The digital acceleration of the mortgage and rental industries has transformed how we verify income and employment—but it has also elevated the risks. As fraud grows in sophistication, lenders and verification providers alike must re-examine how they source, validate, and secure consumer data.
In this new landscape, real-time trust requires real-time data. That’s why Experian Verify (EV) has embraced a transactional, on-demand approach—often referred to as the “Go Fetch” model—which we believe is fundamental to building a safer, more resilient verification infrastructure.
Why Legacy Models Leave Gaps
Many verification providers still rely on a “data-at-rest” model, where employment or income data is stored indefinitely in static databases. This approach creates a prime target for attackers and increases the risk of data becoming outdated, incomplete, or even manipulated by bad actors. Reducing the number of places where employment data is stored significantly strengthens security.
Traditional models that maintain large databases can also introduce confirmation bias. They often send both the individual’s personally identifiable information (PII) and employer name to data partners, which can open the door to synthetic identities or fraudulent employer match backs. In fact, synthetic ID fraud accounted for 27% of business fraud cases in 2023, and by 2024, more than 70% of U.S. businesses identified deepfakes and AI-generated fraud as top threats. (https://www.experianplc.com/newsroom/press-releases/2024/new-experian-report-reveals-generative-ai–deepfakes-and-cybercr)
Some legacy verification providers still transmit both PII and employer details when requesting information. At Experian, we take a different approach: we search based on the consumer rather than the employer, and we pin—that is, cross‑check—the submitted consumer data against Experian credit file information to verify authenticity from the start.
Experian Employer Services maintains a secure copy of payroll data provided by our clients and updates it regularly. We have live, ongoing connections with employers and refresh data every two weeks directly from the source when payroll information is received. We never use stale data; every search pulls fresh, verified information.
The “Go Fetch” Model: Built for a Modern Threat Environment
In contrast, Experian Verify uses a real-time “Go Fetch” model, requesting data directly from the sources of truth at the time of the inquiry. No stale databases. No guessing games. This method reduces the window for fraud and ensures accuracy by design.
For each Experian Verify transaction, the following ‘Go Fetch’ approach and controls are applied:
- Employment and income data are sourced in real-time with APIs from employers via Experian Employer Services (EES) and vetted payroll partners.
- The PII data from the inquiry and the PII data returned from each data provider each undergo a pinning process, which cross-references the multiple PII data elements with Experian credit data to validate the identity of the individual and confirm the correct individual’s data is being returned by each data provider, for each employment record returned.
- Any income/employment data for which the second pin (based on data from the data provider) does not match the original first pin (from the inquiry) is disregarded to mitigate any risk of fat fingers/human error resulting in an incorrect consumer’s data on a VOIE report.
This multi-stage pinning process is more robust than a hard match on SSN and results in fewer errors. This not only minimizes the risk of bad data—it blocks it before it enters the pipeline.
More Than Technology: Trust Through Governance
Trustworthy data isn’t just about speed—it’s about the quality and integrity of the source. Experian Verify only partners with enterprise payroll providers and employers who pass rigorous onboarding and credentialing requirements to connect to Experian systems. This ensures we’re sourcing data from legitimate entities, helping prevent “fake employer” vectors used in synthetic employment schemes.
On top of this, data reasonability checks are run on every response, flagging anomalies like:
- End dates before start dates
- Net income exceeding gross income
- Illogical or invalid birthdates
Any inconsistencies prompt an internal investigation, and where necessary, Experian Verify works directly with the data provider to resolve discrepancies—further reducing the propagation of fraudulent data.
Further, minimum field checks are performed on every response, which ensures the minimum data necessary is returned before delivering to the client. This helps provide an additional safeguard on the data received from Data Providers, providing reasonable assurance that the data delivered to clients can be used in their decisioning flow.
Industry Recommendation: A Call for Real-Time Integrity
As more lending moves online and fraudsters grow more creative, the verification industry must evolve. Experian advocates for a new standard, built on these principles:
- Fetch data in real-time from sources of truth—don’t store it at rest.
- Avoid employer name matching, which can inadvertently validate fake entities.
- Validate PII match using multiple data elements instead of any hard match logic.
- Automated reasonability & minimum field checks, monitored and investigated by human oversight for flagged issues.
Final Thought: Secure Growth Requires Secure Data
In an era where risk moves fast, stale data is a liability. Real-time models like Experian Verify’s “Go Fetch” approach do more than deliver speed—they help lenders make decisions with greater confidence, mitigate exposure to fraud, and ultimately, protect both borrowers and the institutions that serve them.
If trust is the foundation of lending, then real-time integrity must be the framework we build it on.
