Nova Credit, a leading credit infrastructure and analytics company, today announced the launch of Eligibility Compass, a comprehensive income and asset verification solution for affordable housing. This purpose-built solution automates the process of collecting applicant financial data, reducing the time it takes to confirm eligibility.

Prior to today, verifying eligibility for a single household could take weeks of back and forth with the applicant and their banks, employers, and benefit providers. Eligibility Compass transforms this process by providing real-time verification of income, benefits, assets, and more — all in a single applicant experience.

“Over the last five years, we’ve processed millions of income verifications for thousands of property management companies,” explained Akaash Gupta, Head of Tenant Screening Partnerships. “We’ve learned that our users in affordable housing face unique challenges, such as complex applicant profiles, strict compliance requirements, and severe penalties for errors. We built Eligibility Compass to support these partners and their unique needs."

Comprehensive Verification Across the Entire Market

Eligibility Compass decreases the time from application to approval by consolidating disparate verification processes into a single, intuitive consumer experience. The solution’s components reflect the unique requirements of affordable housing:

• Bank connections allow for instant, paperless verification of current and historical assets, while identifying potentially relevant sources of income
• Payroll connections verify retirement income, government benefits, gig work, and more, in addition to traditional wage earnings
• Flexible document upload accommodates any additional verification needs — e.g., award or distribution letters — ensuring no applicant is left behind
• Automated cross-referencing between all data sources identifies discrepancies which could impact eligibility, like unreported income or assets

As a Consumer Reporting Agency with nine years of compliance expertise, Nova Credit brings proven policies and procedures to the affordable housing sector, ensuring that increased efficiency doesn't compromise regulatory compliance.

Omissions, whether intentional or not, are difficult to spot when reviewing stacks of documents. Compliance managers, leasing staff, and case workers are forced to play detective, hunting for unreported income and assets that could impact eligibility. This detective work comes on top of their actual mission: getting qualified families into homes.

Eligibility Compass incorporates advanced fraud detection capabilities that analyze source documentation and catch imported income omissions. By combining multiple data sources with sophisticated analytics, the solution provides housing providers with confidence in the accuracy of applicant information while maintaining a seamless applicant experience.

"Housing providers shouldn't have to choose between thorough verification and operational efficiency," added Gupta. "With Eligibility Compass, we've engineered a solution that delivers both, proving once again that consumer-permissioned data can improve housing access while strengthening risk management."