If you’ve ever had to submit an application for a loan or mortgage, you know how tedious the process is. There is so much paperwork involved, and you may have to provide proof of income before you can be approved.
Intuit, the developer of QuickBooks, TurboTax and other money management programs, is trying to alleviate the pain of applying for personal loans and mortgages – in essence, making the borrowing process a little easier. The company has developed a new service that lets TurboTax users use the software to pre-fill loan applications but only if they give their consent first.
Varun Krishna, vice-president of Intuit said, nearly 70 percent of loan applications – be it credit cards, personal loans or whatever – are denied. The current set up involves a lot of paperwork, which can lead to mistakes. However, much of the information needed for a personal loan or any kind of loan is in a tax return. Add that to a credit report and income, and the application can be quickly filled out.
Intuit began asking customers if they would share their information if the company could potentially save them money. Most customers said yes – about 95 percent agreed to let the company search for ways they could save money. He said the company has customer information, which is used to use how you want it to be used.
Intuit can also verify information that’s shared is the same as what was sent to the Internal Revenue Service. Basically, the company is taking work out of the front-end application process With one in five Americans using TurboTax, 90 percent of all loan applications can be pre-filled with the information provided.
How Does This Help You?
Intuit will help you by doing a financial audit of your current loans. It can also save you the task of having to go through the personal loan process where you may be rejected or find you a better deal than you had initially.
Intuit’s idea isn’t completely new. Quicken offers the Rocket Mortgage program, but it’s Intuit that uses tax form inform to give credible information to a personal loan or other loan providers for a decision.
