Verifast

Featured Challenge

As a respected multifamily provider, ClearWorth Residential was no stranger to renter fraud, which not only made life difficult for team members, but kept deserving applicants out of good homes. The Clearworth team realized even good tools weren’t good enough to stop fraud — they needed something great. “Fraud had become an epidemic, a problem on every property,” says Lauren Brown, Director of Operations at ClearWorth Residential. “First and foremost we needed to solve that problem. Our previous ID service wasn’t bad, but only provided the basic ID. Residents would forget to scan when people moved in, because the service only verified when somebody was touring. People would miss a step, or a leasing agent wouldn’t scan someone on move-in, and suddenly you’re dealing with fraud.” Income verification could also take long enough to upset applicants. “We wanted to find something that could verify income, and our previous service was taking too long. Prospects were very frustrated,” Brown says.

Featured Solution

The ClearWorth team looked at the available fraud prevention options, but Verifast stood head-and-shoulders above the competition. “We considered multiple companies, but as soon as I started talking to Verifast, it was obvious the company and service itself was way ahead in terms of visibility into a prospect’s finances. I looked at it with my Senior Vice President and we agreed Verifast was superior to everything else,” says Brown. Brown also describes the excellent customer service at Verifast, who helped integrate the new tool into the Clearworth toolchest. “Everybody's super responsive and helpful. During onboarding, they were so wonderful because integrating our guest cards into Knock was a bit of a headache. They actually developed it with us in 30 days and the prospect scanning process was integrated into Knock immediately. I worked directly with the development team and the Verifast support team and they did a tremendous job.” “Verifast really listened to our feedback. Any issues we had, they were so quick to respond and would jump on a call if I had questions,” Brown says. “One reason we absolutely love the product is how Verifast went above and beyond to build it out and integrate their tool with our existing systems. We wanted to be sure we had accurate data. Verifast really respected that and worked with us to create a very easy transition.”

Featured Results

Verifast quickly paid for itself by negating the many expenses a property management business must incur to deal with fraud. “The cost of filing an eviction, and the cost of somebody sitting in an apartment for three to five months completely outweighs anything you end up paying when it comes to Verifast. The service pays for itself easily. Just vacancies in general are costly, from when you have to reject people because you can’t verify income, or turn an apartment because bad-faith occupants trash them. So it’s definitely cost-effective, especially when you consider court fees,” says Brown. “We're at a different level when it comes to fraud detection now,” Brown continues. “We've actually had prospects who pass the ID check — which goes to show how much fraud has advanced. But when they apply for an apartment, they outright refuse to do Verifast because they know they won't pass. If we call and remind them they have 24 hours to complete the check, they’ll just hang up. That's how we know it's effective. Verifast is like putting an alarm system sign in your window.” Verifast offers the ClearWorth team an unparalleled look into every prospect’s finances. “I'm a fan of the transparency in the dashboard. You can see clearly what they're doing, what's in their bank account on average? Do they have a pet? No other service shows us anything like this. We've been so impressed with Verifast,” Brown says. Both property teams and prospects can appreciate how much faster applications go with Verifast. According to Brown, “Verifast significantly speeds the application process. The staff isn’t spending hours mulling over pay stubs. It's almost instant. We don't have to analyze everything. I'm big on saving time, and Verifast is so effective and efficient. My teams can approve applicants quickly. From a leasing standpoint, it's just great. Everybody in our portfolio uses Verifast and they all like it. It's so easy to audit applications with the team and send out leases.” Verifast also helps honest applicants find homes, which lines right up with ClearWorth’s mission statement. “Our purpose is to help good, hardworking, dependable people, who might have multiple income streams,” Brown says. “The old methods of verification often fail these people while fraudsters cut the line. One applicant in Corpus Christi was getting paid in cash, but was able to verify it through his pay app with Verifast. That's been huge for many properties in the Corpus Christi market, and also for one of my properties in Houston where the demographic is very reliant on apps like DoorDash.” “We’ve been able to push through a lot more of these applicants with Verifast, which looks at alternative income streams. People can literally upload pay stubs from CashApp and Verifast will approve it for us. That’s huge for people who would have been rejected because they didn’t use a ‘normal banking institute.’ Our company was built by property managers, who have been in the trenches. One big thing that keeps us going is helping people get into the homes they deserve when they’d have a hard time proving they can afford it,” Brown concludes.