WASHINGTON, Nov. 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Equifax
announced today its continuing commitment to incorporate electronic
signature technology into additional key service offerings for
lenders from today's Electronic Signature & Records
Association's (ESRA) annual conference, E-Signatures 2012.
Equifax has proactively enhanced its proprietary verification
service systems in anticipation of the Internal Revenue Service's
(IRS) recent announcement to allow the use of eSignature technology
for both taxpayers and lenders in order to eliminate
"handwritten-only" signature requirements on forms vital to
securing tax transcripts. This new IRS program will be added to the
growing list of applications Equifax has previously implemented,
which allow electronic signatures in the marketplace to help ensure
program participation and compliance.
Equifax is also a key participant in the IRS' "Send My
Transcript" online application service pilot, which will enable
taxpayers to request tax transcripts directly from the IRS online,
and have them instantly delivered to a selected lender via their
tax transcript vendor, in lieu of using a 4506-T consent form. If
the pilot becomes is adopted, the program will offer another avenue
for secure transmission of income verification data — an
enhancement in transmission speed and efficiency that will
potentially increase the use of tax data in an ever wider range of
mortgage and non-mortgage credit-decisioning processes.
Equifax is using eSignature technology to enhance its IRS Tax
Transcript fulfillment service. Using residential mortgage
lending as an example, the IRS Form 4506-T is a critical
requirement for originating or modifying loans, since tax
transcripts are required to validate income. Historically
requesting and obtaining consumer authorization on the this consent
form has been a highly manual process — often resulting in lost
documents, fraudulent applications and long processing times that
delay or prohibit loan closing. Equifax participated in a
pilot program with the IRS between July
2011 and March 2012 to
validate this process not only in mortgage, but also other
industries requiring the verification of actual income of
applicants. The IRS recently announced that it plans to
accept electronically signed 4506-T forms. This will accelerate the
lending process and remove one of the final barriers to a truly
paperless mortgage application. Equifax's Verifications
Services is fully prepared to begin processing eSign'ed 4506-T
forms on behalf of its clients as soon as the IRS service is live
on January 7, 2013.
Equifax pioneered the automated delivery of tax transcripts to
mortgage lenders, and has been an active participant in helping
refine the IRS eSignature and "Send My Transcript" initiatives
through pilot programs. "We are well-positioned to help both
mortgage lenders and clients in auto lending, student lending,
consumer finance and social services receive this data with a level
of speed and efficiency consistent with their need for real-time
decisioning," said Jeff Knott,
Senior Director of Product Management, Equifax Verification
Services. "As an early advocate for the continuing acceptance
and expansion of this technology, we're confident it will
accelerate business while improving consumer satisfaction in a wide
range of credit-decisioning scenarios."
"Methods for initiating, completing and recording electronic
signatures are expanding to meet specific business need and
increasing consumer demand, and Equifax remains on the forefront of
promoting the use and acceptance of electronically signed documents
in a variety of programs and applications — while maintaining the
highest industry standards for data protection," Knott added.
"The cost and time savings that this technology provides is already
resulting in material benefits for our customers as well as
consumers. The recent IRS approval to allow electronic
signatures is a major step in the right direction to offer greater
access and ease of use to both the private sector and
taxpayers."
About Equifax, Inc.
Equifax is a global leader in consumer and commercial
information solutions, providing businesses of all sizes and
consumers with information they can trust. We organize and
assimilate data on more than 500 million consumers and 81 million
businesses worldwide, and use advanced analytics and proprietary
technology to create and deliver customized insights that enrich
both the performance of businesses and the lives of consumers.
Headquartered in Atlanta,
Equifax operates or has investments in 18 countries and is a member
of Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500® Index. Its common stock is
traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol EFX.
For more information, please visit www.equifax.com.
SOURCE Equifax