Secretary Machelle Sanders

North Carolina Department of Commerce

machelle.sanders@nccommerce.com

 

Assistant Secretary Pryor Gibson

North Carolina Division of Employment Security

pryor.gibson@nccommerce.com

 

                        Re:      Verify4 and Access to Credit

Dear Secretary Sanders and Assistant Secretary Gibson:

When consumers seek credit, apply for a job or try to rent a home, they submit to a credit check.  For those without a credit history or little credit history, quick access to income and employment data is crucial.  Making this data more easily accessible to consumers is a key way to promote credit inclusion.

My organization recently met with representatives of Verify4 to better understand their role in helping people obtain credit.  Verify4 delivers data to lenders to verify a borrower’s income and employment.  The company has a mission of empowering people by improving access to credit, employment, housing, and other economic opportunities.

I encourage you to bring the Verify4 service to North Carolina.  The Verify4 service will open credit markets, create jobs and contribute to the state budget.

Verify4 will provide North Carolina’s workers and consumers with:

• Free use of their income and employment data from the North Carolina Division of Employment Security;
• Real-time authentication of their employment and income history for persons seeking credit, a new job, or to rent an apartment/house; and
• A modern user-friendly technology maximizing data security and data privacy.

Verify4’s service will also provide economic benefits to North Carolina:

• Up to $ 509 Million in total annual estimated statewide economic benefit from increased lending to private sector, less systemic risk in financial services sector, improved efficiency. This increased economic activity will translate into an anticipated 3,600 permanent new jobs;
• Resulting in $ 38.6 Million increase in state/local tax revenue, equivalent to 716 teacher or 1,081 firefighter salaries;
• $28.1 Million in annual cost savings for North Carolina employers (public and private) by automating the current manual verification of income and employment; and,
• Up to $3.2 Million in annual direct revenue to North Carolina with a mature Verify4 program that can be used for job training and costs the state nothing to implement & operate.

The United State Department of Labor permits the Verify4 program under its current rules.  North Carolina operated a system similar to this without incident as recently as 2012.  We believe the time is right to bring this service back to consumers.

Thank you for considering this important request.

Very truly yours,

_____________________

 

cc        Stephen Bryant

Office of the Governor

stephen.bryant@nc.gov