Better Borrower Experiences, Lower Costs: ALCOVA’s VOIE Transformation
ALCOVA Mortgage (ALCOVA) began with a simple but powerful idea: after owner Bobby Nicely’s first homebuying experience left him thinking, there has to be a better way, he enlisted childhood friends Billy Siple and Rob Lindstrom to help him do something about it. Named for Alleghany County, Virginia—where its three co-founders attended high school—ALCOVA was born in 2003 and quickly became one of America’s fastest-growing private companies, with 80 branches in 22 states and the District of Columbia. Today, ALCOVA remains dedicated to delivering exceptional mortgage experiences to every borrower.
Since implementing Argyle, ALCOVA has achieved transformative results including cost savings of up to 88% per loan, higher borrower conversion rates, and seamless GSE rep and warrant relief. Borrowers face fewer hurdles and enjoy a smoother verification process, contributing to a more streamlined path to loan completion. Meanwhile, ALCOVA continues to benefit from Argyle’s ongoing enhancements and its commitment to delivering best-in-class VOIE solutions, ensuring the partnership will yield value well into the future.
Challenge
As one of ALCOVA’s earliest employees, Kelly Good has been with ALCOVA for more than 20 years and has worn many hats over her time with the company. After starting out as a loan officer, she became a branch manager and eventually moved to operations, supporting ALCOVA’s transition from broker to banker by overseeing the implementation of new technologies, developing new workflows and, when necessary, standing up entire new departments. These experiences continue to shape Good’s approach to process improvement in her current role as director of strategic initiatives.
Thanks in part to Good’s technology-forward mindset, ALCOVA was an early adopter of AccountChek, an asset-based verification of asset (VOA) and verification of income (VOI) solution that remains part of ALCOVA’s verification waterfall to this day. AccountChek analyzes the direct-deposit history within a borrower’s bank statement data to infer their income. This method of VOI can be an efficient option in cases where borrowers have already granted ALCOVA permission to access their bank account data in order to complete VOA.
But asset-based verification is not a silver bullet. Asset data provides limited information about a borrower’s employment, since details like the number of hours worked or current employment status do not appear on a bank statement. Moreover, not every mortgage transaction requires verification of assets.
During the COVID pandemic, when a large portion of ALCOVA’s loan volume shifted from purchase transactions to refi transactions that do not necessarily require VOA, Good began looking for a more cost-effective solution to place into ALCOVA’s verification waterfall.
Solution
In October 2023, when Good learned Argyle was an authorized verification of income and employment (VOIE) report supplier for Fannie Mae’s Desktop Underwriter® (DU®) validation service, she scheduled a demo.
“I didn’t know much about Argyle,” Good admits, “but it sounded like a promising alternative. I wanted to do my due diligence and ensure we were selecting the best possible technology for our teams. I’m so glad I did, because I was blown away by the value Argyle delivers and the professionalism of its team.”
Argyle provides fast, accurate VOIE via its real-time connections with payroll providers and major employers. In addition to verifying employment status and basic income, Argyle furnishes the details and documents required for more complex underwriting scenarios, such as shift-by-shift earnings, paystubs and W-2s.
Argyle’s compelling pricing, expansive data network, industry-leading conversion and dedication to delivering exceptional borrower experiences made it a perfect addition to ALCOVA’s verification waterfall. Today, Argyle integrates seamlessly into ALCOVA’s verification waterfall to deliver the best possible borrower experience. For loans that do not require VOA, Argyle is the first provider in line. For loans that require VOA, Argyle is the second provider in the cascade behind AccountChek, serving as a fallback for instances when the borrower is unable to successfully connect to their bank or does not wish to share their banking credentials.
Outcome
Cost savings of up to 88% per loan
ALCOVA’s cost savings with Argyle have been considerable. In fact, when compared to The Work Number, Argyle represents per-loan savings of up to 88%.
“The cost savings are not insignificant,” says Good. “These are the kinds of savings we can pass on to our customers to provide a better experience in a market where affordability is always in question.”
Fewer hurdles for borrowers
Manual VOIE puts the onus on borrowers to find and upload W-2s and pay stubs. If additional documentation is required down the road — for instance, when a loan takes more than 60 days to close or if the borrower needs to substantiate a mid-year pay raise — the process begins all over again.
With Argyle, borrowers simply follow the link provided by their loan officer, log into their payroll system, and authorize the sharing of their income and employment data with ALCOVA. The connection stays open until the loan is complete or the borrower revokes permission — simple as that.
Higher conversion (55%) than VOI alternatives
Because of Argyle’s smooth borrower experience as well as its expansive network of connections to payroll providers and employers, ALCOVA sees higher conversion when using Argyle than alternative VOI methods. Borrowers presented the opportunity to use Argyle successfully complete automated VOIE more than 55% of the time, an industry-leading conversion rate that outperforms the success rate of verification databases by a double-digit margin without requiring borrowers to share more sensitive bank statement data.
Says Good, “Simply put, Argyle makes it easier for borrowers to verify income and employment, and that has a trickle-down effect that improves the likelihood they will complete the application process as a whole.”
The most reliable path to GSE rep and warrant relief
As an authorized report supplier for Fannie Mae’s Desktop Underwriter® (DU®) validation service as well as a service provider for Freddie Mac’s Loan Product Advisor® (LPASM) asset and income modeler (AIM), Argyle helps ALCOVA reduce mortgage repurchase risk by enabling access to relief from certain GSE representations and warranties requirements.
Argyle’s VOIE reports receive full validation from the GSEs more often than any other solution in ALCOVA’s verification waterfall, giving the lender confidence in the integrity of its loan files and more frequent access to rep and warrant relief on income and employment loan components.
A commitment to continuous improvement
Good’s confidence in Argyle has only grown since onboarding, thanks to the platform’s regular enhancements and responsiveness to customer needs. She points to recent updates to Argyle’s integration with ALCOVA’s loan origination system, Encompass® by ICE Mortgage Technology®, as a clear demonstration of the company’s dedication to improvement.
“Argyle focuses on being the best at what it does,” says Good. “Its continuous investment in refining the platform and incorporating customer feedback shows a real commitment to making VOIE as straightforward and effective as possible for both lenders and borrowers alike.”
As ALCOVA’s success demonstrates, adopting innovative verification solutions like Argyle can help lenders dramatically reduce costs, simplify workflows, and provide a better borrower experience. If you’re ready to explore how Argyle can transform your verification process, we invite you to request a demo. Discover why forward-thinking lenders are making Argyle an integral part of their strategy for success.
