The IRS’ approval of electronic signatures on income verification requests and Veri-Tax’s newly designed e-signature solution with Adobe EchoSign platform allow for a truly paperless loan origination process
IRVINE, Calif. — January 7, 2013 — Veri-Tax, LLC, the leading provider of verification and fraud management products, and its subsidiary, Verification Bureau, LLC, have launched a Form 4506-T electronic signature solution using the EchoSign platform by Adobe in support of the IRS’ commitment to accept electronic signatures on income verification requests beginning today. Once received and approved by the IRS for processing, an electronically signed Form 4506-T releases a taxpayer’s previous years’ income tax transcripts from the IRS to an authorized third party. This process is considered the most secure method of verifying a borrower’s income during the loan origination process. Until now, the Form 4506-T was the only mortgage loan document still requiring a handwritten signature.
Veri-Tax and Verification Bureau have collaborated with Adobe, the leading electronic signature provider, to integrate Adobe EchoSign into Form 4506-T loan documents. After a lender or mortgage originator creates a tax transcript request, Veri-Tax facilitates the e-signature process directly with the borrower. This allows the borrower to validate his or her information before submitting the 4506–T to the IRS, thus minimizing IRS rejection rates and saving time in the income verification process—factors that will improve the borrower experience and ultimately lead to greater customer satisfaction. “With Adobe’s high level of support and functionality, we are confident we chose the best partner to successfully provide 4506-T e-sign functionality to the verification market,” said Veri-Tax Senior Director of Product Management Maria Kirgan.
Veri-Tax and Verification Bureau’s e-signature solution also reduces signature forgery, lost paperwork, and distorted data, problems that a paper-based process can pose when the 4506-T is scanned, uploaded, faxed, or sent though the mail. Additionally, Veri-Tax and Verification Bureau will accept electronic signatures on the Form 4506-T from other e-sign vendors that adhere to the IRS’ strict e-sign compliance guidelines.
“We anticipated releasing our 4506-T electronic signature option even before the IRS announced the e-sign pilot last year,” said Veri-Tax President Michael Chon. “Today, a process that takes lenders a few days to complete can now be completed within hours, helping to further streamline the verification process and close loans faster than ever before. The reduced time, effort, and cost savings will truly benefit all parties involved.”
The Adobe EchoSign Document API allows customers like Veri-Tax and Verification Bureau to integrate EchoSign's electronic signature functionality into their own applications. "We're excited to collaborate with Veri-Tax and Verification Bureau on this tremendous milestone towards ending the last mile of paper," said Kevin M. Lynch, SVP and GM of Acrobat and Document Services at Adobe. "This will truly provide automation around document workflows and accelerate signing cycles for the fast-paced world of finance."
For additional information regarding Veri-Tax’s e-sign solution, contact Veri-Tax’s Customer Happiness Team at (800) 969-5100 and CustomerHappiness@Veri-Tax.com.
About Veri-Tax, LLC
Founded in 1998, Veri-Tax, LLC provides a full array of verification and fraud management products to the mortgage lending and consumer credit industries, helping financial institutions more quickly and securely verify borrower income and identity. Veri-Tax, along with its subsidiary, Verification Bureau, offers a full suite of fraud management products including income verification, identify (SSN) verification, bankruptcy reports, mortgage fraud reports and employment verification services. The company is based in Irvine, California. For more information, call 1-800-969-5100 or visit www.Veri-Tax.com.