for many, it’s a process that often ends in rejection. But when it comes to instant income verification tools on the market, not all are created equal. 

Last fall, Purpose Financial suddenly found itself in need of a new income verification tool for its brand, Advance America. Not only was their current tool slow, forcing many would-be borrowers to drop out of the application flow, but its provider had also decided to sunset the product. Purpose had just 90 days to find a new solution. 

Given that Advance America is one of the largest providers of personalized financial services in the US, this was no small task. Since 1997, the company has issued more than 134 million loans, including payday loans, online loans, installment loans, title loans, and personal lines of credit. 

This meant that on any given month, there were thousands of new loan applications streamlining in. To avoid losing customers, Purpose turned to Plaid Income. 

“More people recognize and trust the Plaid name. They’ve used it to connect their bank accounts to other apps and services, so they know how it works and that their bank connection and data will be secure,” explains Nathan Wiggins, Director of Technology and Innovation at Purpose Financial. 

That higher consumer trust in Plaid, combined with significant improvements in speed, and the fact that Plaid connects Purpose with more than 12,000 financial institutions immediately enabled Purpose to greenlight more loans. 

99.8% of Purpose’s applicants who verify their income using Plaid are approved, as compared to 78% for those who use the manual process. “This single stat encapsulates the immense value Plaid brings us and our customers,” says Wiggins.